Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Hey, I think I found Jesus...

...he's freeloading down on St. Claude Ave. and I think it's high time we sent him a bill.

There was a time, where I was much more willing to share my AZ meanderings with local MSM entities.  In fact, right before I launched the Cedric "C-note" Richmond foray I met with former WWL reporter Lucy Bustamante in an effort to work together on investigative stories.  I presented her with the information I had on Cedric and Ike and the two con-profits, NOCE and NOCAP, they had housed in Ike Spears' building at 5437 Crowder Blvd.

Lucy did a tremendous amount of research and groundwork on the issue but her superiors at WWL-TV were reluctant to run the story of NOCE and NOCAP despite the incontrovertible issues we found with the entities and the money being pumped into the building which Ike owned.  I believe their reasoning for not running the story was that it was during an election period and that this con-profit thing was commonplace around the city so it wasn't fair to shine a spotlight solely on C-note.  They told her she would need to find other examples for them to run a story on the con-profit phenomenon.

So she did just that.

What she found was outrageous.  If you mapped out all of the buildings along St. Claude Avenue that held non-profits you were looking at nearly half the properties on the street that were tax exempt per 501.c3 status.

But even in that morass, there were some glaring gems that simply couldn't be ignored.

One of those gems....6030 St. Claude Avenue.



This quaint, gutted building located right across the street from former state Representative Leonard Lucas's Light City Church, had no less than seven non-profits domiciled in the building:

Communication in Action
District 99 Advocacy Corporation
Gatekeepers Inc.
Light City Community Development Corporation
Prosperity Economic Development Corporation
Seniors on the Go
9th Ward Concerned Citizens for Change

All these entities were created by Leonard Lucas or his right hand gal, Audrey Walker.

Lucy went down to the location and talked to a kind, humorous, gentleman who lived next door to 6030 St. Claude.  She asked him if he had ever seen any activity going on there by a charity.  He laughed and told her, "I think one year they gave away some turkeys for thanksgiving."  She didn't have the heart to tell him there were 7 charities located in that building that were supposed to be serving his community.

For some reason, WWL-TV still wasn't happy with the evidence Lucy had turned up and she finally threw in the towel, turned over the public records she had accrued to me and told me to do my best.  She left WWL-TV shortly after that for bigger and better things in Virginia Beach.

I hope she's doing well.  I'm pretty sure she is.

I would still love to hear WWL's reasoning for not running the story she churned up.

Regardless....I took what she had uncovered and decided to dig a little deeper on Apostle Lucas.



Now I have a confession to admit before I unload this on you guys.  I faintly remember doing this but I got a little sauced one night and spent about 6 to 7 hours on the SOS database looking for non-profits and for-profits that were associated with Apostle Lucas and Audrey Walker.

What I found was epic.

I spent the whole night taking screen shots and cropping them down so I could dump this massive con-profit scenario on you guys.  Then I got up the next day in a foul mood and said, "Fuck it."  I was still a little pissed about what had just happened with the C-note scenario....I was in a very bad mood, so I just shelved it.

I figured it wouldn't matter anyway because the MSM was not going to touch C-note or the con-profit issue.  In fact, they still aren't touching it with the exception of City Business.

KUDOS to CB.

But being a zombie, I love to resurrect things from the grave and I think what I'm about to drop on you will blow your fucking mind.

Between Apostle Lucas and Audrey Walker....I found a whopping 23 registered non-profit organizations:

Citizens Coalition for Education
Communication in Action
Crossroads Community Development Corp.
Destiny Enterprises Inc.
District 99 Advocacy Corp.
Elizabeth's Health Care Community Development Corp.
Gatekeepers, Inc.
Giant Steps Ministries
Jesus the Light Center, Inc.
Light City Community Development Corp.
Light City Fellowship, Inc.
New Life Intracoastal Community Devleopment Corp.
Next Level Ministries
NU, Inc.
Old Fashion Care
Project Restoration Inc. of New Orleans
Prosperity Economic Development
Seniors on the Go
Smart Start Spectrum
The House of Exchange, Inc.
Varnise Lucas Ministries
Visioning Better Education (VIBE)
Youth Alive Inc.

Now keep in mind this was back in 2010...I haven't even searched for new ones since then.

I had to create a .pdf of the screen shots as there were simply too many to post as images.  You can get that:

Here

I think we can officially name Apostle Lucas and Mrs. Walker the king and queen of the con-profit game.  That, sirs and madames, is a direct challenge.  I defy you to out-Lucas me!  Get busy!

We might as well have fun with this, right?

I don't think anyone is listening anyway.

Praise Jesus!

9 comments:

anoymous-lady said...

This is the most direct way of getting your story out there. Do it yourself. Otherwise, they just take credit for it.

Validation that you were right about Nagin, Fradella, etc. is great. It just stinks that you are not getting your just due.

Just remember, zombies don't die.

Anonymous said...

Masterful. I am completely speechless. When will the politicians of this state realize it is not their money to give away, it's mine. I beg someone to do something about this.

Anonymous said...

So-called Apostle Lucas( who anointed him Apostle anyway) is quite the man when it comes to non-profits but lets look at where his ROOTS may be.H/P to the movie "ROOTS"

First, my bet is his last name was not originally LUCAS but if it is did it originate with the latin word lucrum where from originates special contradictory words like lucre(loo'ker) n.Money or profits; and lucrative adj.Producing wealth; profitable.

Then again his name maybe an oxymoron, such as is Lucifer derived from the latin word lucidus<lucere, to shine; also from latin, Lucifer< Lat., morning star, light-bringer.

Which ever is the case with so many non-profits associated with his ministry/ies this one, self anointed man should be immediately interviewed by the new City Business investigative reporter.

Anonymous said...

And people say that NOLA has no industry.... We've poverty and made it one - conprofit by conprofit. I'd say that's ingenious. Something from nothing and accomplishing next to nothing while getting paid for it. Where can I apply?

Anonymous said...

Ok so what's the game: #of orgs or #of $? Winner collects first 2 beers? I like this idea. I hear ya.

Anonymous said...

One reason why the Lower Ninth Ward is slow to come back. Thanks for passing this on.

Anonymous said...

This brotha man was on Fox 8 this morning touting his ministry. His mama passed away last week per Fox 8.

batcave911 said...

I am in Real Estate, and there is a link that you can go house by house looking at which property is tax exempt.
I was FLOORED !
there are TONS of them, most near churches, or are called churches, but really are not.

I would like to get together and collaborate, maybe our stories together

cheers,
Brad
peace4u6 at ml1.net

BSharp said...

What is Light City Enterprises? Can they legally donate to political campaigns? Some of these campaign finance sites have him reporting donations in 2011/2012 for a 2006 primary. What is his connection to Cedric Richmond's people, like Shelley Fleming Boutte? What can we nail him for? I am feeling vengeful and this guy is too easily connected to shady people not to find every possible law he's broken and shout it from the skies. Thanks, dambala (and lamar)