Fontainebleau construction slowing amid lawsuit

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Posted on 30th April 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 4/30/2009 9:14 PM
OSKAR GARCIA
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Contractors building a $3 billion casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip began trimming workers this week while financing to finish the project is in question, the developer said Thursday.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas sued 11 lenders last week, saying the banks had pulled back on a promised $800 million in funding without merit. The lawsuit said the banks told Fontainebleau that it had defaulted on the agreements when it had not.

Dave Satterfield, a spokesman for Fontainebleau Las Vegas, said Thursday that about 3,000 workers on site were being reduced to skeleton crews, with construction continuing. Fontainebleau’s contractors had anticipated hiring another 1,700 workers to finish the project in time for an anticipated October opening.

The hotel is about 70 percent done.

“It’s basically to be expected, given that the banks reneged on the agreement to provide the revolving credit facility,” Satterfield told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The subcontractors are understandably nervous about getting paid moving forward.”

Some union officials and lawmakers have sided with Fontainebleau in calling on the banks to lend the $800 million.

Mark Ayers, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, called the banks’ decisions “unfortunate and disdainful” in a Wednesday statement.

“These are critical jobs that are now in jeopardy of vanishing at the worst possible moment,” Ayers said. “Thousands of taxpaying union workers have made a commitment to completing this project. It’s time these banks made the same commitment and worked with Fontainebleau Las Vegas to restore the company’s funding.”

Fontainebleau is in discussions with Bank of America about restructured financing for the money. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Capital Corp. each promised $100 million to Fontainebleau, according to the lawsuit. Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch in September.

Satterfield said Bank of America also is the administering agent for the loan.

Also named in the lawsuit are Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation New York, Bank of Scotland, HSH Nordbank AG, Camulos Master Fund LP and MB Financial Bank, N.A.

Fontainebleau has already borrowed more than $2 billion. The company has said neither the lawsuit nor the $800 million loan affects its Fontainebleau Miami Beach property.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Out of Evil Comes Good: The Vick Story

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Posted on 22nd April 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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When speaking of justice and American politics, we often focus on the bigger issues of financial news and the foreclosure crisis. Today I want to highlight a story which may seem to affect only a few, but has social repercussions which reach out to affect all of us. And like many of these stories, it took one high profile incident to bring the entire issue to light.

The country may be divided on the guilt and subsequent punishment of Michael Vick. One thing we can all agree on, however, is that he brought dogfighting to the public spotlight. Today, animal advocates are asking President Obama to urge state governors to end dog fighting forever.

Dogfighting is much more than a cruel sport which results in the abuse of animals. It is a subculture which is involved in a whole host of criminal activities; drugs, firearms, gambling, interstate trafficking and more. It subverts inner city youth and escalates violence. It reaches across this country affecting all of us. It hits the pocket of taxpayers who foot the bill for fighting dogs in shelters and legal actions. It redirects resources for animals. It endangers the public who can become victims of abused fighting dogs and other criminal activity.

Dogfighting is not an animal issue. It is a human issue. It is an accepted precept that animal abuse leads to human abuse. A subculture which advocates for animal abuse contributes to a disregard for the sanctity of all life.

I hope you take a few moments to view a stunning photo-essay series by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Carol Guzy, in the Washington Post. Chapter by chapter, images and commentary capture a story which brought the secret world of dogfighting to light, Shelter for the Scarred.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/galleries/vickdogs/

Issues Daily Staff Article

Half of housing grants used to buy foreclosures

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Posted on 10th April 2009 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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Date: 4/10/2009

KATRINA A. GOGGINS
Associated Press Writer

Just over half of a new $4 billion federal housing program approved late last year will go to purchase and fix up foreclosed homes nationwide, a study released this week showed.

The program aims to raise home values by helping state and local governments buy bank-owned properties, repair or demolish them, and help working families make the leap to homeownership. And Congress added another $2 billion to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program this year when it passed the economic stimulus package.

The first round of grants were allocated to states and cities as part of a housing rescue plan that was regarded at the time as the most significant housing legislation in a generation. The Department of Housing and Urban Development signed off on more than 300 proposals from all 50 states.

Around 56 percent of the grants approved last year will be used to buy and rehabilitate properties that have been abandoned or foreclosed, according to the report from Enterprise Community Parnters.

Twenty-one percent will be used to help low- to moderate-income families purchase the homes, while just 6 percent will be used to demolish vacant properties.

“These are pretty flexible funds that allows you to serve extremely low-income families all the way up to working families and that’s unique,” said Alazne Solis of the Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit financier for affordable housing.

The group’s report provides the first look at how states and local governments nationwide plan to use the money.

While Solis praised the program, critics say the grant proposals are too vague and the program lacks oversight and accountability. The plan has also drawn fire from some neighborhood groups that want a say in how the money is spent.

In foreclosure-ravaged Ohio, for example, where grantees will get about $258 million, the Livingston Avenue Area Commission in Columbus continues to press city officials to include the group in meetings about the funding.

“We are the neighborhood,” gripes Bryan Boatright, vice president of the group. “I wake up every morning and look out my window and see it. The folks in the administrative offices wake up every morning and have to drive 10 miles to it. It’s more important than ever residents have a say in what’s happening in their backyards.”

Enterprise did recommend lawmakers monitor the outcomes of the program.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.