I discussed post-UNIGOV planning inequities with DMD staff yesterday.
TL;DR - Our public assembly hall (where the city-county council meets) is named after Beurt SerVaas, who demolished numerous buildings on Indiana Avenue & was associated with South African apartheid propaganda.

Throughout the 1980s, SerVaas acquired numerous parcels along Indiana Avenue, w/ newspaper accounts as high as up to 27 parcels, mostly on the 800 & 900 blocks of Indiana Avenue. He wanted to redevelop the area as a shopping center. One of his first "mistakes": Sunset Terrace...

...an iconic music venue on the 800 block of Indiana Avenue, was demolished "by mistake." I have a hard time believing that a city-county councilor, w/ knowledge & access to planners, preservationists, and permitting experts within city government, didn't know what he was doing.

Not to mention, the demolition crew who demolished this building (and claimed it was a miscommunication because SerVaas owned so many properties on the avenue) also illegally demolished School No. 5.

There's many articles that state that SerVaas was willing to offer 15% ownership to a black community leader, which many felt was insincere and exploitative. He offers ownership to the Black Expo, eventually they decline. Then his lawyer is arrested for embezzlement...

After years of the local black comm casting doubt on his development proposal & critiquing the lack of comm engagement, he finally sells the parcels to a shopping center developer claiming he's avoiding a conflict of interest, which is some real gaslighting/white savior behavior.

During the same time that he's hoarding Indiana Avenue parcels & not genuinely following any public engagement process w/ black neighbors and leaders, he's also implicated in a scandal involving South African apartheid. SerVaas was a part-owner of The Citizen, a South African...

...newspaper that gets busted as a government front for publishing apartheid propaganda. He's also linked to a film company, Afripix, accused of publishing apartheid propaganda. SerVaas says that he's only an investor and that he is anti-apartheid. Hmm.

Yet when black city-county councilors initiate an ordinance of economic sanctions against South Africa to support the anti-apartheid movement, SerVaas, as council president, pulls the ordinance within 10 min of discussion. A few weeks later, republican councilors issue their...

...Own ordinance, an empty statement condemning apartheid with no actionable steps. That passes the council - but SerVaas LEAVES THE MEETING before the vote! He never publicly voted on the issue. You guys.

Now does the hesitancy and criticisms from the local black community regarding his Indiana Avenue redevelopment project make sense?

The real questions we need to ask:
Why was a city-county councilor dabbling in predatory land speculation that contributed to mass demolition & displacement able to do this without it being a conflict of interest?
And why do we name our public assembly hall in his honor?

And lastly - please, if you're gonna lift my text and these screenshots, you best cite me and the newspaper citations. And if you don't, believe me when I say, I always find out.