By Loyd McIntosh, For The Tribune
CENTER POINT — The Center Point City Council heard a proposal to bring video gaming to the city and addressed more concerns related to the Upland Apartment complex in its council meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 21.
In a meeting rescheduled following the cancellation of its Thursday, Feb. 16, meeting due to the threat of severe weather, the Center Point City Council opened the public comment portion of the meeting with a short presentation from Arthur Humphrey, a gaming machine entrepreneur.
Shrouded in ambiguous language, Humphrey’s brief presentation included a two-pronged proposal to bring a manufacturing plant for gaming machines to Center Point, as well as to allow for the presence of Bingo and other electronic gambling machines within the city.
“What I would like to know from you guys is what could I offer or what could we do, are you guys even open to something like that,” said Humphrey.
After some back-and-forth discussion with the city council aimed at determining the exact nature of Humphrey’s proposal, Council President D.M. Collins and Mayor Bobby Scott finally batted the proposal back to Humphrey, recommending he speak the Planning and Zoning Commission, which has original jurisdiction over the issue.
“This has come up before the planning and zoning commission before and it did not pass so it’s not in our zoning ordinance right now,” Collins said. “I’m not sure, with the makeup of the commission now, how that would go over with the commission, but in the past, the charity Bingo has not been (something) that the commission has recommended to the council.”
“The reason that those facilities are banned in the ordinance now is because they did get out of hand before the city annexed and did become a city,” added Scott.
Next, the council heard from Kimberly Berry, a one-time tenant of Upland Apartments regarding liveability issues at the complex. One of two apartment complexes purchased by Capstone Realty & Management of New Jersey last summer, the Upland Apartments have been a concern of the city for several years due to its lack of upkeep and other safety issues.
Capstone is currently in the process of renovating Upland and the neighboring Southwind Apartments – both to be renamed “The Palms” upon completion.
Berry, first addressed the council in January about what she contends are unliveable conditions at the Upland complex.
“Stuff is still going on. Still having a rat issue, still have feces in my tub, still have no heat, so I haven’t been staying there,” said Berry. “The issue is still going on. It hasn’t been handled, I haven’t heard anything from anybody or gotten a response.”
In a rebuttal, Mayor Scott said that he is in regular contact with the management of Capstone and has seen the company make progress with the property.
“I can tell you from the outside they have been working on them. I don’t know the extent of what they’ve done to the inside of the buildings, but I know they’ve started painting and doing work at the Upland side apartments,” said Scott.
Scott added that key members of Capstone were due to address the council via Zoom during the originally scheduled meeting on Feb. 16, and will be present at the next meeting on Thursday, March 2.
During the meeting members of the council, including Place 2 Councilman Glenn Williams as well as City Attorney Julian Hendrix, addressed the fact that Berry apparently moved out of the complex and has not paid rent on her apartment at Upland since November 2022.
“Have you been paying rent since November?” asked Williams.
“No I have not,” Berry answered.
“My understanding is that you have moved out and vacated the residence,” said Hendrix. “You’re saying that you are still residing in the apartment?”
“Me and my family is not staying there,” Berry replied.
In other business, the city council approved a measure to purchase new playground equipment for a property located near the Center Point Community Center on Sunhill Road and recommended more than a dozen properties for abatement due to weed overgrowth and other public safety concerns.