Mozella McLaughlin and her family are re-thinking plans for their Mok'e Jazz Cultural Center, William McLaughlin said this morning, and the Know Book Store is definitely out of the picture.
"We absolutely cannot work with Mr. [Bruce] Bridges," the bookstore's owner, McLaughlin said. "He is out of this project."
The city's role may be up in the air as well, he said, given other "modifications" in the Mok'e Plan that McLaughlin did not specify.
Whether he realized it at the time or not, when City Council member Howard Clement moved last night to put off a decision on $175,000 for the Mok'e Jazz Cultural Center for two weeks, he was setting it at a critical time.
Oct. 5: Election Eve.
Clement and council member Cora Cole-McFadden are both up for re-election and both face multiple opponents in the Oct. 6 primary.
Both Clement and Cole-McFadden had previously expressed support for the grant, requested by Mozella McLaughlin and her three children to help renovate and expand the building she owns at 2520 Fayetteville Street for a community center with live jazz, a restaurant, rooftop garden and other amenities.
But they hedged their support at last night's council meeting, where one of Cole-McFadden's challengers and two of Clement's stated their positions on the grant and more than 20 speakers urged the council to help keep the Know Book Store -- McLaughlin's current tenant -- in business.
Cole-McFadden and Clement said they wanted a compromise that would aid both sides, and supported a delay to allow time for more negotiation between tenant and landlord, after Clement challenger Darius Little and Cole-McFadden challenger Donald Hughes spoke for the grant as community revitalization; and Clement challenger Matt Drew spoke against it as an overly risky investment of taxpayers' money.
Bookstore owner Bruce Bridges, who also runs a restaurant and holds weekly Jazz Nights at the building, has claimed McLaughlin's project could put him out of business. McLaughlin has offered Bridges a place in the Mok'e Center, but Bridges has said the increased rent he would have to pay for less space, plus giving up the restaurant operation to McLaughlin, would likely cripple his store.
Monday night, Bridges tossed a new issue into the dispute by asking the council to grant money for his business if it approved the McLaughlin grant.
Mayor Bill Bell also tossed in a new issue, wanting to know why the financial analysis that the city economic-development department for McLaughlin's grant application had not taken into account the cost of state and federal taxes her Center would have to pay as a for-profit enterprise.
Postponing a decision, Bell said, should be for the purpose of re-analyzing the Mok'e Center's reasonable cash flow and not for dealing with the Know Book Store, which he considered an issue separate from the grant, involving landlord and tenant.
But Bridges, and other speakers, made a connection in objecting to a public subsidy for one business that would jeopardize another.
Councilman Eugene Brown, who has said the Mok'e Center is not financially viable in opposing the city grant, passionately repeated that point during the council deliberation.
Councilman Farad Ali was equally passionate in supporting the grant, saying, "This is project that has life," and maintaining that the council had unfairly subjected the McLaughlin application to terms and scrutiny it had not applied to other grants under the city's Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization program.
After more than two hours' testimony and deliberation, the City Council voted Monday night to put off a decision on granting $175,000 for the Mok'e Jazz Cultural Center.
Mayor Bill Bell raised a concern about the center's estimated cash flow. Also, Know Book Store owner Bruce Bridges, who has said the Mok'e project will hurt his store, asked for city help to stay in business.
“I don't think we're prepared to make a decision tonight,” said Councilman Howard Clement.
The Know Book Store leases a building at 2520 Fayetteville St.. The owner, Mozella McLaughlin, has sought the city's help to renovate and enlarge the building to house the proposed Jazz Cultural Center.
In a letter presented to council members just before the meeting began, McLaughlin asked the council:
McLaughlin has invited Bridges to lease space in her renovated building, but Bridges has said the terms she offered are unacceptable, and he has been unable to find space elsewhere.
Council member Cora Cole-McFadden said she had favored the grant for McLaughlin. “But I am concerned now,” she said, “and I need to hear more about Bruce Bridges and the plight of the Know Book Store.”
Bridges said his is “the oldest African-American-owned bookstore in North Carolina ... as well as a local institution.”
Besides books on black history and culture, the Know includes a restaurant and holds a weekly jazz night. More than 20 citizens spoke to support Bridges and his store. Some complained that, in funding the McLaughlin project, the city would be using taxpayers' money to displace one business in favor of another.
Chris Tiffany, who said he had been a Know Book Store customer for more than 20 years, compared the city's subsidy for the Mok'e Center to “helping Rupert Murdoch take over the Carolina Times” — a long-established black newspaper in Durham.
The city's economic-development office is sticking by its recommendation to loan Mozella McLaughlin $175,000 to renovate and enlarge her building at 2520 Fayetteville Street, but it has added a couple of clauses.
If the building gets sold within five years, or its use changed from McLaughlin's proposed jazz cultural center, the taxpayers can get their money back.
Those clauses were added after concerns were raised that the building might be renovated and then "flipped."
The loan, which was continued from a City Council meeting in August, has become a controversial item. Councilman Eugene Brown, in particular, has questioned the project's financial viability; and the building's present tenant, Know Book Store owner Bruce Bridges, has said the decreased space and increased rent the renovation would bring might force him out of business.
McLaughlin, a 92-year-old retired teacher and retailer, and her children are seeking the loan under the city's Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization program. If the council approves the loan, she would not receive any money until the proposed construction is actually complete.
A public hearing on the loan is scheduled for the council's regular meeting Sept. 21.
