Author Archives: Van

Crescent City Welcomes New Board Members

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Crescent City Community Land Trust (Crescent City), the bridge for long-term, sustainable renewal in the city of New Orleans, today announced its annual transition of board personnel, welcoming new members and thanking departing members for their service. New members include Phillip Eide, senior vice president, housing and economic development, Hope Enterprise Corporation; Lisa S. Mazique, principal, Linx Advisory, LLC and, and Aaron Miripol, president and CEO at the Urban Land Conservancy. This team brings more than 75 years of critical expertise in the arenas of focus critical to Crescent City’s mission – affordable housing, enterprise development and vacant land use.

By design, Crescent City’s board of directors represents the community that includes leaseholders and community and technical directors. Members typically commit to serving two-year terms and a portion of the Board rotates off and new members come forward. Members rotating off in 2013 include Nicole Heyman, vice president, The Center for Community Progress, and Kathy Laborde, president, The Gulf Coast Housing Partnership.

“As Crescent City continues into its second year of operation, we believe that the perspective and leadership Phillip, Aaron and Lisa bring will ensure we continue our strong organizational momentum. As 2013 unfolds, it promises to a year of productivity and progress in our mission to be a bridge for renewal in New Orleans for the long haul,” said Christy Wallace Slater, president, the Crescent City Community Land Trust Board of Directors. “A special word of thanks to Kathy and Nicole for their service. They have played such an integral role in shepherding Crescent City from its formative stage and put the foundation in place that enables us to launch our first year of operations.”

Read the full release: click here. Interested in getting involved in Crescent City? Contact us!

Equal Housing Affirmed in Delaware

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Crescent City Community Land Trust applauds the U.S. Department of Justice for taking the side of hard working American families and the successful settlement of its lawsuit with Sussex County, DE.

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The suit alleged the Sussex County planning and zoning commission denied land use approval for a 50-lot affordable housing subdivision proposed by Diamond State Community Land Trust, a Delaware affordable housing developer. The suit also alleged that the Sussex County Council denied Diamond State’s opposition to the proposal was based partly on the assumption that the subdivision’s residents would be Latino and African-American and on stereotypes based on race, color and national origin.

The settlement, filed same-day as a proposed consent decree that must be approved by the court, requires that the defendants reconsider the affordable housing proposal using nondiscriminatory criteria and take no actions to obstruct or delay the development of the subdivision. It also requires the county to pay $750,000 to Diamond State Community Land Trust in compensation for its damages.

The lawsuit arose from a complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that was referred to the Department of Justice. Crescent City Executive Director Van Temple served as Diamond State’s executive director at the time the complaint was made and remains a friend and supporter of the organization and the work its doing for Delawareans.