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Residents Try to Rescue D.C. Co-op
Shiv Newaldass, left, with Gloria Davis, David Chestnut and the Rev. Lewis Green, said the plan is "giving this community a guarantee. . . . A home."
(Jahi Chikwendiu - Twp)
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Meanwhile, Newaldass made contact through a Georgetown professor with Charles Williams, a D.C. native who works with Redskins legends Darrell Green, Art Monk and Charles Mann. Over dinner, Newaldass asked Williams if the philanthropic football stars would start a job training program at Sursum Corda, as they have elsewhere in the city. By the time dinner was over, the two men were talking about how to save Sursum Corda.
In May, 103 Sursum residents voted to enter a partnership with a Monk, Green and Mann enterprise called MGM. Williams said Monk brought in KSI, with whom he previously had done business, as well as Brig Owens, another former player who owns a real estate development company with Moran's wife, LuAnn Bennett.
Meanwhile, Green, who is chairman of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation and a regular at White House functions, met with Jackson, the HUD secretary. Jackson gave Sursum 30 days to make $482,000 in overdue mortgage payments, hire a security force and fix the worst safety violations, according to Chestnut and HUD officials.
The board set to work, hiring the Nation of Islam to patrol the property and drawing up a financial plan. They interviewed several developers, Chestnut said, including KSI. He said they also met with city officials and asked for a $4 million loan, but the city did not respond.
On June 8, HUD officials threatened to halt rent subsidies if the co-op did not meet its June 15 deadline. Desperate for cash, the board signed a letter of intent with KSI, which promptly dispatched repair people and a mortgage check.
Now the complex has one month to get ready for its final inspection. Some residents are nervous about all the activity. They say the board has offered dire warnings about the consequences of failure but has told them almost nothing about what will happen if they pass.
"It's bits and pieces," said Gail Stewart, one of several Sursum residents who have grown distrustful of Chestnut and the board. "Only thing we want is to know what's going on. We want to save our community. We don't want nobody to come up here and give us half answers and then say, 'Well, we tried.' "
Board members have asked for patience, saying all will be revealed at a meeting tomorrow. They say that they are proud of the deal they have put together and that KSI's promises are ironclad.
"People think we're a bunch of uneducated drug dealers up here. They're just shocked that we've come this far," Newaldass said. "But we're giving this community a guarantee, a place to come back to. A home."
