A little more
As I expected she would, Nicki offered a solid defense of the Athens-Clarke County Heritage Foundation on the heels of my post backing Kappa Alpha's demolition of two houses on property it owned. The differences I see are this ...
- While there was and continues to be some justly deserved distrust of Kappa Alpha in the neighborhood based on the fact that 'KA is gonna do what KA wants anyway' it's also important to note that such logic is a two-way street. Personally, I don't believe those residents would ever change their mind on the fraternity, no matter how much effort they put into any neighborhood project. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I think that's the reality. Ultimately, I wish that Kappa Alpha had never moved there, but the fact of the matter is that they did.
- Was the move and demolition motivated by self-interest on Kappa Alpha's part? Well, absolutely. They found a piece of property that was affordable and met their needs, so they acted on it. They realized that waiting for a possible historic designation was many months away (and could be longer since it's taken quite some we're still waiting on downtown to earn its special designation), and they were losing money on the property with each passing day. With no existing laws in place to prohibit them from demolition, they were free to act and demolish the buildings.
- Should they have moved the properties? Well, yes, that would have been a nice gesture but if they were unable to secure the appropriate funding, then why exactly are we faulting them for, again, operating on a basic economic assumption?
- I'm not here to defend Kappa Alpha's history or heritage, and readers of this blog know full and well that I've had numerous issues with it. However, I don't believe this discussion is about that. Granted, it was a poor PR move on there part, but ulimately one that stemmed from economic necessity and urgency. And, as Nicki notes as well, they acted within the law and it was their property to do with as they please. I'm very much an advocate for private property rights, as my disagreements in the past regarding the quality of life ordinances that were enacted here can attest.
- While there was and continues to be some justly deserved distrust of Kappa Alpha in the neighborhood based on the fact that 'KA is gonna do what KA wants anyway' it's also important to note that such logic is a two-way street. Personally, I don't believe those residents would ever change their mind on the fraternity, no matter how much effort they put into any neighborhood project. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I think that's the reality. Ultimately, I wish that Kappa Alpha had never moved there, but the fact of the matter is that they did.
- Was the move and demolition motivated by self-interest on Kappa Alpha's part? Well, absolutely. They found a piece of property that was affordable and met their needs, so they acted on it. They realized that waiting for a possible historic designation was many months away (and could be longer since it's taken quite some we're still waiting on downtown to earn its special designation), and they were losing money on the property with each passing day. With no existing laws in place to prohibit them from demolition, they were free to act and demolish the buildings.
- Should they have moved the properties? Well, yes, that would have been a nice gesture but if they were unable to secure the appropriate funding, then why exactly are we faulting them for, again, operating on a basic economic assumption?
- I'm not here to defend Kappa Alpha's history or heritage, and readers of this blog know full and well that I've had numerous issues with it. However, I don't believe this discussion is about that. Granted, it was a poor PR move on there part, but ulimately one that stemmed from economic necessity and urgency. And, as Nicki notes as well, they acted within the law and it was their property to do with as they please. I'm very much an advocate for private property rights, as my disagreements in the past regarding the quality of life ordinances that were enacted here can attest.
posted by Jmac at 8:17 AM
8 Comments:
Designation is about 3-4 months away. And the KA corporation has more money than God --this is, after all, the fraternity for rich white southern kids.
The national chapter has a large amount of cash to draw from, sure, but the local chapter is going to be facing new mortgage payments they haven't had to deal with before, meaning there are going to be some higher costs than in previous years. Also, though I am far from a fraternity expert, it isn't as if the national chapter just doles out cash to individual houses for them to cover their costs.
And, regardless, even if they had 'more money than God' it doesn't change the fact that what Kappa Alpha did was a perfectly logical economic decision.
Anon your info is simply incorrect. KA national takes money from chapters, not give it. They fundraise to maintain educational programs and that's it. There is no mythical "war chest". Furthermore, the very public fundraising campaign is pushing towards its goal, but will take a while to get there. What fraternity at UGA isn't for rich white kids?
"And the KA corporation"
This is a national entity, no? I believe the national housing corporation are the ones that make decisions about buying/ funding housing; it's not the local UGA chapter president and his officers (who are students). If that's not the case, I stand to be corrected -- though I still think they just did the most expeditious thing and could have worked w/ the 'hood had they wanted to but instead took a "you be damned approach" on this issue (which was incredibly dumb, PR-wise).
"What fraternity at UGA isn't for rich white kids?"
Generally I am in agreement, but the KAs are well known as being the fraternity for the sons of the particularly well-healed (as opposed to the merely well-off).
There is no national housing entity. Like I said the national KA entity is not very powerfull and simply assits the local chapters and funds some local educationa chapters. A confederacy of chapters, if you will.
I would agree about KA being more based on who your pops was than how much he makes...
So the decision to demolish the houses would have been made locally by the frat officers?
It's all in their press release. The KA housing corporation made the decision. This is a local corporation made up of alumni and in no way related to KA Nationals.
The Alpha Phi Alphas, the Omega Psi Phis, and the Phi Beta Sigmas are not 'for' rich white kids. At least, that's not their usual pledge...
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