The council says Franklin Villa owners have failed to stem the violence. The City Council hopes an SHRA takeover will help rid Franklin Villa of gangs, drugs and guns.

November 13, 2002

By Andy Furillo, Bee Staff Writer

afurillo@sacbee.com

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The Sacramento City Council turned aside the objections of 15 Franklin Villa property owners Tuesday night and set the stage for a municipal takeover of the south-side housing complex that has been overrun by drugs and violence.

Council member Bonnie Pannell, who made the motion that preceded the 8-0 vote, rebuked the investor-owners who led the opposition to the takeover plan as having failed over the past 20 years to improve the quality of life in Franklin Villa on their own.

"I used to hear the gunshots," Pannell said, addressing the council chamber that was nearly full with the Franklin Villa investor-owners. "I know about the drugs. I know of families that have been traumatized and robbed. Now, you show up here and say you don't want to lose your investments. But you know what? We've got to make a change, and you've had every opportunity."

Tuesday's vote approved a "resolution of necessity" that enables the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to begin eminent domain proceedings against the owners of 208 units in Franklin Villa who have thus far shown no interest in selling their properties to the agency.

The SHRA is trying to acquire 464 Franklin Villa units as the first phase of a $64.6 million renovation plan that envisions a radical redesign of the neighborhood and the transfer of its day-to-day management to a private corporation.

The plan, however, promises to face a challenge in Sacramento Superior Court, according to a lawyer who told the council he represents a "growing list" of Franklin Villa property owners. The attorney, William Neasham of Gold River, said his comments to the council represented "an objection for the record" that questions whether the SHRA takeover plan "is legally appropriate or necessary."

A number of owners who had addressed the council met with Neasham following the session in which some of them accused the SHRA of using "strong-arm tactics" in its plan for the neighborhood.

"This says, 'We're bigger. We're stronger. We're the Mafia. If you don't sell us your property, we'll take it,' " said Gwen Babaoye, a Franklin Villa investor-owner.

Another owner, Ron Simons, said Franklin Villa's five homeowner associations "have done an excellent job in getting rid of some of the bad-apple" landlords who, through poor tenant screening practices and by failing to make repairs, helped turn the neighborhood into one of Sacramento's worst.

"SHRA makes no effort to work with the boards to resolve some of the problems that we recognize," said Simons, who identified himself as a member of three of five Franklin Villa homeowner boards.

Council members, however, argued that the plan meets eminent domain standards of public interest and necessity, and that the SHRA is offering fair market value for the property owners' holdings.

"This is the poster child for eminent domain," council member Dave Jones said of Franklin Villa, citing the crime problems that have plagued the complex.

Mayor Heather Fargo called eminent domain "our last resort." She said the management of Franklin Villa by the investor-owners who have run the complex for the past 20 years "just isn't working."

SHRA officials said they needed the council to approve the eminent domain resolution because negotiations have reached an "impasse" with private property owners in Franklin Villa.

In an interview Tuesday, however, SHRA Deputy Director Cassandra Jennings said that the agency hasn't even had discussions with some of the owners of the 208 units the city wants to acquire.

Jennings said the SHRA has notified the owners "three or four times" over the past year about wanting to buy their properties. She said the owners have not responded to the notifications.

"Right now, we're just identifying units we have been unsuccessful in opening up discussions with," she said.

So far, the SHRA has purchased 173 of the 464 units it intends to acquire in the first phase of its Franklin Villa takeover plan. Jennings said officials are negotiating with the owners of 83 more units, leaving the 208 units as the subjects of eminent domain actions.

The SHRA plans to turn the complex over to a private manager in January and begin the reconstruction project in early 2004. The agency says it will reserve 80 percent of the complex for federally subsidized low-income tenants.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/franklin_villa/story/5181087p-6189688c.html