Too Black or Too Poor ?

I am a white guy...a white guy with an accent, a Jewish Spanish Mother and a Catholic French Father.  This caucasian bought an abandoned property on S Elm, across Lee St, a little bit over six years ago aka The Mill.

I often have visitors coming from the other side of Lee st to see what I am up to. The other day was no different and I was actually happy to host an individual that I actually enjoyed being around. After the initial pleasantries,  we ended up talking about the Performing Art Center and I asked: " Why does it have to cost that much, and why does it have to be where the cost to acquire the land alone, adds a minimum of $10,000,000 to the tab?"

I then gestured towards the South Elm Street redevelopment empty 12 acres and said "why not here?...you/we would save about $15,000,000 right from the start, and the community sure would benefit from it".
"Weeeell, you knoooow" he answered.
I replied "No I don't know...Please tell me as I really do not understand because:
-We have the upcoming infrastructure paid for - in part- by the federal government...
-We have the desired access to I-40 and I-85 not once, but twice...once through Lee st and once through South Elm Eugene...
-We have a parking deck planned and paid for as part of the redevelopment...
-We are next to the elusive $6,000,000/mile Greenway...
-We are down the street from the Coliseum, at the entrance of downtown...along the upcoming Lee St corridor...Up from the Nanotech institute...close to 5 universities...So, No...I don't know!"

I may have been a little too intense, but after the initial shock, he finally answered: "Well, the unidentified donors would not want to contribute in this neighborhood, and from what I've heard, the University district could also be a hard sell for the same reasons". I then proceeded to make him aware that he had been in my neighborhood for a while now, and that he had yet to be shanked or threatened even though he was wearing pleated khakis. 

So what is it? Too Black or Too Poor?...or are they simply Too Stupid?

I would like to thank the Community Foundation, Action Greensboro, DGI and the unidentified donors for their fucked up, bigoted approach to community building.