Los Angeles, -Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles (CCSCLA) President Mark Williams has charged indicted Los Angeles City Council Member Curren Price, and the organization’s former director Noreen McClendon, with orchestrating his false arrest and unlawful detention, enabling criminals to continue looting the public benefit corporation while its affordable housing properties deteriorate to dangerous, dilapidated, dirty conditions. Williams’s mother Juanita Tate founded the community development company in 1985. The organization has developed, owned and operated hundreds of affordable housing units in the South Central Los Angeles 9th Council District, represented by Price since 2013. According to Williams, Price and McClendon retaliated against him for whistleblower activity protected by California law. The Los Angeles City Attorney declined to prosecute Williams for “trespassing” on CCSCLA property in May 2023.
Williams requested on January 8th that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the Los Angeles City Council permit CCSCLA’s tenants to pay rent to the Los Angeles Housing Department, or any other appropriate City agency, to direct the resources toward their legitimate purpose. McClendon has refused to relinquish control of organization property, accounts and resources since community stakeholders reconstituted the vacant Directors Board in January 2023, and appointed Williams Executive Director. The Board voted Williams President in November 2023. “Criminals have threatened my family’s lives if I enter Concerned Citizens property. They have made my family homeless, stolen my vehicle, and continue to loot rents since Price and McClendon orchestrated my kidnap and unlawful detention”, Williams said. Price is currently facing 10 felony counts for embezzlement, corruption, fraud and conflict of interests unrelated to Williams’ allegations.
McClendon and company voted Williams off the CCSCLA Directors Board, locked him out of the organization’s business office, and terminated his 29-year employment as an affordable housing Resident Manager, all within a seven day period after he demanded an organization audit in 2018. His right to examine the books is “absolute” according to the CCSCLA Bylaws. He received no organization audit. And there has been no audit and Annual Report, required by the Bylaws, for more than a decade.
According to Williams, bigoted board members redirected millions of dollars of public resources away from children because not enough of them were black, referencing a McClendon email that corroborates the Board meeting discussion. Williams said the original CCSCLA President Robin Cannon moved away from the CCSCLA community years ago. But she routinely signed boxes of blank checks, enabling McClendon to embezzle CCSCLA with impunity, gifting public resources to her personal associates and priorities. “Robin Cannon abandoned our community, and then abandoned our organization to Noreen McClendon”, Williams said. McClendon unilaterally gifted public resources to the Diane Watson biography film GOLDEN HEARTED, according to Williams. “You cannot honor the great woman with utter contempt for the children she served. The resources were desperately needed to provide children a safer place than the streets to play in Watson’s old neighborhood”, he said.
Hundreds of families work hard to pay rents needed to maintain safe, clean, affordable housing. McClendon has been robbing them. Tenants who have paid their rent are being threatened with eviction for not paying. One woman is being coerced to arrange a payment plan for $8000 that she has already paid. “The situation is dire. Price’s indictment for relatively petty crimes had better not distract Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon from Price’s kidnap arrangement, and McClendon’s ongoing, outrageous larceny. We are not distracted”Williams said.
Contact Mark Williams for more information. CCSCLA@protonmail.com