Angry Del City residents take jail selection site personally

DEL CITY — Class conflict.

That is what some of the 120-plus residents and a few elected leaders talked about during a gathering Tuesday evening where they were updated on Oklahoma County's plans to build a new jail on 71 acres at 1901 E Grand Blvd.

Beyond Oklahoma County's Board of County Commissioners, speakers said others involved include a "Bricktown Mafia," other, unnamed wealthy downtown developers and more affluent communities in Oklahoma County.

Residents that spoke out Tuesday believe commissioners are trying to put the new jail on Grand because the nearby suburban community, a 7.5-square-mile area surrounded by Oklahoma City and populated by about 21,000 people, comparatively lacks the financial influence others hold.

The tone for the evening's discussions was set by state Rep. Andy Fugate, a Democrat who represents Del City and the Oklahoma City area where commissioners propose building the jail.

"They voted for economic eminent domain," Fugate told the crowd, describing the owners of more than 1,000 homes located just east of the jail's proposed location inside of Del City as "salt-of-the-earth" people who spent lifetimes working to buy their homes.

"These people ... don't have fancy cars. They don't have big stock portfolios. They don't have million-dollar mansions. They certainly don't have the cellphone number of the governor to call, like people on the north side of Oklahoma City who pick up the phone to say, 'We don't want the jail over here,'" Fugate said.

Fugate said a jail at 1901 E Grand Blvd. would be too close to a 600-student elementary school on the east side of Bryant Avenue that kids walk to regularly.

A jail there would release people onto a street that has no regular bus service and is miles away from bail bonds and attorneys offices, from social-related and employment services and from the Oklahoma County Courthouse, he told them.

"It's wrong for Del City. It is wrong for Oklahoma City. It is wrong for Oklahoma County. It is wrong for those people we put into that jail and it is wrong for their families," Fugate said.

"The only people who think this is right are the people who bought up all the cheap land around the current jail and are going to make a fortune" after the old jail is removed and the area is redeveloped, he said to thundering applause.

"The Bricktown Mafia," shouted someone from the audience.

"We don't want it here," Fugate told them. "Building this jail across the street from all these good folks is going to steal their nest egg, leave them with nothing to pass on to the next generation but faded dreams. What is happening here is a travesty."

Oklahoma state Sen. Kay Floyd, who represents much of the same area as Fugate, echoed his remarks and also said she felt county commissioners' worries about access to federal dollars for the project are on them.

Arguments a site is needed now make no sense, Floyd said.

"They have had plenty of time to go someplace else," she said. "I will stand here with you and keep asking, 'what took you so long? Why should we suffer because you didn't do your job?'"

Commissioners are trying to replace the county jail at 201 N Shartel.

The building has been plagued with problems since it opened in 1991. After operations there were taken over by an appointed trust replacing Oklahoma County's sheriff, it has been one of the deadliest correctional centers in the nation.

Residents fear exodus from Del City, again

Long-time Del City residents liken the current plan to build a jail at 1901 E Grand Blvd. to decisions made more than 50 years ago to build Hamilton Courts, a housing project for low-income residents, at that same location.

In less than a dozen years, the complex built on 80 acres in an industrial area of the city became a magnet for problems and largely was abandoned before it was closed in 1980.

The Oklahoman described the complex as “blighted” and a “scene of crime and race riots” in 1982.

Issues there prompted many Del City residents to leave their community, they recalled.

"I do not want to see Del City destroyed — for my property value to hit zero like it did when Hamilton Courts was around," said Jane Dannenberg-Peña, who has been a Del City resident since her parents bought a home there in 1952.

"Hamilton Courts tore Del City up, and we lost a lot of people. We can't take that again."

If the decision became final, "they just might as well bury us under the ground, too," Dannenberg-Peña said.

"It is going to affect so many people in this city," said Floyd Brown, 76, who was born and grew up in Del City and continues living there today.

Brown said he worries a lack of police, fire and public transportation services in that part of Oklahoma City would burden his much-smaller community.

"Del City has worked hard to have great police, fire and ambulance services, but if we have to support that jail, it is going to take away what we've paid to make our city a great place to live."

Derral Howard, 72, another Del City native who leads a watch patrol in the Midway Village neighborhood, agreed.

"It just amazes me that with Oklahoma County being so big, they cannot find 40 acres in a location that's not close to housing, schools, day cares. I just don't buy that's the only place they can find," Howard said.

Kevin Hill, a Del City resident who grew up there and later served as a principal at one of its schools, today ministers to its residents as a pastor of the Praise Assembly, not far from the proposed jail's location.

Hill said the church works with children from across that area.

"Where they want to build the jail will impact one of our most impoverished neighborhoods in Del City," said Hill. "We love our kids who attend schools in that area. But why would you put a daily reminder of some of the wrongs that have happened in our community right in their backyards? We just deserve better than that."

Schools are a big concern for Gina Standridge, a member of Midwest City-Del City's board of education who represents that area and told audience members eight schools are located within a mile of the jail's proposed location.

"Why are we building this on the backs of our children?" she asked.

Attorneys secured by Del City in its jail fight assure residents they will be heard

Residents also heard Tuesday from attorneys Del City hired to represent its concerns about the proposed jail location.

Those attorneys will represent the community before Oklahoma City's Planning Commission when it meets at 1:30 p.m. on April 11.

At that meeting, an attorney representing current landowners Willowbrook Investments and Garrett and Co. Resources will ask it to recommend approving a special use permit to Oklahoma City's council that would allow for a jail to be operated there.

Council approval of the permit is needed by the owners before it can sell the land to Oklahoma County.

Attorney Joe White, who spoke on behalf of White & Weddle, told audience members he believed the concept of locating a county jail miles away from the courthouse is crazy.

"Every county I go to, the jail is connected to the county courthouse," White said. "It's not next to some elementary school. It is not next to homes. It is in the middle of the community where the courthouse is.

"We are going to ask the questions that we hear tonight and more, about what has gone on and why we are still talking about this being on Grand. It ain't right. It makes no sense."

White also spoke highly about colleague Blaine Nice, an attorney with Fellers Snider who also is on the case and who has served Del City as a municipal judge for decades, describing him as a land-use expert.

"There's no one better," White told the audience.

Nice promised residents he'd look out for Del City residents' interests, even if their unified opposition to kill the deal before Oklahoma City's council fails.

"We've got some arrows in our quiver, and we are not going to give up," Nice said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Del City residents argue jail selection is economic eminent domain