In an over 2 year long independent civil rights investigation, a Florida based and Georgia foreign registered real estate investment company has identified wide spread racism and intimidation tactics in Waycross, Georgia. The company set out to conduct investment activities in the county outside of Waycross, in a predominately white area inside the city and in a predominately African American area inside the city. Their goal was to compare and contrast the way the local government approached the restoration of properties located in different parts of the community. The first property was in the county a couple hundred feet outside of city limits. The process was smooth and there was no interference whatsoever in the restoration of the property. This property was located in a predominately white area. The second property obtained was in a predominately African American side of town within the city limits. The house was in poor condition and the process was entirely different. For good measure the company acquired an extremely rough condition home and purchased it for $6000. The company met with the city and outlined their plans to completely rehabilitate the home and spend any money necessary to restore the home. The company expressed its interest in restoring many homes in the area which would provide both more affordable housing options and also a sense of pride in the area long targeted by the city’s condemnation process and bulldozers. It would also provide work for the tradesmen. The company made an effort to befriend, interview and listen to the aging elderly minority members in the immediate neighborhood. 

“We heard stories about how the city has been tearing down properties and how the residents did not have the resources to fight the city. They had all but given up. Then they would ask if we could save this or that house from the next bulldozing. These are salt of the earth folks who have invited my family and I into their homes for dinner. They needed someone to stand up against the city and that’s precisely what we have done and what we continue to do” said Charles Bowman, one of the managing members of the company conducting the independent investigation. 

One particularly moving incident occurred when a minority elderly man by the name of Edwin Pinder (deceased 2024) told Charles Bowman that he can’t do as much work as he needs to due to city interference. He told Charles that he just wanted  someone to stand up to the city and help him get jobs. Ed was a Master electrician and longtime local resident of Waycross, Georgia. Mr Bowman and his wife set a meeting with the new city manager and brought Mr. Pinder along. The Bowmans laid down Ga law and Supreme Court rulings on real estate that were in opposition to what was occurring in Waycross. Mr Pinder said “these are good folks (the Bowmans) who are willing to spend good money in our community when others are reluctant to invest.” The city initially conceded and let work occur on the first property. The Bowmans invested over $50000 into a $6000 property and beautifully restored the property. They then rented the property and moved on down the street. 

“We endured many hurdles on this property but ultimately delivered a beautifully restored home for rent. The city even made us tear down part of our project to intimidate us from continuing but we took it in stride and rebuilt it along with the rest of the house” said Bowman. 

The City of Waycross had long been picking and choosing which structures would get to remain and which structures would be torn down. They used an estimated cost of improvement (to get up to code) Vs their valuation of the property itself. “This set off alarm bells in my head. If this were true, and it proved to be true, the city was dictating what they felt was salvageable with an obvious bias towards more valuable properties outside of the minority areas” said Charles Bowman. 

So Charles and his wife did what any other insane investor looking to prove a point would do, they invested in another home on the same street! The local residents were excited as they told stories of these streets decades prior. They grew up on these roads and they had fond memories in this neighborhood. But they were racing bulldozers” The Bowman family reached out to contacts in Israel and secured a third property on the same street via an assignment. 

“We found the owner in Atlanta, and she was thrilled that we were willing to spend the money and restore her childhood home while also paying her for the property that the city had recently decided they were going to condemn,” said Bowman. The lady, Sandra (last name withheld) met the Bowman family at the property in Waycross and told the story of how this property was her childhood home. She said her daddy worked for the railroad and her family had ties to the King family (Martin Luther King). She said she did not have the financial resources to fight the city but would gladly sell the property if someone would take on the task of restoring it and fighting the city. “In her words the immediate community is tight knit and multi-generational, but the city wants to tear down the whole neighborhood for one reason or another and it’s sad,” said Bowman. 

With the first house complete in the minority section of town the Bowmans moved down the street to the second property on the same road. The experience has been troubling to say the least. The city has presented issue after issue after issue for why the Bowmans cannot proceed through the same process on the second home. “In one of the more absurd and comical hurdles the city has arbitrarily decided that the brand-new roof on the second house will NOT suffice despite being installed in the same exact material, by the same exact licensed and insured roofing company,” said Bowman. Bowman said he was a little perplexed and asked the inspector how the house down the street received a “co” (certificate of occupancy) but this one wasn’t up to code. He called around and asked other roofing companies and suppliers if they had heard of such nonsense. Everyone said the same thing, that’s how the roofs go on and this is done correctly. Bowman reapproached the city with suspicions that the house was being targeted because of where it was located. “The inspector told me point blank that well he must have just missed that entire roof, and the way it was installed down the street,” said Bowman. Message delivered. Now for the comparison” Bowman was at a stopping point. New windows were in, a new roof was on, electrical was roughed in and it was time to get to drywall and cosmetics. But the city plainly stated that this property was NOT going to receive a certificate of occupancy with the same roof installed the same way as the neighboring property. 

So Mr. Bowman gathered another associate and together they purchased 2 more properties in the predominately white side of town near the hospital. Mr Bowman’s associate first turned on his power utilities without incident and immediately started restoring the home without a general contractor and with no effort to be inconspicuous. An inspector stopped by and thanked them for improving the properties on the street. A roof went on one home without so much as a groan from the city. At the other home, windows went in, and the exterior of the house went through a transformation. Why was it so much easier? Bowman said “it could only be one thing, it’s all right because the section is predominately white. This is not a laughing matter. I used multiple associates from multiple countries to conduct these restorations. The only ones experiencing push back are the ones located in the minority area of town. It’s not right and I’m working with various organizations to bring awareness to this issue and bring accountability,” said Bowman. It’s 2024 and the reality is that the color of your skin or socioeconomic factors should not be affecting the way a city approaches real estate restoration and development. If an investment company wants to bring vision and money into a community and restore properties, a city should welcome them. The “where” they want to invest should be irrelevant. “I made Mr. Pinder a promise before he passed away and I intend to keep it,” said Bowman. When asked what that promise was Bowman replied “I promised Mr. Pinder that I would fight the injustices in this community and that I would restore as much of Waycross as I could. I told him I would search far and wide throughout the country to source as much funding as needed until Waycross was beautiful on all sides of town.”

Bowman said it brought a big smile to the face of his new friend Edwin who was actively training two younger journeymen on the same house that the city refuses to approve the roof on” Coincidentally, Mr. Edwin who believed in this cause, died on the job site of that house due to medical complications. He was working alone and happy to be working again. “I think he was doing what he loved and he was happy when he passed. He was working alone that particular afternoon and he was restoring the community. I’ll be damned if I let that house get condemned and I’ll be damned if I let the City of Waycross Ga target minority sections of their community.

I’m just a 6 ft 6 conservative white boy from Florida but you can bet your last dollar that the people in that neighborhood love me and my family and that they know we’ll do what’s right by them. I’ll find the money to complete this journey, and I will bring awareness to this injustice until that entire city is rebuilt. There will be accountability. I know lots of folks in D.C. and I know lots of folks in the media” Bowman said. In knowing this family and the many times cities and organizations have taken them on, I can assure everyone that Waycross will be no different. This family is built different, and you do not want to FAFO with them. I’ve seen them sit before Congress and tell Congress to go F themselves and I’ve seen them stand up for children at various school districts throughout Florida during Covid. These people are businesspeople, but they are principled, and when they smell injustice, they go all in. We will be following this story closely and monitoring the progress.

It would make sense that any city in America would want distressed properties improved by private owners, however the exact opposite appears to be the case in Waycross Georgia. Is this the city’s slow play to grab land for an undisclosed reason? Is a large-scale low-income housing development being discussed as a future plan for the city? Time will tell…..

Before publishing this story, The DC Patriot reached out directly to Ulysses Rayford, City Manager – Waycross GA and Marc Hawkins – Chief of Inspections Waycross GA for comment via text. As of the time of publication, no response had been received. Being aware that out readership encompasses many legislators at both the state and Federal Level, as well as their staff, it is our hope that someone will take a deeper look at exactly what is taking place in Waycross, Georgia.