17 July 08 - 13:27The ACORN report.
Here is the latest collection of ACORN stories I have foundACORN OPPOSES COMMUNITY DEVELOP. Including getting rid of an old junk yard.
QUEENS Chronicle
It was another day for a rally and a hearing involving the contentious Willets Point development project as objectors on Thursday made the most noise at Queensborough Hall.
The outdoor rally preceded Borough President Helen Marshall’s land use hearing on the $3 billion project that would convert the junk car yards in Willets Point into a mixed-use development featuring housing, a school, a hotel, a small convention center and retail and office space.
Many of the Willets Point business owners and workers oppose the plan, fearing the city will use eminent domain. They don’t want to move and say the city hasn’t worked in good faith to find them new locations.
Area politicians and members of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), among others, are demanding more affordable housing. Local City Council members also say the plan is too vague and that it should not go forward as outlined.
Community Board 7 gave the plan a slim six-vote approval earlier in the month. Under the Uniform Land Use Review Process, the proposal then must go to the borough president, who has said previously that she is in favor of the development.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACORN Backs Al Franken get promise
Winona Daily News
Franken said he hadn’t given any thought to whether he’d be willing to debate Lord Faris, which she has suggested.
Franken made his comments while accepting the endorsement of ACORN, a community organization that’s been providing financial counseling to low- and middle-income Minnesotans facing problems with mortgage payments. Franken said if elected he’d support a temporary moratorium on home foreclosures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ACORN sues Missouri for not handing out voter registration forms when giving out food stamps
KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- United States District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey issued an order yesterday, July 15, 2008, directing the Missouri Department of Social Services immediately to comply with a federal law requiring agencies to provide voter registration applications and assistance to their clients. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in April 2008 by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and St. Louis resident Dionne O'Neal charging widespread violations of the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA is a federal law enacted in 1993 to ensure all Americans have access to voter registration services.
State documents confirming that over one million Food Stamps applicants could not have been offered voter registration from 2003-2008 because DSS did not order enough of the forms it is required to give each client. The court also viewed field surveys by plaintiffs of agency offices as persuasive evidence of poor compliance.
-----------------------------------------------------
ACORN Demands that city clean up abandoned lots
KYW Radio
Community Group Demands Cleanup of City's Vacant Lots
by KYW's Michelle Durham
North Philadelphia residents and members of the activist group "Acorn" gathered outside the Municipal Services Building in center city on Wednesday to call attention to the problem of abandoned lots in the city.
They have a list of 24 lots that they wanted cleaned up within the next month.
Aura lives near one of the vacant lots and explains how the neglected, overgrown places affect her:
"Somebody saw raccoons. I'm visually impaired, and if I come to the door one morning early, a raccoon could be on my step and could jump right in my door and I wouldn't know it."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACORN pushes for increase in foodstamps in public assisstance
WTOK TV Mississippi
The Mississippi Department of Human Services says food stamps are calculated by the number of people in a family and income of that family.
In fiscal year 2007, DHS assisted the federal government to give out over $400 million in assistance.
DHS and Mississippi ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, say there are still many Mississippians eligible who don't apply.
"Mississippi is one of the states ranked about 60 percent, which is about five points below the national average," said Sonja Murphy, a representative of Mississippi ACORN.
Murphy said her groups hopes to change that. It wants to partner with DHS to get the word out, helping those who need it to get food stamps, especially in these tough economic times.
"If the outreach to the communities were done promptly, to inform the low income families that this resource is here and they need to apply for it," Murphy said. No comments No trackbacks
You will need to enable javascript to generate a trackback link
