Gates County's Low Income Discrimination

Gates County Board of Commissioners and Gates County Board of Education knew that by design the Gates County Zoning Ordinance would be exclusionary in regards to low income housing.

April 19, 2008

GATES COUNTY NEWS -- On November 20, 2006, I warned Gates County of the use of exclusionary zoning. Now, April 18, 2008, the message has finally reached the people. So, what happened? Why was the warning ignored? Several reasons. First, the present and past administration are both socioeconomic parasites with separatist beliefs that through class division, secrecy and omnipotent government power, they who consider themselves elite, will prosper. Second they purposely created a low income housing shortage by implementing an exclusionary zoning ordinance to remove a particular social class of people, citizens with a median income of $37,000 annually, which also represents 65% of the County labor force that works in Virginia, and lives in a double-wide.

Most Americans would think this statement a fabrication. How could such a thing happen in the land of the free and the home of the brave? However, I will provide evidence to the contrary, backing my accusation with factual written evidence of accountable statements of class discrimination. Additionally, I will present a video of a special meeting of the Gates County Board of Commissioners and Gates County Board of Education acknowledging that the zoning ordinance would restrict low income residents from living in Gates County, North Carolina. But first the warning published on November 20, 2006.

I would like to caution Gates County of the dangers of Exclusionary Zoning. That is the practice of restricting members of a social, racial, ethnic, or social class, through the use of zoning laws. Primarily through minimum lot-size requirements and land-use segregation. Euclidean zoning is often found guilty of exclusionary provisions being the oldest form of zoning. Especially those zoning ordinances created during the times of racial segregation. Therefore, if a zoning ordinance cannot meet the proven regional housing needs with provisions for affordable housing, it is considered exclusionary. For example, since Gates County's predominate social class is citizens of a median income of $37,000 annually. Gates County's Zoning Ordinance must have provisions to provide development for affordable housing to accommodate that income range. If Gates County's new Zoning Ordinance does not meet this requirement, it is exclusionary. Keep in mind. The amount of provision is measured by current population. So, what happens when a Zoning Ordinance is exclusionary? It is said to be in violation of the Fair Housing Act. That is to say the discriminatory. Below are several cases of recent violations of the Fair Housing Act involving zoning regulations...

Next, at a monthly Planning Board meeting, which is regularly held at 3:00 p.m., while 65% of the county workforce is forced to commute to and from Virginia, in order to maintain gainful employment. These public meetings scheduled at this precarious time to discourage civic participation in the development of both zoning and land use planning the Director of Planning and Development, Randall Cahoon stated toward the close meeting on October 17, 2006:

"65% of Gates County residents work in Virginia and these residents add very little to the tax base if they are building manufactured homes on what little land can be developed, plus doing all grocery shopping and entertainment spending in another state."

This bigoted statement is recorded in the Board of Planning and Development Minutes on the above said date. Obviously, this statement is completely untrue, and is if fact exactly the opposite, taxpayers who work in Virginia contribute 65% of the 40% of tax revenue collected in property tax in Gates County. Furthermore, approximately, 50% of these taxpayers owning manufactured homes were publicly humiliated by a county employee whose salary is paid from the very tax revenue bought to Gates County by the taxpayers who live in those double-wide homes and work in Virginia, which are also disproportionately black Americans. Shameful! Yet, this employee of Gates County has never apologized for making the derogatory statement, nor been disciplined for uttering discriminatory remarks against a social class of people while performing his duties as Director Planning and Development Services.

Now, I will present what can only be considered a conspiracy to purposely prevent low income housing development in Gates County by the Gates County Board of Commissioners. On November 26, 2006, a special meeting of the Gates County Board of Commissioners and Gates County Board of Education met to discuss whether to secure a 15-year loan or a 20-year loan for $6.5 million capital fund projects to expand public schools in Gates County. During this public meeting the Assistant Superintendent of Schools states:

"The regulations you all put in place, if what I read is true then you know as these developments go in. We are going to require paved roads and some other amenities, and stick built homes or manufactured homes. Then you would accept the "kind" of people moving into the County could not afford to move here anymore. So, either they're not going to build, or the people that do build are going to building a more extensive tax base for us." WATCH VIDEO

Therefore, Gates County Board of Commissioners and Gates County Board of Education knew that by design the Gates County Zoning Ordinance would be exclusionary in regards to low income housing. Both these Boards knew that by placing exclusionary regulations on development of low income housing, they would force low income residents to build homes they could not afford in order to increase the County property tax base.

You see people, it's not about providing for the community as a whole, it is about providing for a select class of the community, and that my friends is discrimination. So, not only did they plot to create an unfair low income housing shortage, they also plotted to raise your taxes. To take your hard earned money.

As I stated in the beginning, socioeconomic parasites with separatist beliefs that through class division, secrecy, and attempts to exercise omnipotent government power, these two Boards, the Gates County Board of Commissioners and the Gates County Board of Education, consider themselves the elite, and you are considered second class.

BlackHorse