All the agencies that adopted the Above the Falls plan were committed to making it happen. The first step of this plan revealed some of the actual problems of implementation. The JADT request for a zoning change was granted by the City Council. I would have preferred an anchor, regional park on that site. There are lessons to be learned from this process. First of all, I like Tim Baylor and wish him well on the project and I appreciate the kind of process that tailored this project so that there are some very positive benefits built into the proposal. I guess I take some umbrage at those people that took umbrage about this process. Council member Johnson was particularly strident in her dissing of neighborhood activists. The Mayor and Council president Cherryhomes both played the race card in their speeches and said that Tim Baylor deserved an apology for how he was treated. From my perspective this was a difficult question for the council to decide and the process both improved the proposal from Mr. Baylor and shook out some funding sources for purchasing and maintaining a regional park that connects green space on the upper river.
Zoning will play a huge part of how land is acquired and how it is used. Right now zoning decisions are not part of the comprehensive zoning plan, therefore what the city says it wants and the basis for "findings about zoning changes" are not connected in a way that will actually create the agreed upon vision. The city council will have to figure out a structural way that the desired outcome of zoning by the river is a part of the comprehensive plan. The plan also calls for a Community Development Corporation set up to acquire and assemble parcels to form the regional park. That would really help. Also missing was the ongoing structure for citizen involvement in the planning. My suggestion is that a clearer structure and process needs to be in place before the next battle at the water's edge. Thanks, Scott Vreeland, Seward, home of the only true gorge on the third largest river on the planet. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
