By james art A black clergy group has mostly criticized Southwest Ward Councilor Kevin Mundy for what it called a “condemning and divisive” email that called Northeast Ward Councilor Barbara Burke a bully who wants to illegally control housing decisions in her ward.
The Winston-Salem & Vicinity Ministerial Conference sent an email Tuesday to Mayor Alan Jones, City Manager Pat Pate and all eight members of the Winston-Salem City Council, with copies also sent to a magazine reporter and City Attorney Angela Carmon.
The group is calling on city leaders to “publicly reject and condemn this cowardly passive aggressive attempt” by “Mundy and others to distort the true narrative and intent” of the Conference and Burke.
The Ministerial Conference email suggests that the debris from Mundy’s Oct. 21 email bomb is unlikely to settle soon.
Mundy’s Oct. 21 email to Thembila Covington, a prominent member of the Ministerial Conference, said Burke was trying to “bypass the legal process for land acquisition and make his own decisions without council approval.” Mundy went on to say that Burke wanted to get rid of Pate because he wouldn’t go along with her housing plans, then tried to “poison his reputation in the black community, starting with the Ministerial Conference.”
The response from the Ministerial Conference on Tuesday claimed that Mundy intended to “mischaracterize” the group’s efforts about “the real effort and time that we are spending to help transform blighted areas in this city” with the help of Burke.
Keith Vereen, the president of the Ministerial Conference and the person who sent the email to the group, was unable to comment on the email Tuesday afternoon because he was in meetings. Mundy did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Winston-Salem Council Member Barbara Burke called a “bully” by a fellow council member
The housing issues at hand revolve around the city’s efforts to encourage the development of affordable housing by selling vacant city lots to nonprofits or companies that will build housing on them. After a series of such sales, city leaders decided to stop them and develop policies around the sales and housing that would be built on the lots.
In September, Burke argued that she should oversee those decisions in her department and said she had overseen the development of a plan to that end. In his Oct. 21 email, Mundy said Burke’s housing plans have so many “bells and whistles” — garages for each house, for example — that the houses will no longer be affordable for people who need them.
The city attorney said the city cannot legally give any council member the authority to make decisions about selling land in the member’s area or providing financial assistance for housing development. Carmon said those decisions must be made by a vote of the entire council.
In its email on Tuesday, the Ministerial Conference said Mundy’s email “demeans the thorough and effective work done in the North East region and across the city as a whole”.
Jones said Tuesday that he had not yet seen the email from the clergy group, but added that as mayor he would likely speak privately with members of the Ministerial Conference if he decided to take a position on the dispute.
“I wouldn’t want to escalate the situation any more than necessary,” Jones said. “I will certainly wait and see what the letter says. The mayor said he had not seen communication like Mundy’s before and that it was “certainly not helpful to create divisions within the council”.
The background to the email exchange lies in last year’s controversy over Pate’s selection as city manager to replace longtime manager Lee Garrity, who is retiring. Burke endorsed former Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney, who would have become the city’s first black and first female city manager if elected. Mundy, in her email, accused Burke of promising Tony the top job if Tony would give her free reign of housing in her ward.
The ministerial conference and the local NAACP chapter protested the city’s decision to hire Pate over Tony. Mundy claims this happened because Burke went to the groups and accused the council majority of being racist and using an unfair selection process.
The Ministerial Conference’s response to Mundy’s email said the group works with “unimpeachable integrity” to address community concerns and that it operates independently, “without any manipulation, financial incentives or coercion from any individual, church, council or groups with special interests. “
The group’s email said Mundy was using “classic plantation thinking and the motive of those in power to ignore, divide, conquer and silence any opposition to the status quo.” The group said it was “hypocritical” for Mundy to accuse Burke of gentrification with her housing plans, given the “unjust displacement of black people in this city” as a result of the city council’s actions.
Burke, the group said, has “passionately advocated for the will of her constituents in the Northeast and worked in tandem with us” to foster a vision for the community.