As I mentioned in my post about the Bloomberg opinion piece yesterday, our food banks and homeless shelters are growing just as much as development in our community. While I don’t know the real reason why Golden Dragon sold to the Dudley house after a surprise vacation and ultimate sudden retirement, my guess is they have been in negotiations for quite awhile, and as a person who used to work for the former owner of the Golden Dragon at his former location (Golden Wall where Kaladi’s is) he is a shrewd businessman, and I can guarantee he negotiated a good deal, even if the Diocese is claiming THEY were approached.
While no determination has been made for the property, “the church does not acquire property for speculation,†he said. “We do it for possible future ministry purposes, but I don’t know what that would be. We consider affordable housing a ministry of the church. The proximity gives the opportunity for examining programing with various outreach ministries.â€
Would you want to live in an apartment next to a homeless shelter?
Probably kind of hard running a successful casual Chinese restaurant next to a (large) homeless shelter. I also find it interesting that Dudley bought this property (which was hospitality) without consulting the neighbors or city for an OBVIOUS expansion of the shelter or subsidized housing.
This one is going to be fun to watch when they ask for a rezone and expansion. I know many people who live in that neighborhood (home owners), they are NOT going to be hoodwinked this time around.
I think is is disgusting how city planners have allowed the Whittier neighborhood to be the ‘social services’ haven. I have often argued these services should be along Minnesota Avenue close to the jail and safe home. Devaluing these people’s properties (that are already modest) by plopping these organizations in the middle of these neighborhoods is NOT acceptable.