Family fights city to keep afloat

[JayS]

June 25, 2004, 11:13PM
Family fights city to keep afloat
Store didn't rid lot of crime, city says
By RON NISSIMOV
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2648156



With its rows of boarded-up buildings, mounds of trash heaped on sidewalks and dozens of drug dealers hanging out on street corners, an area southeast of downtown may seem like nothing more than miserable urban blight.

But to 67-year-old Loi Tran and his 40-year-old daughter, Lien Tran, who both escaped communist Vietnam and were reunited several years ago after a long separation, the poor neighborhood offered them the chance to live the American dream.

After scraping together their meager life savings and getting a loan from a bank, they opened the Community Food Store in 1999 at 2618 McGowen, east of U.S. 59.

"This is the only thing we have," Lien Tran said Friday through an interpreter.

And now the city of Houston is in the process of shutting them down for at least a year, complaining there have been too many drug deals on their property. On June 16, state District Judge Caroline Baker ruled that the city could close the business for one year under a state law designed to stop neighborhood nuisances. Another judge had previously ordered the Trans to pay the city $15,000 in lawyers' fees.

*SNIP*

[MrBenchley]

1. Sounds like they rightfully got busted...

"Senior Assistant City Attorney Deborah McAbee denied that the Trans initiated calls that led to arrests. She said there have been 52 drug arrests on the property in the last two years, with 70 percent of those inside the store and 30 percent on the parking lot.
McAbee said the Trans made eight calls to police but none involved drug offenses. She also said police would not count any arrests on the Trans' property if the criminal acts began somewhere else. "

[alwynsw]

3. Have you ever been to an inner city store such as this? I have.

You might be amazed at the things that go on between the bars protecting the employees and stock and the front door. Many folks do whatever they want in this no-man's land because the very same bars protecting the staff prevent the staff from ejecting them. It's a two-edged sword. In this case, there's a joker in the deck. The Trans evidently have little to no English language skills. Do you reckon the Houston P.D. has enough Vietnamesespeakers to interpret their calls on the spot?

Common sense tells us that the sidewalk and parking lot argument for the city doesn't hold water - they're technically public easements. It's the old double standard - you can't restrict access, but you're liable for injuries, etc.

Let's not forget that likely as not, the Trans were threatened by the dealers to turn a blind eye. There's a nice spot between the proverbial rock and the hard place: call the cops and remain in business, but you'll likely be killed or maimed for your trouble.

Wonderful judgement call there, Mr. B. Damn the circumstances, fry the bastards.

on edit: Perhaps if the HPD were a bit more diligent in their duties, the dealers wouldn't be quite so thick in the neighborhood in question.

[MrBenchley]

5. Yeah, I have....

"Wonderful judgement call there, Mr. B. Damn the circumstances, fry the bastards."
Gee, is there something in that story saying they're not getting due process?

[alwynsw]

12. If you refuse to see the distinction, I can't force you to.

But then, I'm accustomed to that.

[MrBenchley]

13. Funny, I'm accustomed

to non-persuasive hooey from you. Of which this is a prime example.

[alwynsw]

14. I know you are, but what am I - INFINITY!

on edit: Just adhering to the usual adult standards of the gungeon discussion process.

[MrBenchley]

15. You're someone spouting off about a news story

without knowing anything at all about it...

[alwynsw]

16. I suppose you were there?

That would explain you view in post #1. Or did it just sound right to you that those infidel Viet bastards were about to lose their life savings because of what is essentialy a local option RICO case?

[MrBenchley]

18. Gee, alwyns...

I read the same story you did...I just notice that the same guy who claims to have been betrayed by the US also seems to have rushed right over here anyway....and that his claims of calling the cops turned out to be hooey. WHICH the story says...

[JayS]

4. You must have quit reading too soon.

According to court records, Loi Tran recorded in a journal several calls he made to alert police about drug dealers in the summer of 2003. Police intake records show that several calls were received during this time from a Vietnamese speaker, and at least one date for a drug arrest corresponds with Loi Tran's journal entry.

In addition, court records submitted by the city clearly show that some of the incidents did not begin on the Trans' property, such as a traffic stop that led to a drug arrest at the store parking lot, or undercover officers soliciting drugs from dealers who walked to the parking lot.

"How in the world is any person supposed to be able to prevent that from happening?" Mai said.

And this should warm everyone's heart.

"The first time we were betrayed by the United States in 1975 after the (Vietnam) War, when they dropped us like a hot potato," said Loi Tran, who fought for South Vietnam with American troops. After the war, Tran said the North Vietnamese imprisoned him for three years in a labor camp in the woods, where he sustained a severe leg fracture that still causes him to limp.

[MrBenchley]

6. No, I didn't quit reading...

I just thought it was a load of horseshit.

"And this should warm everyone's heart.
"The first time we were betrayed by the United States in 1975 after the (Vietnam) War"
And this poor asswipe felt so bitterly betrayed that he came here? Funny, I don't believe the crook for a second.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MrBenchley]

8. Too TOO funny...

Nothing like a good faith discusssion with a gun nut here....EVER.

[JayS]

9. You do prove your point quite well.

[MrBenchley]

10. Yes I do...

which is why you have to fall back on this silly ploy "Oh, MrBenchley hates Vienamese people..."

[JayS]

11. From the sounds of it, you do. Do tell us what these store...

...owners were supposed to do. This should be interesting.

[alwynsw]

17. Yes, please enlighten us and the Trans on the proper course of action.

[JayS]

19. Hello?

[MrBenchley]

20. What?

You want to keep asking horseshit questions aloud, do it without me....

[JayS]

21. We are all anxiously awaiting your response since you have...

...all the answers.

[MrBenchley]

22. I suggest you hold your breath while waiting...

[JayS]

23. In other words, you can judge, but you have no ideas of your...

...own as to how one would actually go about solving anything. We want economic development in the poor parts of town but do little to help those that actually make a go of it. Sad.

[MrBenchley]

24. No, in other words...

I have no interest in playing "let's pretend" with the sort of person who would spout that phony "mrBenchley hates VietNamese people" crap.

And it's damn strange how the liberal politicians who actually help "the poor parts of town" are all for gun control and come under attack here every day by the RKBA crowd, isn't it?

[JayS]

25. Yup, like I said, no ideas about this REAL situation. And the...

...funny thing is, here the economic development initiatives come from more conservative leaning politicians that want to make sure that the tax revenues come from businesses inside the city limits...and, I would bet, to keep the poor in "their" section of town.

[MrBenchley]

26. Yup...phony claims about what I said.

Is anybody else surprised that what's we get from the RKBA crowd? Me neither.

"here the economic development initiatives come from more conservative leaning politicians"
Yeah, and I bet they all peddle that "gun rights" horseshit to you too.

[JayS]

27. Yup, more of the usual from the anti-gun crowd. No ability to...

...think; no ability to reason. Probably not even grateful that others do both for them.

[MrBenchley]

28. Too funny...

Was it the ability to think or the ability to reason that made you suddenly hallucinate that I had mentioned "economic development initiatives" somewhere...much less which ones I had "mentioned"?

"not even grateful that others do both for them"
What others would those be? David Duke? Ted Nugent?

[JayS]

29. Economic development is one reason that the Trans opened...

...their store in an area that needed a store. It is part of what you would need to address if you had the courage to make a suggestion as to what the Trans are expected to do about their problem.

[MrBenchley]

30. In other words, I said no such thing...

"if you had the courage to make a suggestion as to what the Trans are expected to do about their problem."
Gee, jay, if you had the integrity to have a good faith discussion, perhaps I'd actually discuss something honestly with you. But you have demonstrated again and again that you don't, so I guess you'll have to solve their problem for them if you want it solved.

[JayS]

31. I knew you did not have the courage to make a suggestion...

...as to what the city should be doing to help the Trans. It is easier to just say they got what they deserved.

[MrBenchley]

32. And I know you have no integrity

[JayS]

33. Well, you don't know me but this should not stop you from...

...telling us just what your solution is to this particular problem. Other people read these messages and maybe you will give them some ideas that they can use where they live.

[MrBenchley]

34. Why don't you just make something up?

It's what you've been doing up until now.

[JayS]

35. You are the all wise and knowing one. You said the Trans got...

...just what they deserved. Please tell us why that is so and what they should have done instead.

[MrBenchley]

36. Gee, jay, that's because I read ALL of the news story....

[JayS]

37. Do tell us more.

[MrBenchley]

38. But then I guess anyone

not dumb enough to buy idiotic RKBA propaganda and horseshit from Newsmax sounds "all wise and knowing" to our "pro gun democrats".

[JayS]

39. I guess so....perhaps that is why you should share your solution...

...with us. You might jest learn us somethin' new.

[alwynsw]

2. Interesting

<snip>

Last year, Vietnamese storeowner Uyen Nguyen was sued under the same statute, but she was allowed to stay open after agreeing to hire off-duty police officers to monitor the premises and make other changes. Mai said the Trans were told they had to hire two off-duty officers at $20 an hour but could not afford to do so.

Sounds like a shakedown. Yup. We'll either get their money or run those furriners outa town.

One question: (If the Trans need an interpreter to speak to the reporter they should need on to talk to the police.) How many Vietnamese-speaking operators are working the phones in the Houston P.D.? Unless the operators speak Vietnamese, how can they state categorically that the Trans have not called about the drug deals.