By Associated Press
ATLANTA — Trustees of Morris Brown College have turned down an offer of nearly $10 million in taxpayer money.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had offered the money that would have eliminated the bankrupt school’s $35 million debt and solved its legal problems, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Morris Brown’s Philadelphia-based lawyer Anne Aaronson has said the city’s offer was insufficient because it covered the college’s debt but didn’t provide operating funds. She says the school has a better offer on the table. Reed and city officials say that’s hard to believe. Aaronson declined to give any further details.
The school’s rejection of his offer puts the school’s future in danger and also threatens the city’s vision for a revitalization of the area around the campus, Reed said. The school’s campus is just west of the preferred site for a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, and Reed said he’s worried the campus will be sold off in pieces and will become home to liquor stores, payday loan shops and other similar businesses.
“I believe I know how the movie ends,” Reed said. “The movie ends with that area looking like a swap meet. And I am not going to have it said that we should have done something.”
The school is set to present its restructuring plan to a bankruptcy court by the end of the month, which would include any purchase offer that is part of that plan.
