Chicago Better Housing Association.

The Chicago Better Housing Association (CBHA) was created by Kenny B Smith and his wife Karen to turn vacant and blighted housing lots into affordable housing and community parks, to beautify the southside Chicago neighborhood and increase property values.

The Englewood Botanic Garden Project

The CBHA gained momentum with a $100k Illinois housing grant to create a botanic garden out of a vacant lot in South Side Englewood as a demonstration project. The CBHA was subsequently awarded an additional $20k supplemental in 2007 at the request of Illinois State Senator Barack Obama.

The "Englewood Botanic Garden Project" was announced at a January 2000 news conference at Englewood High School. The garden was to be "an oasis of trees and paths" instead of a vacant lot full of weeds and garbage under the Chicago_"L" mass transit tracks. The six-block stretch of trees and paths would run between 59th Place and 62nd Place. Organizers promised to raise $1.1 million for this and similar lots. The garden site is situated near where Smith was developing affordable housing.

In 2008, an investigative news article discovered that very little work had been done by CBHA. Trash and dead trees had been removed, but construction had not begun on the designed garden space. "The only noticeable improvement is a gazebo." [cite web|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/1184049,CST-NWS-watchdog25.article |title=Obama grant being probed |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times |date=2008-09-28 |accessdate=2008-10-01] [cite web|url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=257+West+61st+Street,+chicago,+il&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=63.134182,113.203125&ie=UTF8&ll=41.785983,-87.630263&spn=0.000924,0.002747&t=h&z=19&layer=c]

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating the financial transactions related to the grant. Particularly troubling was that the expenses were limited to $65k in salary payments for Karen D. Smith, the wife of founder Kenny B Smith, and $20k paid to KD Construction (which is owned by Karen D. Smith, but has since ceased operations).

Affordable Housing

On November 7, 2002, the City of Chicago Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community Coordinating Council voted and recommended to Mayor Daley to award a grant of $250,000 to the CBHA for the purpose of constructing new single family and "two-flat" homes in the Englewood district of Chicago, as part of an Enterprise Community Zone. The homes were to be constructed in the area "bounded by Princeton Avenue on the east, Stewart Avenue on the west, 61st Street on the south and 59th Place on the north. These were Community Development Block Grant funds, and were part of an effort to construct up to 50 homes. [cite web|url=http://www.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/BetterHousingAssoc_1.txt |accessdate=2008-10-01] To date, only a dozen have been built. [cite web|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/1184049,CST-NWS-watchdog25.article |title=Obama grant being probed |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times |date=2008-09-28 |accessdate=2008-10-01]

Campaign 2008

The association of Democrat Candidate Barack Obama became widely known when the Attorny General probe was launched. In the Governor's press release in 2001, it was noted that Obama was the principle sponsor of the $100k Gardens grant. "The purpose of this conservation and educational project is to instill pride in the community and to build a sense of community togetherness.This project was initiated by Obama." [cite web|url=http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?RecNum=1378&SubjectID=17]

References

* City of Chicago Ordinance, (5 Feb 2003) cite web|url=http://www.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/BetterHousingAssoc_1.txt | title=Ordinance
*Fusco, Chris and McKinney, Dave (25 Sep 2008) "cite web|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/1184049,CST-NWS-watchdog25.article |title=Obama grant being probed Chicago Sun Times
*Geller, Pamela (26 Sep 2008) "cite web|url=http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/09/corruption-erup.html |title=CORRUPTION ERUPTION: Obama Graft Being Probed Atlas Shrugs
*Illinois Government News Network (30 Jan 2001) "cite web | url=http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?RecNum=1378&SubjectID=17 | title=$2 Million in Illinois FIRST Projects for Chicago"