“I really do enjoy exploiting the poor,” Thomas Cruz said on TikTok in the fall, cackling from the balcony of his new waterfront mansion in Miami.
Cruz, 35, says he built his wealth off Wilmington real estate by figuring out how to rapidly scale what he calls an arbitrage model: Buy run-down homes for cheap, do as little maintenance as possible, lease them to people poor enough to qualify for government assistance programs, and turn a pretty profit.
He dispenses advice to his 1.2 million online followers about how to do this, too, alongside videos that show his first-class travel to the World Cup, fancy cars, and a yacht.
All paid for by you, he often reminds viewers, the American taxpayer.
But back in North Carolina, records and interviews reveal Cruz left behind a portfolio of neglected rental properties. Wilmington’s code enforcement department filed legal claims against him at least 25 times between 2019 and 2022 to compel his compliance. Before he sold most of them last year and left town, Cruz had been cited for 366 violations at 49 properties. He was “definitely our biggest landlord problem” at the time, a city code official told The Assembly.
“If y’all wanna fuck the middle class and the poor at the same time, lemme hear a ‘hell yeah’ in the comments,” Cruz implored a live TikTok audience of roughly 1,000 on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
“Hell yeahs” poured into the chat.
For The Assembly, Johanna F. Still and Kevin Maurer dig into Cruz’s business model.
TikTok’s Prince of Poverty
Social-media sensation Thomas Cruz gloats about building a fortune from a government program that houses poor people. But in Wilmington, he left a trail of liens and housing-code violations.
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Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Next week, Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board members will vote once again on whether to consider a toll option to fund replacing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.
The board has voted on some semblance of the same dilemma twice before, rejecting it in 2021 and bringing the possibility back in 2022 to study it further.
This time, there’s arguably never been more attention on the issue, as inbound bridge traffic to Wilmington will be blocked for several months starting this Sunday to start repairs.
In the weeks leading up to the latest vote, Wilmington, Leland, and Navassa elected officials have passed unanimous resolutions outright opposing a toll. (The Democratic parties of Brunswick and New Hanover counties also came out against it; partly blaming Rep. Frank Iler (R-Brunswick) for failing to secure funding; Iler responded by accusing them of advocating for a return to cronyism.)
New Hanover County passed a softened version of the same resolution on Monday by a 3-2 vote, leaving open consideration of a toll for funding scoring purposes. Their diversion gets to the big fracture: Proponents of including a toll option say it’s only a strategic move, and that using it to improve the project’s scoring doesn’t bind the region to a toll. Staunch opponents say that argument is a slippery slope.
It boils down to trust issues. For many in the anti-toll-consideration camp, it’s not worth the risk.
Landon Zimmer, Gov. Roy Cooper’s appointee on the state transportation board, is the only unelected member of the local transportation board. He says he has a unique perspective because he doesn’t have to worry about being elected. Meanwhile, some of his fellow board members say the intended data-driven process has wound up politicized.
Zimmer is emphatic. The upcoming vote isn’t about whether or not to add a toll on the bridge, but simply a tactic to secure funding. Voting against including the option is like “punting on a first down,” he said.
Check out an abridged version of The Assembly’s conversation with Zimmer below:
Johanna F. Still: The argument from the let’s-consider-all-options side is that the project could score better in the statewide funding process if you include the toll. Let’s say it does. What then?
Landon Zimmer: Currently, the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement is not even on the [Strategic Transportation Investments Program] list. It’s not even on the radar of the Department of Transportation. The [Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization] has identified it as their most important project. If this is your most important project, why would you not vote to explore all options? If we include scoring a toll, I believe it moves up to number one on the state list. That would be a big deal.
Still: And you wouldn’t be locked into a toll?
Zimmer: You wouldn’t be locked into anything. There’s 100 ways to get out of this down the road. But voting “no” closes all those options and closes the door to most kinds of funding. There’s a chance we could still get funding, but would be very hard-pressed to get funding when your project’s not even on the state’s radar.
There’s no strings attached here by voting yes. This keeps us in the game.
Still: At the last meeting, you put the pressure on anti-toll board members and said not studying other options would be “ignorant” at this point. It ruffled some feathers. Do you stand by your statements?
Zimmer: It’s a heated debate. I’ve lost several friends over this. It’s unfortunate, but I’m going to continue to do what’s in the best interest of the area.
We have the opportunity of moving on to the next level here, with all kinds of potential federal and state funding for something we told the state was its top priority. When this advancement has zero cost to the WMPO, what do you call the act of choosing to do nothing?
Still: Wilmington Councilmember Luke Waddell described the potential toll option as a “double tax.” What do you make of that argument?
Zimmer: I don’t want to get into the details of something we aren’t voting on. However, a toll is a user fee and not a tax because you can always avoid a toll by taking another route, but you can’t avoid taxes. And WMPO doesn’t have the right to tax anybody. Debating the merits of a toll is something we’ll hopefully never have to deal with, and we can cross that bridge when we get there–pun intended.
The Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization will meet Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the New Hanover County government center. Public comments are only accepted in-person. Stream the meeting online here.
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Around the Region
Notable Omissions: Cape Fear Community College president Jim Morton gave a rosy year-end presentation to his board last week, and WHQR fact-checked several of his claims.
Tuggin’ the Club: A ritzy new floating social club that charges $20,000 to join is coming to Wrightsville Beach, Greater Wilmington Business Journal reports. A tugboat pulled the barge down the Cape Fear River this week.
Waste Wattage: New Hanover County is planning a solar farm to be installed on about 3 acres of its landfill, Port City Daily reports.
Around the State
Lookin’ For A Fight
An insider and an outsider vie to replace U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry in a strongly Republican district in the foothills.
Waste, Race, and Place
In Roseboro’s Snow Hill neighborhood, a community has waged a 50-year fight against the state’s largest landfill.
How To Design Safer Schools
In an era of mass shootings, architects are striving to create safe spaces for students without making schools into fortresses.
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