What is the deal with this?

What, people are to afraid to respond because they know that James Caldwell read these post. Well I'm ready to blow him up. This is just a portion of what he got from them. I'm waiting for the other documents to come in. That man is a JOKE.

greg wrote: [quote=D.G.]What, people are to afraid to respond because they know that James Caldwell read these post. Well I'm ready to blow him up. This is just a portion of what he got from them. I'm waiting for the other documents to come in. That man is a JOKE.

That man has been helping Crown Heights since Noah. Any money he got from Ratner is more than earned in blood, sweat and tears shed for North Crown Heights during the years when nobody cared.

Please tell me what he has really done for the community? Have you been to any of his meetings? Boring!!! He has nothing but BULLSHIT there. He has done nothing with this BUILD organization. He and that short girl, needs a perm walk around like they are on top of the world. What job training has he provided? Please enlighten me.

stacey wrote: [quote=greg][quote=stacey][quote=greg][quote=D.G.]What, people are to afraid to respond because they know that James Caldwell read these post. Well I'm ready to blow him up. This is just a portion of what he got from them. I'm waiting for the other documents to come in. That man is a JOKE.

That man has been helping Crown Heights since Noah. Any money he got from Ratner is more than earned in blood, sweat and tears shed for North Crown Heights during the years when nobody cared.

Please enlighten me because as a newcomer to this area (although my husband's family has lived on Underhill for 35 years) I would really like to know.

He and another BUILD member, Marlene Saunders have been the backbone, spine and a few other body parts of the 77th Pct. Council for years. I first heard of James when he sent my employer a request for toys for the Christmas party the 77th was throwing for the kids in the community. This was (and may well still be) a big deal in the area. This was at least 10 years ago, when Crown Heights was really beat down and most folks who lived there just wanted to run home from the train and lock their doors.

Since then whenever there was trouble getting the police to do their thing, James or Marlene were the people to call. Just last week James came to our block association meeting after there was a shooting up the street and talked about progress BUILD was making in getting kids jobs.

As a guy who worked for a non-profit for 15 years, I can tell how annoying it is when everybody expects you to work for free, when they constantly question your funding, as if you were supposed to the work because it was God's calling or something. Nevermind they were pulling down big salaries somewhere, no questions asked. Nevermind that not-profit employers also have a mortgage to pay, kids to put through college, etc. etc.

With Ratner's backing, BUILD can spend less time doing fund raising and more time working in the committee. As a non-profit you often half of your time raising money, which is time you could better spend servicing the needs of your community.


Thanks for the response Greg but it seems to me that he is doing what many, many people in this neighborhood have been doing without looking to get paid for it or for the recognition. I personally do not know enough about him to make a judgment. I have been to only one meeting (family constraints make it hard on me) and at that meeting I found him to be a little bit self-centered.

To me a non-profit is just that a non-profit - you do it because it is something you believe in. If these people are getting paid for "volunteer work" then it seems shady to me. I have a problem with the timing of these donations

I applaud his efforts in helping "kids" get jobs - but where is the proof of that. Without proof I could tell you that I am a 6 foot blonde bombshell and you would have to believe it. Growing up not too far from here I saw many kids get jobs only to lose them quickly - I find job training and mentoring go a lot farther.

Im not trying to diss him I would really like to know more about him.

When you say a lot of people were doing stuff in this neighborhodd, could you be more specific? I'm specifically talking about Crown Heights in the early 90's. I was helping build affordable housing in the area at the time. and I can tell not much was going on. For years, James and Marlene built up the 77th pct. council, without getting a single red cent for their effort, nor asking for any either. Because of this work with the 77th Pct. James became known to a lot of people. As such he has excellent access to the community. People in Crown Hgts know and respect him and know that he's not "just about the money". As such he can get into places and do things that folks without his credentials could never do.

I certainly have no problem with volunteers. I'm a member of community board 8 and attend four or five unpaid meetings every month. But CB 8 has a paid staff too to make sure that things get done and that there is continuity and follow through.

The work that BUILD has undertaken is huge and the problem of underemployment in Crown Heights is deeply entrenched. To get jobs that aren't a revolving door means a lot more that just having bodies that show up occasionally. You need folks with good life skills, stable homes, decent housing and appropriate educations. Many of these have been lacking for years in Crown Heights.

This picture won't be changed by a few volunteers. It needs a large paid staff if anything real is going to happen. I personally belief that BUILD deserves our support. I believe they have open meetings every Tuesday at their offices on Pacific Street between 6th Ave and Flatbush. I'm sure they'd welcome your contributions. For more information, check out their website:
http://www.buildbrooklyn.org/

http://therealestate.observer.com/2005/09/a-cool-5-million.html