HUD Sec. Ben Carson decries Baltimore 'animosity' after church boots news conference from property

[Arkansas Granny]

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson came to Baltimore Wednesday to tout the Trump administration’s efforts to improve urban areas. But Carson ran into trouble when his entourage was kicked off the Southwest Baltimore property where they planned to hold a press conference.

HUD officials hoped to stage their event on a vacant lot, but never asked permission from Morning Star Baptist Church of Christ, which owns the lot and hopes to build a parking lot there, said church member Gregory Evans. Evans asked the HUD group to move off the property.

“It’s nothing personal,” Evans said from the church lobby, where he was reading the newspaper and checking in children to a vacation Bible school camp. “I didn’t know it was Secretary Carson. I just know there were a bunch of people over there that were taking over our site. And we said, 'Why are they here? They’ve not even asked for permission to be here.”

<snip>

Carson was not pleased. He suggested the church was an example of people refusing to work together to solve Baltimore’s problems.

“We just have all this animosity all the time,” Carson told reporters during his press conference. “For instance, you guys know, you were set up on this property and right here is this church that said: ‘Get off our property.’ You know, a church? When we’re talking about helping the people. I mean, this is the level to which we have sunken as a society.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-ben-carson-visit-20190731-20190731-zk22qwmp4fhvjklv3wxlbvxfkm-story.html

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Property rights.

Stand your ground, Morning Star Baptist Church of Christ.

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF LANDOWNERS AND THEIR INTERESTS

Republican Patriots Protecting Property Rights is a grassroots organization whose mission is to support initiatives and legislation that protect the rights of citizens to own, use and enjoy their private property free from government intrusion and overreach.

Property rights is among the oldest of conservative ideals, reaching back to the Nation’s Founding Fathers who believed that government should sanction and protect the rights of landowners and their interests. We believe that this ideal should be returned to prominence in the Republican Platform, and conservatives should prioritize property rights when advocating for legislation.

Property Rights

The South Carolina Republican Party acknowledges the high position of property rights in a free society. “Republicans consider private property rights the cornerstone of environmental progress. That lesson has been confirmed in the tragic environmental record of communist rule and of socialist readiness in the less developed world. By safeguarding these rights, by enforcing the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and by providing compensation, we not only stand true to the Constitution but advance sound environmentalism as well” (1996 Republican National Platform p. 65).

With regard to private property, the United States Constitution’s Fifth Amendment could not be more clear: “No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”

The South Carolina Republican Party believes the constitutional guarantee provided in this amendment is one of the pillars of our free society. Any attempt to encumber or weaken this guaranteed protection of private property should be opposed.

[IADEMO2004]

2. Telling lies on church property could attract bolts of lightning. Saved your dumb ass Ben.

[blogslut]

3. Hey, Ben!

Part of "working together" is asking permission before you use someone else's land for your photo op.

[Frustratedlady]

4. It's called separation of church and state, Dr. Ben.

You want them to lose their tax-free status?

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Not to mention that he was probably trespassing, as well.

[RainCaster]

6. Baltimore is infested with politicians

Ben is not very smart for a brain surgeon.

[delisen]

7. The photo op is not needed Sec. Carson

Please do not confuse it with actual work to hep people.

[mopinko]

8. planning is dead, apparently.

obviously slapped together in the last week or so, and likely not until they got around to realizing that they havent done shit.

they think you can just pop up and have a little press moment, any time, any place, and convince people you are doing shit when you arent.
pro-tip: it does take a little longer when you actually have something real to talk about.

[Mike 03]

9. Sorry, Ben

Guess they were telling you to "Go back to where you came from."

Send him back.

[Scoopster]

10. If you don't want animosity...

THEN DONT SET UP A GODDAMNED PHOTO OP ON SOMEONE ELSE'S PROPERTY WITHOUT THEIR DAMN PERMISSION.

[StarfishSaver]

11. Cabinet secretaries have scheduling and advance people who meticulously plan events

Or at least they used to under previous administration.

There's no way in the past that a cabinet secretary would just show up on private property expecting to hold an event without the property owner's knowledge and permission.

[Demovictory9]

12. exactly

[Retrograde]

16. "If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well"

I'm starting to wonder if there are some career employees in HUD who are passively-aggressively starting to rebel and make their bosses look bad.

Or they are just incompetent. Or don't care. Or both.

[C_U_L8R]

13. Please and Thank You could have gone a long way

Geez, Carson is such an ignoramus

[gratuitous]

14. Apparently having an advance team and getting permissions is now communism or something

"We just have this animosity all the time." Gee Ben, got any notions on where that might have originated? Can I just show up and host a party in your office when you're trying to do work? Why not? What's with all the animosity?

DAMN but these people are arrogant.

[DesertRat]

15. White House PR stunt backfires