The quiet chatter of the room decreased to a low murmur as
the presence of Councilman Ford and Mr. Trudeaux was made known. Juniper was again standing before them ready
to begin. Small groups that had gathered
near the refreshments began to disperse as people slid between the aisles of
neatly lined chairs to take their seats.
“Thanks for coming out, everybody. I’m pleased to announce that this time we
have Councilman Ford with us. I’m told
that he works closely with the other levels of city government and will
represent them as well. So having made
mention of that I think we’re ready to get started.” Juniper walked to the first row of seats and
grabbed her notepad and pen to hand to the person seated next to her
chair. She instinctively knew to sign
in.
“What I’ve found after having spoken with the building
manager – who couldn’t be here tonight – is that the owner is unable to be
located.” Juniper scanned the crowd and
took notice of the puzzled looks on most faces.
“I know that seems strange. You
all are probably wondering just as I am who we’ve been paying rent to. The building manager stated that the rents
are deposited into an account that has been established long before he took the
job a few years ago. Perhaps that’s
something we could gain clarity on once we hear from Councilman Ford. Surely he knows who they were about to
purchase the building from and how to contact them.” Councilman Ford gave a nod and smile that was
difficult to read. Juniper couldn’t read
his nonverbal cues.
“I’ve researched our options and… I’m particularly the most
excited about having the opportunity to buy the building if we’re serious about
staying.”
Part of crowd began to whisper among themselves while others
again looked puzzled. Councilman Ford
and Keagan seemed equally bewildered by her statement.
“You mean you gonna pay for the building?” someone asked out
of confusion.
Juniper laughed.
“No. What I’m saying is that WE
have the option to purchase the building and become property
owners.” Juniper was all smiles, proud
of her findings and hopeful that the other tenants would be in agreement.
“How’re WE gonna do that? I ain’t got any money!” Someone yelled out
from the back.
Councilman Ford nervously shifted in his seat.
“It really isn’t that
difficult. If we can collectively come
up with some collateral, we can begin make a bid for the building. I have a realtor on standby that would be
willing to discuss the negotiations with the city. They should already have something in place
from their former plans. It’d just have
to be modified and tweaked a bit and we could form a workable agreement.”
Some tenants tsk and exit the meeting, shaking their
heads. “I might as well get ready to
move. I ain’t interested in going
through all that,” one gentleman scoffed as he made his way through the aisles
toward the exit.
“Yeah, what if all of us can’t ‘buy in?’ That leaves us in
the same predicament,” another tenant questioned.
“Not really. Those of
us who decide to purchase the property will take the role as owners. You’ll still continue to pay rent as you have
been doing. It’ll actually work out
better because now you’ll have contact with the owners.”
There were more statements and questions coming from the
tenants. Keagan leaned in to Councilman
Ford. “This was unexpected,” he
whispered.
Councilman Ford kept his focus on Juniper. “Something of a pleasant surprise,”
Councilman responded.
“So, you’re on board with this? What about the urban renewal project? These faces don’t communicate upward
mobility,” Keagan challenged.
“Ah, but the public loves to watch the underdog overcome
adversity, Keagan. Besides, from the
tone of the crowd they’ll likely weed themselves out. The undesirables will move to rent somewhere
else. Too much responsibility for them
to own something,” the Councilman quietly chuckled. “Whatever you had planned, put that on
pause. I think being a part of this
would be to our benefit. Let’s see where
it takes us.”
As Juniper continued to answer questions, Keagan excused
himself to make a phone call. Councilman
Ford continued to take notice of those who sounded reluctant and those that seemed
interested in going further, the thought resting in his mind that things don’t
always happen as planned but sometimes can turn out better than expected.
No comments:
Post a Comment