JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown said Thursday that media have been exploiting the residents of Eureka Gardens, a property owned by Global Ministries Foundation.
Thursday, GMF went before a magistrate judge for outstanding code violations.
After the hearing, the News4Jax I-TEAM saw Brown, after trying to get in touch with him to ask if he will help the residents of Washington Heights who are in his district.
Watch the I-TEAM's full one-on-one interview with Brown
Tenants have turned to the I-TEAM for help for seven months, calling with the request to investigate the condition of their homes. After several I-TEAM reports, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, Councilman Garrett Dennis and most recently Councilman Tommy Hazouri have all vowed to help.
Brown has represented District 10, which includes Washington Heights, another GMF-owned property, since 2008.
Brown talked about how he plans to help the residents at Washington Heights.
“Let me be very clear, that I want to send a message. I’m not into exploiting the residents that are economically challenged. I don’t believe that it takes the media to get the job done,” Brown said.
Brown said he does not feel that Curry, Dennis and Hazouri have contributed to exploiting the people of Eureka Gardens through the media. But he does want to handle the problem without bringing in news cameras.
“I said my position. My position, if I can get things done without bringing the media and the cameras to the residents that are economically challenged, I will do that,” Brown said. "I am not going to exploit the residents. We do not need (to bring) the cameras on into their living quarters.”
The situation should be exposed, Brown said, but does not believe residents should be put on camera.
“Let me tell you something, what we're doing with folks that are economically challenged, I believe, when we put them on camera, we're destroying their dignity. Let's fix the problem is what I'm saying, just fix the problem,” Brown said.
Brown thinks the problem has been around far longer than Rev. Richard Hamlet, founder of GMF.
“As far as I'm concerned, it's been 40 years since that place looked like that, since all of these places looked the way they looked. So I'm not giving anyone a pass. I just don't believe that standing before you all, standing before the city, saying, ‘Get out of town.’ I say fix it, go all the way back up to the federal government, ask them to do their job, go all the way down,” Brown said.
Brown defended his own efforts to fix the housing complex.
“We have been. In fact, you can go right in there and see how many times, I, Reginald Lamar Brown, have called code enforcement throughout District 10, throughout the city of Jacksonville, it goes back to resources. This is where we are,” Brown said.
Brown suggested residents have the option to leave if they’re unhappy.
“Me, personally, if I had to live there and I was not satisfied, I would cancel my voucher and go somewhere else,” Brown said.
He denied that he hasn’t done enough to help the residents who can’t afford to leave.
“We are trying and (the) next step for the mayor, Tommy Hazouri and Dennis Garrett (is to) get federal HUD in there and see if there is enough funds to do what we need to do,” Brown said.
According to Brown, he and Hamlet have a strategic plan.
Brown did not provide the I-TEAM a copy of that plan, but reiterated the problem starts with the federal government.
But Hamlet's business model makes money. Global Ministries, based in Memphis, Tenn., bought Eureka Gardens in 2012 and receives $3 million a year to run the complex, and $3 million more to run six other properties in Jacksonville.
But Brown suggested that may not be enough.
“Let's be very candid about that. They all get money to manage those properties, but none of them are in it as a charity case, all of them are making money,” Brown said.
Brown said he and Hamlet agreed to a seven-year timeline to fully renovate the properties.
The I-TEAM also asked GMF if it had a copy of the strategic plan that Brown referenced. As of Thursday night, the I-TEAM had not received it.
The I-TEAM has asked the Mayor’s Office if Brown had gone to Washington Heights with code enforcement in the last seven months. So far, it has not responded with a yes or no.