CARLTON FLETCHER: Some eloquence emerges in ugly meeting

Talk to me so you can see, oh what’s going on.

— Marvin Gaye

The south Albany citizens who came to the Albany City Commission meeting Tuesday morning demanding that the commission somehow undo action it had taken a little less than a year ago in granting Sam Patel the rezoning request he needed to build a liquor store in their neighborhood won something of a victory at the meeting, albeit a Pyrrhic one.

The commission, bowing to the demands of the citizens who came bearing signs of protest — “Keep Your Booze Out of Our Neighborhood” … “Save Our Neighborhood” … “South Albany Matters” — voted to deny another rezoning request by Patel, this one that would have allowed him to use property at Johnny W. Williams Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive adjacent to the lot where he plans to build his liquor store so that he could have more lenient setbacks and add a drive-thru.

The citizens, though, were looking for more. They demanded that city officials rescind approval that will allow Patel to build the liquor store. The discussion that came during a public hearing to discuss Patel’s request was frequently eloquent, veering into matters such as a reasonable call for community partnership agreements that would invest the community in matters that impact them. But it also got ugly, that old Albany bugaboo racism rearing its ugly head.

Ward VI Commissioner Tommie Postell, whose health issues had three times delayed votes on Patel’s original request, took aim at Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher, saying she was “out of order” and “had no business meddling in my ward” because Fletcher encouraged the board to talk with Patel about his plans before voting to follow an Albany-Dougherty Planning Commission recommendation to deny the businessman’s request.

Postell later shocked many in the crowd by asking Planning Director Paul Forgey — as if Forgey were the developer of the liquor store — “Do you only do this in black neighborhoods? Would you do this in a Caucasian neighborhood?”

Fletcher called Postell on his comments and others made by some who had asked to speak during the public hearing, saying, “Racism is the No. 1 problem in our community, and I’m seeing a lot of that here today.”

One commenter referred to Patel, who is of Eastern Indian descent, as “those people,” saying, “He might give one or two token jobs to black people to show how ‘concerned’ he is about the neighborhood, but those people only give jobs to their own kind.”

Ironically, one of the organizers of the community protest, Demetrius Young, the son of long-ago Commissioner Mary Young-Cummings who has reportedly told some he plans to run for a seat on the commission, chastised the City Commission for not following the recommendation of the Planning Commission, which initially voted 7-0 to deny the rezoning request sought by Patel.

“Those people on the Planning Commission are people who are from our neighborhood, African-Americans who we trust,” Young said before demanding, “you shouldn’t have done this; fix it.”

Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff, who called for the vote on the original rezoning request to be tabled so that Postell, who had health issues and missed several meetings, could be part of the discussion, pointed out that while the group called for the denial of Patel’s rezoning request Tuesday, the Planning Commission had actually voted 5-4 to approve that request.

Chad Warbington, in an appearance that had “mayoral run” written all over it, made appeasing remarks that included, “You seven people are the most powerful group in the city. You could vote to change the carpet in this room; you could vote to paint these walls. And you have the authority to undo this (vote that allowed for the liquor store to be built).”

Fletcher asked City Attorney Nathan Davis if the commission could actually change its vote, and Davis said it could not.

Amid the rhetoric and posturing, there were sensible suggestions made, some that the commission should consider. And there was a genuine show of concern by residents in the community who were adamant that they would oppose Patel’s liquor store even if it was built.

One gentleman told me, “There are too much drugs, shootings and robberies in our neighborhood already. I’ve been living in Albany more than 50 years, and I don’t want no liquor store right in my front door. If he wants to bring business there, let him bring something useful.”

Patel, obviously angered by some of the comments directed at him during the meeting, said afterward that he plans to start work on the liquor store right away.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ABH_Fletcher.