[Mpls] housing czars vs listening to the people
Mayor Rybak announced a short time back that he is proposing that Cathy ten Broeke be his housing Czar on homelessness with that cost inserted into his 2006 budget. I certainly have nothing against Ms. ten Broeke. She is a very caring, committed person when it comes to her dedication to end homelessness.She herself has committed civil disobedience by sleeping out in the streets to dramatize the plight of those people who are criminalized for being forced to do this every night. Yet the Mayor' s Chief of Police tried to institute a licensure of panhandlers and now the Mayor is talking about launching some sort of PR Campaign against panhandling. This concens me as I do think very well-intentioned, committed people such as Ms. ten Broeke can be used in order to legitimize the behavior of political administrations. i.e. Find a committed person, well-respected person in the community regarding homelessness, appoint them as your figure head to show you really want to end homelessness ...and then proceed as usual. They also can serve as a bastion against persons such as myself who would then dare to criticize or raise concerns. The proceed- as- usual part in this case is Mayor Rybak's, yet- to- be- fully- disclosed anti-panhandling PR campaign. At least, it has not been disclosed to one group that certainly should be hearing about it...homeless persons. And I don't mean 2 or 3, I mean hundreds of them. It is way too easy to assume that just because a person is experiencing homelessness that they all think alike about issues. That is why this current administration needs to change its attitude and thinking regarding homelessness. When any effort, (be it licensing panhandling or the day to day harassment of persons experiencing homelessness.) it is not enought to refer to your appointed expert or a few advocates. The people who are impacted by such efforts must be heard from. That has yeet to happen in this City upon the part of this administration. I have previously communicated to Ms. ten Broeke that my expectation is that she would let the Mayor know to include all at the table when it comes to the treatment of persons experiencing homelessness and I meant persons experiencing homelessness or who have experienced homelessness themselves. She assured me that the people she was most deeply impacted by during her paid work at St. Stephens Shelter were the men who used that shelter. If that is the case, I expect her to speak strongly to the Mayor to demand that those men and all others be heard from. Saint Paul's Mayor or his aide regularly meet with persons experiencing homelessness Mayor Rybak should do this and one better: meet with a broad range in listening sessions across this city. To try to put into motion actions that definitely will impact a group that is consistently targeted with negative treatment and not reach out and speak with them is getting old. Again, not all persons experiencing homelessness are panhandlers, but panhandling is not done because people want extra money for their European Vacation despite the hateful news stories and myths that keep popping up about this. I must acknowledge that Ms. ten Broeke and I took a different path regarding homelessness...she has moved on to political appointments...I moved on to taking over with homeless persons federal properties that were required by law to be turned over to homeless persons. Both are legitimate means of organizing as long as the voices of people experiencing homelessness are heard loud and clear. So, far, that just is not happening with this Mayor and with previous Mayors as well. Margaret Hastings Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing/ RT, can WE come to the table? Posted 2001
I, Keith Reitman, am an undecided vote in the upcoming Mayoral election. I am not attracted to McLaughlin I have respect for RT's efforts to run this City in the midst of great fiscal challenges. He has also studied the Northside quite a bit during his tenure; bravo that. I wish he had met more with street level stakeholders, such as myself and many others, on development initiative brainstorming. I wish he had brought us to the table ; at least for conversation. I wish his administration had been less prescriptive and top down in problem solving West Broadway. I imagine J. Palmer will surrogate on this one; so giddy-up. The request below was posted Dec. 2001, and is not a new issue I raise this year: In a message dated 12/7/01 11:21:09 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: As far as the coverage of my actions, this is true. But it's not the case. This afternoon I'm meeting with David Fey and our affordable housing task force, which has been working very hard over the past few weeks to lay out our proposed agenda. It's very strong work so far and I expect it to get better. We are going to refine it today, air it before council members and legislators early next week and then bring it forward probably late next week. I am also going to be talking about this when I meet with Gov. Ventura in about an hour. (KR says) Dear RT, Welcome to City Hall. Since the policies and prizes are being passed before Jan. 2, I wish to ask you a question about affordable housing initiatives you are formulating. Which people from the private sector, small businessmen called landlord, have you selected and appointed to this affordable housing roundtable so far? I have a fear that all nonprofit and no bottom line experience means spending more money with less thought. Our tax money is short, let the idea list grow long. Thank you. Keith Reitman Near North REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing the homeless
In response to yesterday's S'Trib editorial, until more bridges can be built (no, I don't mean that), take a look at a story in today's Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48353-2005Apr12.html Has a Stand Down been tried for homeless people? I know it won't do anything for the battered wife or for the mother with three kids and no job, but if the architecture in the Post story could be made acceptable to single people who are homeless, would that be a good warm weather stop gap in Minneapolis? Emilie Quast SE Como REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing over industrial
Wizard said: Barb, being American born and bred, thinks it inappropriate to put housing over industrial. Me: While I may be born and bred in America, I have lived in India, Toronto, Winnipeg, San Francisco and Denver. I do not recall seeing housing on top of industrial in any of those cities. I have travelled to England, Germany, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, the Bahamas and nearly 40 of the United States. I have not seen housing on top of industrial in any of those places. All that aside, Wizards assertion that Basim Sabri might not find housing on top of industrial a bad mix means nothing to me. Basim lives in Shorewood. He doesn't live near Karmel Square, the manufactuing plant he wants to build or the housing he wants to put on top of it. He doesn't have to live with the traffic problems, parking issues or any of the other livability issues the heavy congestion in that area is causing. Barb Lickness Whittier = Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing prices aren't collapsing
Dyna Sluter wrote: Since then the market has crashed Dyna, This simply isn't true. Your block may or may not be seeing declining housing prices. But they aren't declining in the rest of the northside; they're going up. I know this can't continue forever; certainly not double-digit annual increases. But there's no evidence I can see suggesting a decline. There's a lot of nice, older houses in this area, and they have been underpriced compared to their equivalents on the south side. People are realizing that you can own a fairly nice house close to downtown for a lot less than a townhouse that comes with an hour's commute each way. Yes, there was a flipping operation a few years ago. Many of the flips were in the area surrounding my house. It did slow the appreciation of prices; it didn't stop it and now the rise is going full steam. I've locked in a low interest rate and kept enough equity to handle a downturn. As for the landlords, well, it's a speculative business. If one looked at the situation two years ago, it seemed that owning rental property was a sure ticket to endless wealth. Rents had been rising sharply for years. A lot of people who didn't know a lot about running rentals paid a premium price for property. Then we had low interest rates, and a boom in rental construction. Some renters became homeowners at the same time as a lot of new units came onto the market. Now rents are declining, and some landlords are hurting. It happens. The market will correct imbalances. Dyna, if your block has empty lots, it's an anomaly. Empty lots on the northside are becoming pretty scarce. You see a hole, a few days later a foundation, then four trucks carrying sections of a manufactured house, and in about a month there's a new house for sale. Why do I live here? I moved here to be with the one I love. But somehow, a small-town raised, politically conservative guy fell in love with this city, too(music swells). Sure, there's a lot of things I want to see changed. But changes are happening. 26th Avenue North is nowhere near the open-air drug bazaar it was three years ago. Yes, you can still buy there. But there's less than there was (thanks, Dennis Plante, and those like you who keep up the fight). The city government is a nightmare to me; they're willing to give my money to corporations and developers as well as the good people who run their own non-profit empires in the name of public service. But I can find amazing meals at good prices in restaurants. There's a reasonably-priced theater production every day of the week. People here live in real houses with real yards. A person can be different from his neighbors, yet get along with all of them pretty well. There are amazing stores like Surdyk's--an incredible selection of drink and food, with smart, helpful staff, and still prices lower than chain stores. Or go to the uptown Lund's on a Saturday, and see the 80-year old woman who has lived in the neighborhood since 1939 in line behind the girl whose eyebrows have more metal than a Toyota and who wears black lace lingerie as outergarmets. Go to Lake Calhoun and see the young hardbodies strut for each other, as they have for the past century. Take a canoe through the chain of lakes. Spend a day being another person at what is still the biggest and best ren faire in the world. This summer you can play mini-golf at the Walker Sculpture Garden. Sure, the Ice Palace is cheesy, but 750,000 people still went. Learn Scottish dancing. Choose from about a thousand different yoga stores. Visit the model railroading exhibit in Bandana Square. Cool off in Lake Nokomis. Listen to people carp about the idea that Don Samuels *isn't black enough.* Yeah, the taxes, insurance, and general lack of driving ability really do grind on you. But I can't imagine living elsewhere. --M. G. Stinnett Jordan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing prices aren't collapsing
M.G. Wrote: This summer you can play mini-golf at the Walker Sculpture Garden. Sure, the Ice Palace is cheesy, but 750,000 people still went. Learn Scottish dancing. Choose from about a thousand different yoga stores. Visit the model railroading exhibit in Bandana Square. Cool off in Lake Nokomis. Listen to people carp about the idea that Don Samuels *isn't black enough.* Dennis Plante responds: It never ceases to amaze me the amount of fun things to-do that are close by the northside that most residents aren't even aware of. We went innner-tubing at Theo Wirth Park last nite with a bunch of friends. It was an absolute hoot (I was a child again for two hours), and without a doubt, the best $4 (the price to rent a tube and the use of the hill) I've spent in a long time. Oh, and did I mention it provides jobs for inner-city youths? They were operating the tow-rope and rental facility. We'll be going back - as soon as my body stops aching Dennis Plante Jordan _ Plan your next US getaway to one of the super destinations here. http://special.msn.com/local/hotdestinations.armx REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
The Jordan Area Community Council led the campaign to get a rental property licensing ordinance passed in Minneapolis in 1991 We wanted rental property licensing because we found that too many problem landlords, when cited for serious code violations, would choose to pay the fine rather than make the repairs. Rental property licensing put real teeth in the inspections department's bark, because inspections could pull the license, denying thousands of dollars in rental income. With the extra bite, the inspectors could more effectively force problem landlords to comply with citations. But we never intended to simply leave the books on the table. We wanted to use block meetings to identify the houses that were the most delapidated and dangerous, and have block volunteers work with the inspections department and elected officials to use rental property licensing to get these properties cleaned up. I think that neighborhood organizations and neighbors need to be actively involved for rental property licensing to be used effectively. By the way, I also think that rental property licensing can be an effective tool for fighting drug dealing. Drug dealers usually are not practising Martha Steward Living. The places they live in often have serious code violations. Send the inspectors in, and the housing code violations can be used to get the drug dealers evicted and the property cleaned up. We never had the chance to do block organizing with rental property licensing because about the same time RPL was passed we were picked in the NRP lottery and we were off to the races. Jay Clark Cooper REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
I appreciate this important discussion (like so many on this list) and I think that Dave Carlson is zeroing in on what may be the major problem: not enforcing the current codes. In Minneapolis rental properties are supposed to pass a city inspection before getting a full license. The City, however, grants provisional licenses as long the landlord pays the annual fee. In my experience many houses, duplexes and smaller buildings operate for years under provisional licenses with full interior inspections never being done. I would be very curious to know about what others have experienced along these lines and also about how many of the off campus student rental houses have passed a full inspection. What happened in SE is a terrible tragedy. Ways to prevent such things must be found. I hope that further investigation brings greater clarity. Cam Gordon Seward Dave wrote: Having just lived in a duplex in St. Anthony East with _absolutely_ no fire equipment (but plenty of hazards), I can say that the code is worthless unless rigorously enforced. U students in particular are not well-versed with maintenance code, and definitely fear eviction (or condemnation) actions. My duplex was _quite_ profitable for my landlord. Dave Carlson Formerly of St. Anthony East, now back in Cedar-Riverside, originally from Eagan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
Bill Cullen wrote: There were some claims that 20 residents are living in one housing unit and the landlord is making a bundle. It is violation of ordinance 546.50 to have more than 4 unrelated individuals living in a single housing unit. If such a thing exists, please call the inspectors. I believe this violation is aggressively investigated. WM: I do have problems with this part of the ordinance. In my neighborhood there are several houses with five and six bedrooms. It seems to me that the code should follow the number of bedrooms in a unit. It also only applies to unrelated individuals, not to families. So, a family of ten can live in a three room apartment, even though they're stuffed in like sardines? My understanding is that few over-occupancy violations are turned in. I am not sure if this is because a) it doesn't happen often, b) the residents/neighbors don't know the law or c) the residents don't mind the crowded conditions as it keeps their housing costs down. WM: The most egregious violaters of this ordinance that I've observed have been among gang bangers. The house next door to my old residence was a triplex. At one point it had 37 people in residence. When asked, the residents all claimed to be cousins--and they were for the most part. It still created a problem for all and sundry. One writer said that occupants fear evictions/terminations and refuse to turn in their landlords for code violations. A few years ago, these claims were believable. But, the world has changed and tenants now have the upper hand. WM: I'm one of the people who said that. It's still true to a certain degree since people do not keep up with the housing market as a rule when their lives are busy elsewhere. Their other fear is that rents will rise if they complain or that the building owner or Inspections will peep their nefarious goings on. I don't know what circumstances will allow Inspections to come into a house without the invitation of the renters or owner, but I believe there are some restrictions. WizardMarks, Central Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Fw: RE: [Mpls] Housing codes
List members Allysen Hoberg asked me to forward her response to the Peeling Paint thread. PLEASE READ. While I may be a crank from time to time, she's not. Her message is the most informative one I've read so far regarding the peeling paint controversy.Peter Schmitz CARAG -- Forwarded Message -- Terrell Brown says: I think there is often a difference between a code violation and unsafe conditions. Take Dyna's peeling paint. Now I haven't personally inspected Dyna's peeling paint, but I have seen peeling paint that isn't really a hazard. Peeling paint may not be pleasing to the eyes and it may make it difficult to obtain property insurance but it isn't necessarily a hazard. Actually, peeling paint is a lead hazard. The chips fall into the soil, are ground up to dust by wear and tear, and can raise the lead levels of the surrounding property soil. It is a particular problem on and around windows and high traffic areas like porches, etc. Hundreds of children in Minneapolis are poisoned by lead from peeling paint. Even low exposure to lead paint can be hazardous. Chipping and peeling paint is not just an aesthetic issue. So, when all of the law breakers are scraping and repainting, please be sure to find lead safe ways to fix the problem, or you may poison your pets, your children, and yourself. Lead exposure in children under 6 can lead to ADD, aggression, and other developmental problems. You can call the city of Minneapolis to find out some safe ways to fix your homes, or you can call CLEARCorps (Community Lead Education and Reduction) for more information (612) 872-3287. Peace, Allysen Hoberg Audobon Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing codes
--- Peter T Schmitz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Peter responds: When R.T. Rybak was candidate for mayor he proposed relaxing codes for rental properties in order to expand the affordable housing market. I never warmed up to this idea, even when I had a more favorable impression of the Mayor. While it's awful to have all these boarded-up buildings while people need a place to live, affordable housing should never be tantamount to unsafe slum conditions. I hope R.T. Rybak reconsiders his position. [TB] I think there is often a difference between a code violation and unsafe conditions. Take Dyna's peeling paint. Now I haven't personally inspected Dyna's peeling paint, but I have seen peeling paint that isn't really a hazard. Peeling paint may not be pleasing to the eyes and it may make it difficult to obtain property insurance but it isn't necessarily a hazard. CM Zerby was on the tube talking about over occupancy. I'm not convinced that an extra U student or 2 necessarily creates a hazard and likely isn't slum conditions. Are we going to apply the same standards to recent immigrants that Zerby seems to want to apply to students at the U? Was this particular property cited for violations? We've read of how many violations the property owner had, why do we read that but not what properties were cited? We certainly want housing to be safe. I'm curious as to why ATF showed up at the fire, was there something suspicious as the newspaper article didn't say that arson was suspected although it sounds like the fire spread very rapidly. Perhaps because of the loss of life, CM Zerby engaged his mouth before he engaged his brain. There seem to be a whole lot of missing pieces here, we need to fill some of them in before we start changing our housing policies. Terrell Brown Loring Park __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
Terrell Brown says: I think there is often a difference between a code violation and unsafe conditions. Take Dyna's peeling paint. Now I haven't personally inspected Dyna's peeling paint, but I have seen peeling paint that isn't really a hazard. Peeling paint may not be pleasing to the eyes and it may make it difficult to obtain property insurance but it isn't necessarily a hazard. CM Zerby was on the tube talking about over occupancy. I'm not convinced that an extra U student or 2 necessarily creates a hazard and likely isn't slum conditions. Are we going to apply the same standards to recent immigrants that Zerby seems to want to apply to students at the U? Was this particular property cited for violations? We've read of how many violations the property owner had, why do we read that but not what properties were cited? We certainly want housing to be safe. I'm curious as to why ATF showed up at the fire, was there something suspicious as the newspaper article didn't say that arson was suspected although it sounds like the fire spread very rapidly. Perhaps because of the loss of life, CM Zerby engaged his mouth before he engaged his brain.There seem to be a whole lot of missing pieces here, we need to fill some of them in before we start changing our housing policies. Peter Schmitz responds: Great post, Terrell!!! You've brought up a lot of good points. I'm not sure that I see over occupancy as the problem myself. We Americans are used to living in more space, given our relative affluence compared with the rest of the world. Immigrants, especially those from impoverished regions, are used to living in conditions that others may consider crowded. Also, the wildly vacillating housing market has forced landlords to allow more occupants per unit. This is especially true for landlords who bought their buildings at a higher price in the late nineties, thinking that the market was going to favor landlords for a long time to come. Then, in no time at all, vacancy rates soared and it became a renter's market, sort of that is. On account of the additional burden of higher property taxes, the landlords I know cannot reduce their rent. The only thing they can do is allow more renters to share a unit. As for peeling paint, it does have a negative ripple effect for neighbors struggling to maintain and increase the property values of their own homes. Still, I suspect codes and regulations are enforced unevenly. I've heard too many stories about people getting a citation after making waves at their neighborhood block club meeting. And if Dyna's relationship with the current guard at City Hall has been a stormy one, then it wouldn't surprise me if she's the victim of retaliation, as much as peeling paint on the outside of people's homes annoys me. When I was doing some canvassing last year in the Longfellow neighborhood I noticed a lot of homes that were in bad shape. Not only did I see peeling paint, but sinking front porches and rotting windows as well. But given what the economy is I can understand that home improvements may not be the top priority for working-class families that are struggling to make ends meet. There are certainly lot of serious problems to be addressed in regard to housing property, but no easy solutions given our rotten economy and the flimsy safety net that our local, state and federal governments provide.Peter Schmitz CARAG REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing codes
Terrell Brown wrote: CM Zerby was on the tube talking about over occupancy. I'm not convinced that an extra U student or 2 necessarily creates a hazard and likely isn't slum conditions. Are we going to apply the same standards to recent immigrants that Zerby seems to want to apply to students at the U? Was this particular property cited for violations? We've read of how many violations the property owner had, why do we read that but not what properties were cited? We certainly want housing to be safe. I'm curious as to why ATF showed up at the fire, was there something suspicious as the newspaper article didn't say that arson was suspected although it sounds like the fire spread very rapidly. Perhaps because of the loss of life, CM Zerby engaged his mouth before he engaged his brain. There seem to be a whole lot of missing pieces here, we need to fill some of them in before we start changing our housing policies. Are smoke detectors not required in rental housing? I don't understand how people could die of smoke inhalation if the smoke detectors had been working and the required exits were up to code. As to over occupancy I agree with Peter Schmitz that our expectations for occupancy are out of line with the social and economic realities for many members of our society. For example, why do affordable housing advocates believe that we need to subsidize individual family housing units rather than multiple family units? Michael Atherton Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing codes
Michael Atherton writes: For example, why do affordable housing advocates believe that we need to subsidize individual family housing units rather than multiple family units? Do you mean more than one family living in housing, or multi-unit housing such as apartments or condos? In my days dealing with affordable housing advocates, I've never met one who opposed the latter. As for the former, I think the East Village development has units geared toward more than one family. David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
Michael Atherton writes: Are smoke detectors not required in rental housing? I don't understand how people could die of smoke inhalation if the smoke detectors had been working and the required exits were up to code. Having just lived in a duplex in St. Anthony East with _absolutely_ no fire equipment (but plenty of hazards), I can say that the code is worthless unless rigorously enforced. U students in particular are not well-versed with maintenance code, and definitely fear eviction (or condemnation) actions. My duplex was _quite_ profitable for my landlord. Dave Carlson Formerly of St. Anthony East, now back in Cedar-Riverside, originally from Eagan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing codes
I have not read all of this thread so this may have been covered earlier. One parent called into a talk radio station and said his son was living in a converted duplex with 20 other students and the landlord was charging each students $350 per month! He said he had pulled his daughter out of another house because it was a firetrap. He says he was lucky he was able to inspect his daughter's housing situation but that it would be hard for out-of-state parents to check, especially when the child is excited about moving off campus and living with his or her friends and assures the parent every thing is OK. Comment #1: I had no idea these houses generate this much income. Comment #2: Out-of-state parents have the responsibility to check their children's living arrangements. Bill Dooley Kenny -Original Message- From: David Carlson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 11:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Housing codes Michael Atherton writes: Are smoke detectors not required in rental housing? I don't understand how people could die of smoke inhalation if the smoke detectors had been working and the required exits were up to code. Having just lived in a duplex in St. Anthony East with _absolutely_ no fire equipment (but plenty of hazards), I can say that the code is worthless unless rigorously enforced. U students in particular are not well-versed with maintenance code, and definitely fear eviction (or condemnation) actions. My duplex was _quite_ profitable for my landlord. Dave Carlson Formerly of St. Anthony East, now back in Cedar-Riverside, originally from Eagan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing codes
Dennis Plante Responds: More than likely, in the case of houses where there are 20 inhabitants each paying $350/mo., some enterprising leasee (college student) is the one charging the inhabitants, not the landlord. Dennis Plante Jordan Bill Dooley Writes: I have not read all of this thread so this may have been covered earlier. One parent called into a talk radio station and said his son was living in a converted duplex with 20 other students and the landlord was charging each students $350 per month! He said he had pulled his daughter out of another house because it was a firetrap. He says he was lucky he was able to inspect his daughter's housing situation but that it would be hard for out-of-state parents to check, especially when the child is excited about moving off campus and living with his or her friends and assures the parent every thing is OK. Comment #1: I had no idea these houses generate this much income. Comment #2: Out-of-state parents have the responsibility to check their children's living arrangements. Bill Dooley Kenny _ Get McAfee virus scanning and cleaning of incoming attachments. Get Hotmail Extra Storage! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
Can someone please tell me when the city dropped the requirement for duplexes to have two exits? I grew up in a duplex, with alot of duplexes in the neighborhood (NE Mpls) and we HAD to have a front and back exit by code. I just heard on the news that the bldg at 825-27 SE 15th didn't have a rear exit but was still within city code. That surprised me. Another question: does anyone but me think it's strange that in the less than 10 years, the owner of this bldg had over 600 complaints, ten court appearances, wasn't 'bad' enough to be on the city's hit list, had never had this bldg inspected and still had a provisional rental license? I went to the Mpls Housing Insp site to try and get some answers and was struck by their mission statement. The first point is to promote safe public housing. I think they have some work to do. For some of you who have read this site for the last year, you will know that the Jordan neighborhood has been trying to get stricter action out of housing inspections, especially 'provisional rental licenses'. We now have three young people dead and while it may not be that the landdlord was responsible, the lack of confidence in our inspections procedure has certainly been enhanced. If the city cannot enforce the codes they make, then do away with the ordinance (which I AM NOT in favor of). At least then a false sence of security will not be there. I, for one, am fed up with goverment passing laws without also passing the funds giving the officials the means to enforce the laws. And the enforcement needs to be significant. A $50 fine ain't going to hack it. If a landlord gets a certain number of citations, perhaps all of his lisences should be suspended. If he/she cannot maintain the properties, then he/she should sell some off and concentrate on what he/she can manitain. the whole system is broken and needs to be looked at. Perhaps our inspectors need training in how to investigate compalin ts, attain evidence and go after the miscreants. Most of the landlords in our city are good. Rental property certainly is needed. So let's do something, city wide, to make this system work. Anne McCandless Jordan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing codes
I have seen many questions about housing. Smoke detectors are required in all Mpls housing (owner occupied too). Ordinance 244.915 outlines the requirements. Look out Dyna. :) As a landlord, I inspect every unit twice per year. I find many of the smoke detectors are disabled. The battery is removed and the electrical connections are unplugged. I suspect this is due to false alarms, but am unsure. I have unplugged smoke detectors at my own home when dinner goes awry. But, I always hook them back up when the air clears. Do some folk just not understand the need/value? Two exits are required in rental property (I could not find the specific code). You should remember that two exits do NOT mean two doorways. A window can be one of the (emergency) exits if it is large enough. Even upper level units can claim a window as a second exit if there is a ladder, stairway or other reasonable means to descend. There were some claims that 20 residents are living in one housing unit and the landlord is making a bundle. It is violation of ordinance 546.50 to have more than 4 unrelated individuals living in a single housing unit. If such a thing exists, please call the inspectors. I believe this violation is aggressively investigated. My understanding is that few over-occupancy violations are turned in. I am not sure if this is because a) it doesn't happen often, b) the residents/neighbors don't know the law or c) the residents don't mind the crowded conditions as it keeps their housing costs down. One writer said that occupants fear evictions/terminations and refuse to turn in their landlords for code violations. A few years ago, these claims were believable. But, the world has changed and tenants now have the upper hand. Renting an affordable apartment is EASY. If your landlord is not treating you well, you can likely find a nicer place for less money. If you want to challenge me, check out the Sunday classifieds first. Finally, before we condemn the Eischens (I don't know them) or get on CM Zerby's bandwagon, lets wait and see what the investigation results are. I am puzzled as to why the ATF was there. I hope this post is useful. Regards, Bill Cullen Whittier Landlord President, St. Paul Association of Responsible Landlords (SPARL) P.S. Mpls city ordinances can be surfed at http://livepublish.municode.com/13/lpext.dll?f=templatesfn=main-hit-j.htm2 .0 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing codes
Is anyone actually aware of either a landlord or an enterprising leasee pulling a stunt like this beyond talk radio hearsay? As a landlord in Dinkytown (fraternity housing board member), the only houses I am aware of around the U that have 20 or more occupants are the Greek houses, many of which are huge and are designed for 30-40 occupants. And as a U graduate, what I recall from the enterprising leasees were the students that shared a duplex or other off-campus housing that would hold house parties every weekend with several kegs and charge $5 or so for a cup and you could drink all you wanted. That's how some college students paid their rent. It was quite common in the rental housing along 15th Ave near Van Cleve Park, which I believe is right around where this duplex that caught fire on Friday was located. Also, in the Minnesota Daily today, another possibility was expressed about problems with the Eischens duplex, which was that, according to a neighbor, a smoke alarm may have been tampered with by the tenants. If that's the case, I'm not sure how you could blame the landlord for that. Are they supposed to inspect properties daily to make sure tenants aren't screwing around with that stuff? Find the story online at: http://www.daily.umn.edu/articles/2003/09/22/6633 Also, as Terrell pointed out, not every violation is due to safety. You can have code violations for things like a car parked on the grass in a yard or trash in the yard or grass/weeds that need to be trimmed or removed. Even so, I still think 600-something violations is still pretty insane, even for 30-some properties over seven years. You'd think at some point, landlords would learn to anticipate stuff and fix it before the city has to get involved and all the hassles that come with that. I don't know if we need to change our housing policies so much as we need to staff Inspections sufficiently so that they can actually be enforced. Mark Snyder Windom Park On 9/22/03 5:56 PM, Dennis Plante [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: More than likely, in the case of houses where there are 20 inhabitants each paying $350/mo., some enterprising leasee (college student) is the one charging the inhabitants, not the landlord. Dennis Plante Jordan Bill Dooley Writes: I have not read all of this thread so this may have been covered earlier. One parent called into a talk radio station and said his son was living in a converted duplex with 20 other students and the landlord was charging each students $350 per month! He said he had pulled his daughter out of another house because it was a firetrap. He says he was lucky he was able to inspect his daughter's housing situation but that it would be hard for out-of-state parents to check, especially when the child is excited about moving off campus and living with his or her friends and assures the parent every thing is OK. Comment #1: I had no idea these houses generate this much income. Comment #2: Out-of-state parents have the responsibility to check their children's living arrangements. Bill Dooley Kenny REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing, rented or otherwise
Folks, I have to agree with Barbara Murray about the rent issue. Yes, rents are high, although the rapid increase in rent prices seems to have slowed or stopped. Two reasons I can think of: One, the higher prices, combined with the lower taxes on rental properties (2001 leg. session) have worked to encourage owners to build more units, easing the shortage that allows the prices to rise quickly. Two, the lower interest rates have put a lot of former renters into houses, townhouses and condos. So much so, that housing prices in some neighboorhoods are shooting up. As are many new houses on lots long vacant (Jordan, Hawthorne, Near North). But what is rarely discussed is how much more house people "expect" nowadays. Thirty years ago houses were smaller, with less bathrooms, less appliances and usually a one-car garage. Take a look at what's going up today. Three-car garages are covenanted minimums in some areas. The same has happened with rental units. They're bigger, have more appliances, more amenities. This all costs more. Plus, at least in Minneapolis, the city government has discouraged "sleeping room" arrangements with shared bathrooms. I heard a young woman just yesterday talk about how she wants her own apartment. She's only working part-time but thinks she needs her own place and won't consider a roommate. It's her money, but I don't want to hear a whine about how she can't find "affordable" housing. And what is it with rent control? It's always a "temporary" solution to the rising prices caused by shortages, but somehow this temporary thing hangs on. There are still units in New York on rent control--from World War II! Honestly, it never works the way the planners think it will, because it is an artificial imposition on the market, and there are hordes of unintended consequences. I like the idea of cooperative living arrangements. But for it to work, there's got to be someone, or some board, who or which is really tough. It's too easy for one tenant to shirk their responsibilities, and as soon as others notice, they'll do the same if no one is enforcing the arrangements. But there are such situations right here today, and they are mostly working, I understand. I think Barbara would be a great board chair for such a group. --M. G. Stinnett Jordan
[Mpls] Housing Update from Mayor R.T. Rybak
1. Top Managers appointed to CPED. 2. Year-to-date accomplishments in housing.___ 1. Top managers appointed to CPED. Today we announced that Lee Sheehy, Interim Executive Director of the City's new Office of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED), has appointed two accomplished community leaders to serve as the core management team of the agency: Mike Christenson as director of Planning and Strategic Partnerships and Lee Pao Xiong as director of Housing. For more background on Christenson and Lee Pao, please see http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20030711appointment.asp Working with the City Council, I have set out an ambitious housing vision for the City of Minneapolis that includes development of affordable lifecycle housing and workforce housing, works towards addressing issues of homelessness, and increases minority homeownership. I am confident that Lee Pao and Christenson will help realize this vision and achieve these goals. I expected that by September 1, both directors will have proposed goals for the coming year and a game plan for how we can make it happen. While their arrival is sure to kick our housing and development activities into a higher gear, we have made great progress in the first six months of 2003. Here are few of the highlights: * Despite extremely difficult financial times, we honored our commitment fund affordable housing beyond the initial $10 million capitalization of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. By eliminating certain lines of business and managing our money wisely, we were able to put an additional $1.35 million into the Trust Fund. We also made available approximately $1 million of additional funds towards affordable housing from funds carried over from 2002, program income and the Empowerment Zone. * In March 2003 we appointed the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Committee who revised our funding guidelines for the $5.6 million in our fall funding round. 2. Year-to-date accomplishments in housing. It's important that we've secured a significant amount of money for affordable housing and that we're making major strides in improving how we do business; but what is most critical is that we get dollars approved for housing projects so we can get those units completed and families into them quickly. Our housing staff has been hard at work; here's a snapshot of what we have done this year and where we are going: * In May 2003 we approved $4,439,396 for 454 multifamily units that are affordable below 50% metropolitan median income (MMI); 194 of these units are affordable to families making less than 30% of MMI. * By year's end, we anticipate 2,200 units with City financing will be closed and under construction. So far, we have closed on over 1,000 multifamily units (867 of which are affordable below 50% of median income) with total City financing of $25,562,114. * By the end of the year, we expect 1,105 units to be completed. So far, we have completed 275 units, 83 of which are affordable below 50%. We are on-track to meet our goal of completing 650 affordable units in 2003. For the latest information on our progress, please visit www.mcda.org/Housing/multifamily/progress.htm http://www.mcda.org/Housing/multifamily/progress.htm Laura Sether Office of Mayor Rybak Standish-Ericsson TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing
I found it very interest to read Peter McLaughlin's email on NRP's mortgage guarantee proposal. There were lots of details, and I won't rehash most of them, but I DO want to focus on just one, the process. As I've said previously, my experience as a drone in the machinery of the city convinces me that until the elected officials take RESPONSIBILITY to follow how the people act whom they are supposed to supervise (which in the past did not happen for Ward 9), NRP is actually MORE democratic than anything the city does. As such, the description of the process doesn't bother me at all. And it should come as no surprise, then, that the outcome seems more rational than a lot of what my city government does. It seems to me there are only two rational ways to use NRP to get people into affordable housing: subsidize rents or guarantee mortgages. You could ADD units, but then what happens to the unoccupied units out there now? I'm no great lover of the whole class of landlords, but hey, if they've got empty units and someone is hunting shelter every day, we HAVE to find a way to bring these two things together. I won't support a plan that makes anyone RICH in the process, but with some safeguards, I'm very much for sliding some homeless people (hopefully, the ones who aren't without housing due to being very bad tenants) into empty existing shelters. It seems like NRP did one of the rational things. Now if they can see a way to do the other one, we may be on our way. Jim Mork Cooper _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing
It seems to me there are only two rational ways to use NRP to get people into affordable housing: subsidize rents or guarantee mortgages. You could ADD units, but then what happens to the unoccupied units out there now? I'm no great lover of the whole class of landlords, but hey, if they've got empty units and someone is hunting shelter every day, Jim Mork Cooper ( CM) Don't you just love this kind of open mindedness. Public policy debate based on open, in print, hatred and group association. Is there such a term as landlord profiling? Can I sue someone or the city? Craig Miller Former Affordable Housing Provider [EMAIL PROTECTED] TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing Issues
Mark Anderson: Jim -- the point you missed is that we were discussing full-time single people I see. So your claim is that ONLY the people in this category can afford market rate housing, and probably ONLY by sharing the apartment. I don't remember seeing this in Vicky's computation. Personally, I think I've said it was a shame that rooming houses and boarding houses are a thing of the past since they DID allow low-income people to pay what they could afford. Maybe the mayor or Gary Schiff or another city official can explain why this cannot be part of the solution to affordable housing (TRULY affordable, not just ivory-tower affordable). Also, why make this assumption of full-time? Lots and lots of people haven't been able to get full-time work since that usually involves benefits and lots of employers shy away from giving benefits. Also, since they don't get benefits, they are stuck with all the costs of medical care and IRAs plus losing out on paid days off. Face it, folks, this isn't your father's labor market. Shifting all the manufacturing offshore has really hurt in the housing area. -- Jim Mork--Cooper Save yourself from this corrupt generationAll who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Acts 2:4-45 The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers. Acts 11:29 From each according to his ability...to each according to his need. Karl Marx Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals
Subject: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals In short, less militant rhetoric, more practical talk, would be welcome. I've gone to the meetings here in Longfellow, and we're lucky if ONE minority shows up who can be DRAFTED to represent the whole community. The problem we seem to have is a Catch-22 that if the membership is overwhelmingly white, it therefore loses its interest to non-whites. Jim Mork--Cooper Jim, You just named a reason why no minority would show up. If I came to a meeting and you decided that I should be drafted to represent the WHOLE African American community, it would prove that you had one heck of a lot of nerve. We don't all look alike nor do we all think alike. I would be there representing my own views. If you want to know what we ALL think, go do a qualified survey. Think about it. If all it takes is one individual to represent a whole community, than there would be no need for YOU to show up. They can just bring in one of your race, and let that individual speak for all of you. Sounds ludicrous, now doesn't it? Unfortunately, this is how a lot of people want to think about and classify us. And, if the truth be told, if a bunch of us showed up with intelligent contributions, we would scare the pants off some people. Even in this day and time, EDUCATED minorities threaten the status quo. The ugliness of segregation is advancing like a film of pre civil rights demonstrations up the legs of our American flag. As a NRP rep, a majority of my neighborhoods were northeast ones. One group attempted to put together a housing plan that basically redlined minorities. I told them that I would not, in good conscience, help push that plan forward. They went back to the drawing board to start over. Another entity wanted me fired. Not for not doing my job, because I was doing it well, but because of my color. My boss, Mr. Miller confirmed this. I must say, also, that this was the old guard; the younger members (30's - 40's) thought I was doing excellent. The older group put out untrue statements in regard to my performance. They were great friends with the then councilperson, who supported their unprofessional behavior. To keep peace, Mr. Miller had decided to move me to another neighborhood. I let it be known that if that were to occur that I would be suing that group for defamation of my character. If I had to, I would have sued NRP for helping contribute to that by their compliance. Needless to say, I was NOT moved. I had on my desk the next morning a bouquet of flowers from the group to let me know how much they appreciated me. They were from the younger group. The older group merely tolerated me after that. Now I merely worked in the neighborhood. I let them know that while I cared about the work I was doing, and I advocated on their behalf, when I went home, I left their problems at the door. Think how hard it is, however, as a minority person, trying to be involved in their own neighborhood with attitudes like this. And, while I do not profess this to be the reality of all neighborhoods, nor everyone's experience, the attitude of feeling of being unwelcome is prevalent. Pamela Taylor (In Tampa, home of the world famous Super Bowl team, the TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS :) ) TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals
First, a thanks to Pam Taylor for sharing her personal experience to the 800+ people on the list (and also a congrats to the Bucs). Mr. Mork's response is unfortunately typical of many folks I've run across. In my talks with all sorts of people on this issue, there are several key and repeated comments: 1. Neighborhood groups do not get the support and/or ideas from NRP Central as to how to be more inclusive and to provide greater outreach efforts; 2. Some neighborhood groups don't particularly try--some deliberately, some out of pure naivete-- to embrace inclusivity concepts except to do an occasional translation or to simply invite everyone and hope a diverse population shows up (i.e., Mr. Mork's experience) 3. Making NRP more inclusive at the neighborhood level is hard street-level work, relying on a background of trust built over months, but it is nevertheless essential work. Some groups have yet to build that background of trust and, therefore, have months if not years of hard work ahead if NRP is to change. The change, however, must come from NRP Central and it must be an embraced and supported project. Right now, the message I see from NRP Central is a message solely of money, not programming, and unfortunately we're at a stage now that it would be better to take this critical time to relook at Phase I and look at programming issues and NRP's overall purpose, rather than making the cry of NRP solely about money. A cry solely about money ignores the flaws of NRP currently and sidetracks essential debate about its real future and the future of neighborhood-based planning. The suggestions/recommendations from the Tenant Issues Working Group, quoted by Pauline Thomas in her editorial, are sound and doable suggestions and take into account the notion that inclusivity must be a program-wide commitment and obligation, not one handed to the neighborhoods without proper support. Thus, we call for the creation of an NRP funded and implemented Community Outreach and Participation Team that does a number of things, including reviewing neighborhood plans for inclusivity issues and developing strategies for neighborhoods to use for increasing participation from groups largely left out of the NRP process. Rather than bemoan the problem, we've offered suggestions. Rather than rant and rave, we've studied and recommended. I would like to see the same from people who are critical of this call for change, rather than quick dismissals based on ideology or, actually, nothing in particular. Gregory Luce Project 504/Minneapolis St. Paul Jim Mork wrote: Subject: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals In short, less militant rhetoric, more practical talk, would be welcome. I've gone to the meetings here in Longfellow, and we're lucky if ONE minority shows up who can be DRAFTED to represent the whole community. The problem we seem to have is a Catch-22 that if the membership is overwhelmingly white, it therefore loses its interest to non-whites. Pam Taylor wrote: You just named a reason why no minority would show up. If I came to a meeting and you decided that I should be drafted to represent the WHOLE African American community, it would prove that you had one heck of a lot of nerve. We don't all look alike nor do we all think alike. I would be there representing my own views. If you want to know what we ALL think, go do a qualified survey. Think about it. If all it takes is one individual to represent a whole community, than there would be no need for YOU to show up. They can just bring in one of your race, and let that individual speak for all of you. Sounds ludicrous, now doesn't it? Unfortunately, this is how a lot of people want to think about and classify us. And, if the truth be told, if a bunch of us showed up with intelligent contributions, we would scare the pants off some people. Even in this day and time, EDUCATED minorities threaten the status quo. The ugliness of segregation is advancing like a film of pre civil rights demonstrations up the legs of our American flag. As a NRP rep, a majority of my neighborhoods were northeast ones. One group attempted to put together a housing plan that basically redlined minorities. I told them that I would not, in good conscience, help push that plan forward. They went back to the drawing board to start over. Another entity wanted me fired. Not for not doing my job, because I was doing it well, but because of my color. My boss, Mr. Miller confirmed this. I must say, also, that this was the old guard; the younger members (30's - 40's) thought I was doing excellent. The older group put out untrue statements in regard to my performance. They were great friends with the then councilperson, who supported their unprofessional behavior. To keep peace, Mr. Miller had decided to move me to another neighborhood. I let it be known that if that were to occur that I
Re: RE: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals
Gregory: Like all the critics of NRP, you too fail to respond with practical suggestions. You merely fault those who differ with you and paint them as naive or indifferent to inclusiveness. But you haven't any proof of that at all. There IS no obligation to do street-level work to herd the unrepresented into meetings. Or are you doing it? A lot of critics fail to do what they criticize others for not doing. As I pointed out to Pamela, people like Rosa Parks didn't wait for some kindly white folk to give her her rights. She just made up her mind one day she was going to get them. Same with the lady who forced the furor over women playing at Augusta. Imagine if someone had said that America would have no civil rights until someone went to Patrick Henry's house and asked him what England should do. But Patrick Henry didn't need that. And any outgroup now excluded will have to be more like Patrick Henry and less like the NRP critics. -- Jim Mork--Cooper War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our Country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. Gen. William T. Sherman (1864) Letter to the Mayor of Atlanta. Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: RE: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals and Goat Ropers Herding Cats
Thank you, Jim Mork. Your herding comment brought to mind my favorite commercial from last year's Super Bowl. The one where cowboys were herding cats. I laughed my head off! Herding people to NRP meetings, or making them take a particular action would, in our community at least, be like herding cats, and just as funny. Greg Luce discovered this when he tried to herd Ventura Village people into thinking his way. That may be the reason he always seems to be badmouthing us. People can be led to where THEY want to go, but our people refuse to be herded. Oklahoma Cowboys have a hard time with unruly cats, I guess. I also found amusing Greg's continued attempts to tell us how to run our NRP programs. Last I heard, Greg was a St. Paul Lawyer coming into Minneapolis to seek out NRP opportunities. I'll bet Greg will come up with some really good ideas about letting his groups tell us poor dumb so-and-so's from the inner-city how to spend our money. Doesn't Greg know that St. Paul can use his help? Heck, I'll bet Greg has dozens of ideas about helping St. Paul neighborhoods organize their own NRP. Greg says, We call for the creation of an NRP funded and implemented Community Outreach and Participation Team that does a number of things, including reviewing neighborhood plans for inclusivity issues and developing strategies for neighborhoods to use for increasing participation from groups largely left out of the NRP process. He's probably unaware that programs just like his own were the most criticized aspect of Phase I NRP. Too many programs and not enough money spent on revitalization. Where's the beef? A suggestion for Greg would be to use his time to create Affordable Homeownership opportunities for minority people. The seventy-five Latino people showing up at Mid-Town Phillips' meetings had already discovered that Affordable Homeownership was one way to seek opportunity. I will bet they'd prefer NRP funded revitalization and crime prevention over Greg's programs any day of the week. Could someone at the meeting tell us about the Latino's priorities? In all fairness, Greg Luce is a new comer to the NRP scene and probably does not understand that there was life and history in Minneapolis neighborhoods before he came to help us. Heck, a handful of us neighborhood people had already been to the county fair and a goat-roping, so maybe he didn't get quite the reception he anticipated. A good question would be: How much did NRP funded programs cost during Phase I? I know that several neighborhoods got in trouble because their NRP funded programs failed to meet guidelines about housing until very late in the process. It took some time to work the kinks out of NRP and free it from the ambitions of people who, like Greg, came to help us spend the neighborhood's resources on NRP funded programs. Now then, a little seriousness in the middle of our fun. Bob Miller and the NRP staff are to be commended for the fine job they have done with NRP since the bugs were shaken out. In the last three years, Whittier, Phillips and others have run exemplary programs. While Central Neighborhood may have fallen, at least their funds were frozen before they could be completely looted. And I'm sure that Central will be much stronger and better prepared after having survived this experience. Whittier and Phillips learned the same lesson and have been far more productive because of it. Some may complain that it was a costly learning experience, but not if you compare it to the City Council's learning experience with Brookfield and Downtown Target. Greg is good at innuendo and at raising questions concerning other peoples' conflicts of interest and motive. Here's a question for him: How much money has he and his non-profit corporation taken from poor Minneapolis neighborhoods? We in Ventura Village refused to be herded by Greg into spending money on his programs, but have any other neighborhoods been victimized, or have any others taken advantage of his programs? Are there other List readers who could shed some light on Greg Luce and his possible conflicts of interest? And in the interests of fairness, I should also ask whether there are those in any neighborhoods that have had positive experiences with him and Project 504? Isn't taking a Minnesota Legislation number as a Corporate name rather opportunistic? Does this cause any confusion for people about the supposed official nature of that corporation? Is this confusion created on purpose? How much money did Greg Luce and Project 504 receive last year? From what sources? Are Greg Luce and Project 504 registered with the State of Minnesota Attorney General? Are there reports on his funding sources? I assume that Greg, being a lawyer, would take care of such things. Just asking questions. Jim Graham, Just an old country boy and former goat roper from Ventura Village There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies and revolution into
Re: RE: [Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals and Goat Ropers Herding Cats
And as the NRP staff to all three regions of Phillips and the illustrious new neighborhood of Ventura Village I will confirm that you are not only like herding cats, you scratch and hiss when you're cornered. (Tongue in cheek) Barb Lickness Whittier = Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing and NRP Reform Proposals
It is interesting to me that the federal administration is so calm about deficits when they come from tax cuts or military increases but so vexed about the possibility of spending adequate funds for housing. Frankly, I think there's no need to cut housing funds from Minneapolis if they can afford to spend wildly on some of these other plans, such as the gargantuan, Ceaucsecuan Homeland Security Department. __ Read the Spokesman-Recorder editorial. It is quite militant, but it fails to try to answer the question of what if you build it and they DON'T come? That is, what can really be DONE to increase inclusivity when minorities just aren't interested. Did the editorialist actually TALK to some minorities who wanted in and found barriers? What barriers were there? Does NRP fail due to holding meetings on weekday nights? Then NRP committees could reschedule to non-work nights. It is an information gap? How could that be remedied. Would interested minorities register their phone numbers so they could be called (with, of course, times when they'll be there if they don't own an answering machine?) In short, less militant rhetoric, more practical talk, would be welcome. I've gone to the meetings here in Longfellow, and we're lucky if ONE minority shows up who can be DRAFTED to represent the whole community. The problem we seem to have is a Catch-22 that if the membership is overwhelmingly white, it therefore loses its interest to non-whites. -- Jim Mork--Cooper War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our Country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. Gen. William T. Sherman (1864) Letter to the Mayor of Atlanta. Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing Cuts;NRP Reform
It is interesting to me that the federal administration is so calm about deficits when they come from tax cuts or military increases but so vexed about the possibility of spending adequate funds for housing. Frankly, I think there's no need to cut housing funds from Minneapolis if they can afford to spend wildly on some of these other plans, such as the gargantuan, Ceaucsecuan Homeland Security Department. __ Read the Spokesman-Recorder editorial. It is quite militant, but it fails to try to answer the question of what if you build it and they DON'T come? That is, what can really be DONE to increase inclusivity when minorities just aren't interested. Did the editorialist actually TALK to some minorities who wanted in and found barriers? What barriers were there? Does NRP fail due to holding meetings on weekday nights? Then NRP committees could reschedule to non-work nights. It is an information gap? How could that be remedied. Would interested minorities register their phone numbers so they could be called (with, of course, times when they'll be there if they don't own an answering machine?) In short, less militant rhetoric, more practical talk, would be welcome. I've gone to the meetings here in Longfellow, and we're lucky if ONE minority shows up who can be DRAFTED to represent the whole community. The problem we seem to have is a Catch-22 that if the membership is overwhelmingly white, it therefore loses its interest to non-whites. ___ -- Jim Mork--Cooper War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our Country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. Gen. William T. Sherman (1864) Letter to the Mayor of Atlanta. Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Mpls Housing Issues
Interesting story in today's NY Times regarding the ongoing demolition of Chicago's high-rise housing projects, and the relocation of residents. A lawsuit has been filed contending that former residents are being steered to mostly black, high-crime and impoverished neighborhoods, perpetuating segregation, rather than relocating said residents to more economically and racially diverse neighborhoods. [see http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/24/national/24HOUS.html?todaysheadlines note- you must register as member (free) to view the Times] Last week I heard similar concerns being voiced by residents attending a neighborhood meeting in the Jordan community (a JACC mtg). While the meeting was called to discuss the MCDA's real property disposition policy, much discussion centered on the location of new affordable housing developments/units throughout the city and local resident's concerns over further concentration of poverty in their already poverty-impacted neighborhoods. Several City Council members and MCDA reps were in attendance to field questions and respond to neighborhood concerns. While density bonuses and lot area variances provide much needed flexibility for cost-effective development in our city, the locational issues associated with affordable housing seem unresolved- at least based on community discussions I've heard. The MCDA owns a lot of vacant property in north side neighborhoods (and Phillips on the south side) as a result of teardowns over the past decade, and many local residents want to see market-rate rather than subsidized housing units built. To my mind, this controversy demonstrates the value of neighborhood input to the overall city planning process. These issues are very important and will impact many aspects of life in our city for decades to come-- jobs, economic development, schools, crime, yada, yada-- the everyday operational aspects of city life. I'd like to hear some feedback from list members on this issue. I know Friday isn't a good time to post something with expectation of feedback, but... please prove me wrong. Michael Hohmann Linden Hills TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Re: Mpls Housing Issues
I can see why residents want market-rate housing in their neighborhoods. I would too. Why is it contradictory to have market-rate housing that is also affordable? When you wrote of affordable housing, you did not specify what you meant by affordable. The affordable housing they are building out here in Burnsville starts at $180,000. What would it cost to build a new home in some of these places? Just a ballpark range, please. There are several different methods of constructing a house too. Some are less expensive than others, for example, modular vs. stick built. If it were my neighborhood in the city, I would want housing comparable to the housing already in place. It wouldn't matter to me if it were subsidized housing, but I would want whoever moved in to have the means and motivation to maintain the property. One idea that would help to new construction to be affordable might be to build duplexes for owner-occupants. It's easier to shoulder a mortgage with the rental revenues (I almost said income -- whoops!) cash flow. Another might be for the City to work a partnership deal with some non-profit like Habitat for Humanity who regularly build housing with a large amount of volunteer labor as well as contributions from the future owner. Maybe that's not a legal idea -- but we should be creative about infill development. The city could make the numbers work better, depending on how they price the lots. Wouldn't it be better to sell the lots cheap and start collecting taxes rather than carry the costs of the property on the books? Instead of seeing these vacant lots as a problem, what if we looked at them as opportunities to upgrade neighborhood quality of life? Barbara Nelson Burnsville Once and future Minneapolitan Definitely not knowledgeable about housing issues TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Re: Mpls Housing Issues
The more I think about these properties, the more I believe that where there's a will, there's a way. For example, how about a little creative financing to make houses on these lots affordable? Here's one idea: The city could lend a prospective owner a reasonable portion of the downpayment required to buy the land and build a house. They would enter into a common ownership agreement with the buyer. Let's say, for simplicity's sake that the downpayment needed is $15,000. The city loans the prospective owner $5,000 and the city puts up $10,000. The city then requires the owner to pay back the $5,000 with sweat equity -- either the owner must sink $5,000 in cash into capital improvements or the equivalent in sweat equity over the course of, let's say, 5 years. The city could approve the value of prior and inspect the work afterwards to make sure it was done satisfactorily (safe and up to code). After the agreed amount of dollars or dollar equivalent was put into the house, the city would agree that the loan was satisfied, but would retain it's $10,000 stake in the value of the home -- and recoup the money at the time of the sale -- either in proportion to the property's appreciation in value, or at an agreed-upon interest rate. I see several pluses to this kind of deal: 1. The city no longer has the carrying cost of the property, plus the property begins to pay property tax. Both of these offset the amount loaned to the prospective homeowner, making this net a less expensive transaction than it appears on the surface. 2. Properties get improved, hence valuations taxes rise. 3. The city doesn't lose a dime because they retain their interest in the property and collect it (plus appreciation or interest) at the time of sale. In fact, this should make money for the city over time. 4. If the prospective owners default, the city retains the property. I, personally, did a similar deal with my younger sister and brother-in-law and it worked perfectly. They could never have afforded a house right after they married, and this gave them a toe-hold to enter the market. Obviously, this kind of thing is targeted to those people who are working liveable wage jobs, but still cannot afford to enter the market right now -- those priced out of it because of the entry costs. It wouldn't do much for the truly poor. But, hey! It's a start and we have to start somewhere. There are a few more details to work out than what I have described, but the point is, this is a win-win situation. The question is, does Minneapolis have the will and creativity to put their heads together and find a solution? Just some random thoughts on a Friday night, . . . Barbara Nelson Burnsville Once and future Minneapolitan Still ignorant of housing issues TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] housing...
Vanessa and Anne, I concur too- home ownership is one of the major contributors to community stabilisation, and promoting home ownership should be a top city priority. Praise be! Vanessa, we agree on something. I would add to your list of excellent options, condominiums. Not every one has the desire, need or talent to keep up a home. Some of those boarded buildings appear to be multi-unit dwellings. If they were rehab and sold for condos at a reasonable price, people could share the expenses of upkeep, get the tax benefits of home ownership and govern their own buildings in owner associations. This has been tried in Chicago and apparently been quite successful. We have to get away from the one solution fits all. A better form of organization is the low equity cooperative. Old Town In Town at 16th and Chicago is an excellent example of this- they have renovated 5 lovely brownstone apartment buildings and have been providing affordable housing for 20 years now. As far as Public Housing goes, I wonder what qualifies a person for public housing and if the most deserving are first in line. When Martha Donald was shot, it came out that although she lived in Horne Towers, she owned a house in Apple Valley or Eagan and ran her own business. I never heard how she still qualified for public housing. Anyone else know? Maybe I'm mistaken thinking that public housing is based on financial need. It's supposed to be, but sadly a few folks like Martha played the system. Horn Towers isn't exactly luxury condos, so I can't make sense of why Martha would live their when she could afford fancier digs. Martha'a income from renting her house and her business would be difficult to trace, so if she didn't state it on her application it would be hard to catch Martha'a income which would probably disqualify her from public housing. BTW, this type of cash economy scam is not uncommon, although the most common practitioners seem to be white guys. Typically they run a small business (landscaping, construction, slumlording, etc.) and live off the cash proceeds. They earn little or no reported income, thusly evading payment of taxes, child support, etc. Also, as some of the other posters have noted we have a lot of older abandoned homes that need rehabbing. I own a home that was all but boarded up in 1994 when my grandmother died. This 1887 house sat empty while the county decided not to exercise their lien on it and my family decided what to do with it. I moved in during 1996 and have started rehabbing it. With the county's help I bought the two adjoining non buildable lots, and Hawthorne Area Community Council (HACC) helped fund a new garage. In 2000 I was approved for a home renovation deferred load by HACC. I attempted to obtain several estimates from contractors to do the work, but found few that were interested in working on old houses like this that are so common in Minneapolis. I came to the conclusion that I would have to do most of the work myself, and submitted estimates for materials as required by HACC's program administrator. The administrator, Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE), seemed to be anything but- I submitted a plan to superinsulate my home, heat with renewables, etc. and pretty much got shot down. Worse yet, CEE has since then added more conditions that are impossible to fulfill, like completing all work ($30,000 worth on a variety of systems) in 6 months. This means even if I had a contractor do the work in 6 months, I could lose the entire deferred loan if Inspections didn't sign off on the work within 6 months. So to use the deferred loan, I first have to come up with my match ($15,000), plus have another $15,000 on hand in case the contractor or inspections missed the six month deadline. If I had $30,000 laying around I wouldn't need a deferred loan... I had planned to break the work down into projects of a few thousand dollars each, using my income and the loan payment from the last project to fund the next. But with a six month window to complete $30,000 in rehab and little contractor interest the deal is on life support. The reality is that older homes are largely going to be rehabbed by sweat equity, and CEE's attempt to funnel Neighborhood groups rehab funds to contractors is not a viable way to rehab century old homes. So I'll just patch things together and keep my home's assessed value down, and the city and greedy contractors will lose my business and taxes in the end. hangin' on in Hawthorne, Dyna Sluyter -- ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] housing
In my opinion, the right to housing for everyone should be a right protected by Federal Law. I noticed in reading about the 35 W access project that the law of Imminent Domain might be applied: I noticed that it was mentioned that housing would be torn down to make way for that project. I am guessing that is imminent domain. (Please do not enter into a debate about my understanding of Imminent Domain and its legal intricacies) So, perhaps it is time for imminent domain or some law, to be used for housing for everybody. No more law suits or issues about neighborhood empowerment...just enforcement of the premise that everyone deserves housing---appropriate housing. People have commented on this list about "derelicts", that homelessness is due to people having Chemical Dependency or Mental Health problems. The last I checked (this morning) homelessness is due to poverty, a lack of housing available for the poorest of the poor and a lack of providing housing that is supportive to those who have needs that require such support. I have much more of a problem with the concentration of wealthy folks into neighborhoods than I do with the prevailing argument about concentration of "the poor". Since when does being poor indicate all these negative stereotypes I keep reading about on the list? Yes, I think Lydia House is a great idea, I thought so when that building first went vacant. Yes, I am a housing advocate. Yes, I live in Kingfield. Yes, I would like to see Kingfield have the same concentration as Whittier for low income and supportive housing. Yes, I think this could happen if we had laws that made us do this. Margaret Hastings Kingfield
[Mpls] biernat resignation, mpls housing density in the PP
Biernat resigns from City Council Hours after a jury convicted him of five felony counts, Minneapolis City Council member Joe Biernat resigned, Council President Paul Ostrow said this morning. Ostrow also said a primary election on Dec. 30 and a general election on Feb. 3 will be held to fill the Minneapolis affordable-housing plan criticized Minneapolis is thinking about letting developers build more homes per lot as a way to increase affordable-housing stock without spending public money. Judith Yates BorgerStaff ReporterMinneapolis BureauSt. Paul Pioneer Press612 338-8198Cell: 651 503-0162
[Mpls] Housing--What's happening and what's not
A point of clarification. Sorry if I repeat some of what I've said in an earlier post. M Lavingarz states, you need to know that the City Council is about to revoke a law controlling the concentration of supportive housing. This is not accurate. The issue is not before the City Council at this time, nor is it scheduled to be considered. (For the complete contents of what is under consideration at this time, go to the Housing Policy link on the Minneapolis Planning Dept website.) It has been correctly noted on this list, however, that the Shelter Advisory Board recommended to the City Council that the spacing requirement for supportive housing be repealed. (This was forwarded to the City Council a few months back as part of a package of changes they felt would support the development of supportive housing/affordable housing) I think it is also fair to say that policy makers understand that some would strongly oppose this change. If the City Council considers this change at some point in the near or distant future, the subject matter of the change will be introduced at a City Council meeting and it will be referred to staff to draft specific language and do an analysis of the pros and cons of making the change. A few months will go by. :-) Then Notice will be mailed to all City neighborhoods 21 days before the formal public hearing at the City Planning Commission. It certainly is valid to request that, if scheduled for consideration, the matter should be the subject of wider conversation among Minneapolis citizens and housing advocates prior to its formal consideration. That's the take-home message I'm getting from the discussion on the list. Now, stepping back. . . There should be nothing surprising about learning that housing advocacy organizations and boards are advocating changes to regulations. That's happening at all levels of government--federal, state, metropolitan and local. And that community representatives may not agree with all proposed changes. Or that there are different ways of looking at things between different communities. Or between different advocacy organizations. Or between different individuals. What is important is that a full conversation occur in which all points of view are respected, following which the policy makers will need to make the hard decisions they were elected to make. Tom Leighton City Planner Seward Message: 16 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 16:28:42 EST To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] If you live near supportive housing you need to know that the City Council is about to revoke a law controlling the concentration of supportive housing. Supportive housing houses adults or children who are challenged in some way and require on-site supervision. These facilities include housing for chemically, mentally or physically disabled residents as well as recently released offenders. When well run, these facilities provide the vital care to those in need. Probably the facility near you presents few or no problems. However, the law that limits the spacing of supportive housing to one per 1/4 mile radius (Chapter 536.20) is under assault. Without citizen intervention, this spacing law will be eliminated. If eliminated, there will be no limit to the number of supportive housing facilities that can be legally clustered near the one that now exists near your home. Your neighborhood may end up like several others in the city: islands of hyper-concentrated supportive housing. Without Chapter 536.20 there will be nothing to prevent such extreme clustering of supportive housing in your neighborhood. Now is the time to speak out. Call or e-mail Mayor Rybak at R.T. [EMAIL PROTECTED] or the Chair of the Zoning Committee, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tell them that supportive housing should not be clustered. Suppportive housing is a good thing, but clustering them is a bad idea for the residents of such housing and for neighborhoods.It should be spread out throughout the city. After all, 38 of Minneapolis' neighborhoods have no supportive housing. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing Numbers: Scamming Taxpayers for Fun and Profit
It would take a long time for me to teach Listmembers the necessary accounting skills to detect a scam. What you do need to know - to ask the right questions - is pretty simple. Here are three points, more to come later. 1. A PROJECT'S INCOME MUST BE ENOUGH TO COVER EXPENSES AND DEBT SERVICE. If Erik Riese is correct, Minn's project would have $31 million worth of DEBT against 221 units. That is MORE than Riverside Plaza's debt for 1,303 units with $10 million per year of rental income. If the average rent at Minn's project is $1,000 per month, he would collect $2.7 million per year in rent. From that he must pay debt service, maintenance expenses, property taxes, insurance, etc. How much is debt service per year on Minn's project? We don't know, but a $25 million mortgage at 6%, 30 year amortization would require $1.9 million for DEBT SERVICE ALONE. We can't do any analysis of the project until we know what the anticipated rents will be, the amount and terms of the debt, and the other operating expenses. 2. WHAT ARE THE REAL CONSTRUCTION AND FINANCING COSTS? If you could borrow $500,000 to build a $200,000 house, you would have $300,000 of tax free cash in your pocket. Riverside Plaza paid $17 million for the buildings and got a $27 million mortgage. That's $10 million of tax free cash. What if Minn's project only costs $20 million to build? How will we know? To my knowledge, NO ONE at the MCDA or the City or the County monitors the project after they hand over the money. Any other lender would require quarterly financial statements, proof of insurance, etc. If there are financial problems, theft, etc., the lender finds out early - as opposed to waiting for the default like Brookfield, Target Center. 3. GENERAL PARTNER vs. LIMITED PARTNERS The general partner controls ALL of the cash and makes EVERY management decisions. Limited partners are PASSIVE. They buy Tax Credits to AVOID paying Federal taxes. Riverside Plaza had TWO limited partners: Norwest Bank and Fannie Mae. In Minn's project - who are the limited partners? We don't know. They are paying $3 million for $10 million worth of tax avoidance (estimate.) If you like corporate welfare - you've got to love this program (IRS Section 42 tax credits.) The banks that charge you all of those late fees, penalties, and interest don't have to pay any taxes on their income. The general partner has total authority over the money. They receive the developers fees. They routinely set up affiliate corporations to drain the money out of the project. One corporation does the accounting. One corporation does the property management. One corporation does the security. One corporation does the snow plowing. Etc. IMPORTANT: Corporations don't pay any taxes if they can spend all of their money. The tax rate for PROFITS up to $50,000 is only 15%. In other words, a corporation with income of $1 million and expenses of $950,000 would pay $7,500 in federal taxes. If you were trying to AVOID paying taxes, where would you have your board meetings - Minneapolis or Tahiti? The expenses are deductible in either case. THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TODAY I will try to show Listmembers how these real estate scams work over time. I know it looks like I am picking on Riverside Plaza and Steve Minn. Please understand that I don't care what they do - I have already decided that I am not going to pay for it any longer. I use Riverside Plaza as an example because I have documents to prove what I say. I use Minn's project simply because it is current. Real estate operators (for profit and non-profit) who borrow from the GOVERNMENT do the same things - and not just in Minneapolis. Donald Trump is the Godfather of the strategy. If one has the right connections, millions of dollars can be made this way - with NO personal risk and NO personal money. My goal is to make sure YOU know what's going on. If you, the voters, think it is OK - then so be it. Vicky Heller North Oaks and Cedar-Riverside ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing, Voting, Library Director too much talk!
Hello list, There's so much to respond to on the list recently. I'm going to start with start with two of Vickie's recent posts and work backwards. Housing-- I think Vickie is a sharp business person with a pretty good understanding of finance and development issues. Her research into a riverfront housing development is interesting reading but she paints a misleading picture that ends with Steve Minn ends up with a $30 million asset. How does that help people who cannot pay $500 per month for apartments that are available now? Dissecting the finances for this deal would probably show that Steve ends up with 1% of a $30 million asset and that the asset is offset by a $31 million list of debts. The remaining equity will be in the hands of limited partners while the debt holders will have liens on the property until the debts are paid off. Voting-- In an earlier post Vickie asks about non-citizens voting. I'm an election judge and I was interested in this same issue at training this year. It turns out that we, election judges, cannot ask if a person is a citizen. We administer an oath that the voter must swear they are a citizen, 18 years old, not a felon, not under guardianship, that they live in the precinct in which they are voting etc. But, if a voter wants to commit perjury in front of an election judge, a non-citizen has an easier time voting than a 15 year old has getting a picture ID from the State. Library Director-- How many folks on this list use the library? It seems a lot of people are willing to criticize and bad mouth the Library Board without much understanding of our library, how it works or the level of knowledge and expertise needed to lead an agency of this magnitude. The discussion of salary might be seen as class envy. Poor (like me) and lower middle class folks (like anyone earning less than about $80,000 per year) post here yearning to get one of those upper middle class salaries in the $120,000 and up range. These folks can't see how anyone should earn that much. First, its not really a zero sum situation. And second, the real culprit here is the upper class who have siphoned off the value created in the past twenty years into their off shore accounts, their palatial estates, their ownership of over 80% of all US corporation and the trust funds for their children. Back to Minneapolis on this-- Even as someone who's been out of work for almost two years now, I can see how a person being recruited to take on a job like Director of the Minneapolis Public Library system or Superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board would need a serious salary that might exceed the State mandate. This becomes an argument in favor of paying the Governor more or maybe paying the First Lady a salary and including that salary in the formula. Or, scratching the law from the State books altogether. While I agree with Vickie and others who rightly point out that fancy resumes and high salaries does not guarantee effectiveness or high job performance and while I agree that salaries have to be compared to others in the local area not only to those in higher cost localities, I also understand that any skilled professional needs incentive to pick up from a safe job and move to a new one even if they are not relocating from another city. That incentive must be enough to fit the challenge of the job and to acknowledge the personal interests of the candidate. I support the Library Board and the Personnel Committee in their work and I sympathize with their recent set back. It must be very disappointing to lose both the top candidates after all the work they've put into making a great choice for new leadership of the Minneapolis Public Library. Thank you to the Library Board and especially to those involved on the Personnel Committee. -- In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward: a great place to live, work, learn, and play! (612) 724-3217 home ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ mailto:riese;tcfreenet.org ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing programs?
Does Minneapolis have any programs or assistance for first time buyers? I have a young friend that just got turned down for a commercial loan even though she had enough money to put 25% down. The problem was the bank only looked at her adjusted gross income which was low for her this year because she invested in improvements to her business. I would appreciate any suggestions. Jay Dean, ECCO ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing programs?
Jay, refer them to the MCDA CityLiving Program Coordinator, Judy Moses at (612) 673-5288. If your friend is online she can get some additional info at http://www.mcda.org/Services/Housing/CityLiving.htm If the link breaks try www.mcda.org and follow the links. Jack Kryst Kingfield From the bottom of the 10th to the top of the 11th. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 4:48 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Housing programs? Does Minneapolis have any programs or assistance for first time buyers? I have a young friend that just got turned down for a commercial loan even though she had enough money to put 25% down. The problem was the bank only looked at her adjusted gross income which was low for her this year because she invested in improvements to her business. I would appreciate any suggestions. Jay Dean, ECCO ___ 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 ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing summit + Dinkytown post-hockey
List members in the news following RT Rybak's second housing summit: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/2214163.html What happened in Dinkytown Saturday nigh? Police say riot, students say lots of things http://www.startribune.com/stories/512/2214207.html David Brauer List manager ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Summit/Gas @10 cents a gallon urged/No one objected
Landlords, tenants air differences at Minneapolis housing summit Steve Brandt Star Tribune Published Apr 8, 2002 Differences between landlords and tenants are nothing new to housing, but they sparked some of the most passionate debate Sunday at Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's second affordable-housing summit. Application fees charged to renters provoked complaints from tenants who said landlords profit at $25 per apartment. But landlords said a gamble on an unchecked tenant can mean other tenants subsidize the cost of fixing up a trashed apartment. Rental issues were an added feature of this second summit, which drew more than 400 people. Some small-scale landlords say they feel ignored by Rybak's administration, which calls affordable housing its priority. Tenant issues were largely missing from the first summit. Advocates helped to sharpen the focus of rental issues by busing residents of several homeless shelters to the Sunday summit. Sharon Myles was one renter who thought tenant screening for rental, criminal and credit history is too harsh. They want to hold your history against you, even if it was 15 years ago, she said. Landlord Keith Reitman agreed with tenants that it's wrong to collect multiple application fees to pay for screening several applicants for the same unit. He said he'd like to see a common background check devised. A tenant working group set up after Rybak's last session in January urges a ban on application fees, limits on the information that can be collected for background checks, and several other changes. (SNIP) Keith says; I was there, so thanx for the ink. In that packed and edgy room; I could only wish you had called me BRO again. I would like to correct the record regarding my opinion on Rental application Fees charged by some landlords. I do not, .. agree(d) with tenants that it's wrong to collect multiple application fees to pay for screening several applicants for the same unit. Some landlords charge an application fee for payment to a tenant screening service. If that landlord were fortunate enough to get many interested parties: it would be necessary and reasonable to do the background research and verification on all those applicants who appear qualified, in the same manor. Hence the fee from one and all. If he did not treat all the nominally qualified applicants equally and fairly, he would appear to be discriminating. He would also not be able to professionally verify the information offered by applicants. I do believe, as you say about me, that ...he'd like to see a common background check devised. That is, perhaps a portable, and verifiable report that an aspiring tenant in MPLS. need pay for only one time. The applicant can then present the reference number (or whatever) and a copy of the report when filling out each landlord's application. The report could be utilized as often as the tenant desires, but it is essential that their be no cost to the landlord. No cost to the landlord because, and this can happen, 500 people may show up for one very desirable unit. Finally, yes, A tenant working group set up after Rybak's last session in January urges a ban on application fees, limits on the information that can be collected for background checks, and several other changes. It was also urged (by me) at this last summit, in that edgy room, that gas be priced at 10 cents@gallon. I thought it would be good for many of us in the room, even the tenant advocates who bussed in residents of local homeless shelters. Will I hold my breath waiting for RT to lower pump prices or remove the only fair way for landlords to verify tenant information? No. I believe the consensus in the room at the end of the meeting was for a portable rental information method. I know I was convinced. My thanks to RT for facilitating this forum. My advice to RT, be more accessible to the small business people called rental property owner. Many of us are ready to storm your office, peaceably. Reconnect, in your mind, landlord as *housing advocate*. We are the for-profit Housing Advocates, we have to be. Keith Reitman, NearNorth ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Summit Sunday
A previous post asked: Where are the affordable housing advocates? The answer, I hope, is at the Shine Center on Park Av. and 25th Sunday from 3-6. That's when we are having the second Housing Summit. This is a follow to the Summit right after I took office. Now we are getting together, going over in detail what has been done in housing, what specific actions we are proposing and how people can get involved to help make them happen. This will be a great chance for citizens to help us form the city's housing policy...and to help us form the policy we are advocating at the state and federal level. Hope to see folks at the Shrine Center from 3-6 Sunday. R.T.Rybak East Harriet
[Mpls] housing tax incentives
Re: Rybak's comment he would like to getreal estate (housing)tax incentives restored that had been taken away in the 1980s, specifically 1986. The new mayor is on the right trail, if those tax incentives were restored you would have big turn around in private investment inreal estate of all kinds. Before '86 we had ZS properties., Zollie Barratz got hishigh income friends to invest in three story walkups (in 1970s); gave them mortgages for collateral and thousands of new housing units came into being inMinneapolis area, withno public investment at all. That besides the building boom in the 1980s, allcities in the country got big new sky lines. Then abruptly in 1986Congresspassed the tax bill and the whole thing was Deed in leu of foreclosure;Trammel Crow, andetc. That was whenWashington was full ofold timeDemocrats who complainedabout tax breaks for the rich. The result was that the investor market for real estatewas illiminated, cutting the market valueof commercial real estate by about 40%. The banks,loaded up with commercial mortgages,took a hit of 40% on those assets, which, when theregulators came around, overseeingasset credibility, lots of banks got closed at huge expense to FDIC insurance fund -and putting such fund 20 billion in the red!! Youdarn near had a 1930s type economic disaster in the country. Then for years after,members of House and Senate, i.e.Majority Leader Mitchel -when pointed out to them the collosal errors of the tax bill, they said they weren't going to give back tax breaks to the rich. Little old humble JEJ wrote that maybe it was thatin back room they decided to86 the Japanese who were then buying upAmerica.They didstop the Japanese and threw the economy of that country also into series aofdecade long economic disasters. It would be a Hurculean task for anyone to get the Congress to reverse the '86 tax bill, but such -or just reversing part of it-certainly would change the housing environment. James E Jacobsen Whittier (so called)
[Mpls] Housing Question at 55th and Lyndale
You asked about the proposed affordable housing project - it is actually located at 5320 Lyndale Avenue - and whether it will affect the existing businesses in the area. The proposal is for 24 housing units and 7,000 square feet of commercial space. 10 units (40%) have rents affordable to 60% of the median and four of those will have Section 8 certificates. The other 14 units will have market rents. 19 units are in apartments and 5 are townhomes. There is a 35 car underground garage. The Planning Commission approved the required a conditional use permit and a variance to allow a loading zone to be on-street (instead of off-street). The City Council upheld this decision. The Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association approved the project after 3 large public meetings were held. There is no negative impact on adjacent businesses with regard to traffic and parking, according to an independent third party traffic consultant. The proposed project actually generates fewer car trips per day than did the prior use of the land as a bank with one drive-up window. David Kortz writes: One rainy Saturday afternoon earlier this year, I happened to run into a protest in the business district around 55th and Lyndale. (Old Boulevard Theatre area). Apparently, the businesses were voicing their concern about a proposal to build affordable housing in the area. Does anyone know about this proposed project and if it is still planned? If so, will it affect the existing businesses in that area of town? ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing Question at 55th and Lyndale
David Kortz wrote: One rainy Saturday afternoon earlier this year, I happened to run into a protest in the business district around 55th and Lyndale. (Old Boulevard Theatre area). Apparently, the businesses were voicing their concern about a proposal to build affordable housing in the area. Does anyone know about this proposed project and if it is still planned? If so, will it affect the existing businesses in that area of town? I hope this answers David's question. I just finished a short summary of the project for our next newsletter that details the process that worked its way through our neighborhood. This project will not directly affect any business in the area. Paul Lohman, President Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association The Boulevard Moves Forward an Update Over the past number of months the Lynnhurst neighborhood and Board have been discussing and evaluating a proposed development project called The Boulevard. It is a development planned for the former Norwest Bank building site at 53rd street and Lyndale and is comprised of housing on the upper floors and new commercial space on the ground level. After numerous neighborhood meetings and after gathering as much information as possible the Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association (LYNAS) Board considered the issue at its October 11th meeting. The Board voted to send a letter to the City of Minneapolis Planning Department not opposing the Boulevard development. The issue then went to the City Planning Commission and was discussed in a public forum on November 5th. The Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of the project commending it as a good model for this type of development. The Planning Commission's decision was appealed to the Zoning and Planning sub-committee of the City Council who discussed the project at their meeting on November 27th. Public comment was heard from a number of residents and business owners. The Zoning sub-committee then unanimously passed the project as well (i.e.: the appeal was denied.) . The Minneapolis City Council finally had the project on its December 14th meeting agenda. No public comment was taken at this meeting and the proposed development plan was passed by unanimous consent. If you have questions or concerns about this development project or any other issue in the Lynnhurst neighborhood please do not hesitate to call the message line (823-5190) or contact any member of the LYNAS Board ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing Question at 55th and Lyndale-CORRECTION
TWO CORRECTIONS: My prior message referred to Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association support for the Boulevard project. As Mr. Lohman wrote in his message, the LYNAS Board voted not to oppose the project. Also, the prior post and this one should have been-and now are signed- Lisa Kugler Tangletown Partner, Lyndale West Partners ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing projects in the works
This sort of rhetorical cluster-bombing in lieu of a reply has become all too frequent on this list. To elucidate what I'm talking about, may I ask Ms. Heller what she does for a living, what she used to do in her three positions before that, how much money she currently makes from it, how much taxes she pays from what she makes, whether she has ever lived in any affordable housing or owned any affordable housing, or driven past affordable housing on her way to work on a regular basis. Then and only then will I be able to analyze her response to Mr. Luce's question. The point is, if we do not have what we believe to be all the pertinent information in the course of exchanging opinions on this list, it might be helpful to set up or approximate our own parameters on what we would support or not support, rather than dumping a bunch of questions requiring highly detailed responses back on the original poster. I think that would be a more honest, less disingenuous form of dialogue. Britt Robson Lyndale ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Team and Moving Targets
I can't put my finger on the article, but somebody listed off the members of your housing transition team and it read like a who's who of many of the figures who gave substance to the Affordable Housing Task Force. Alan Arthur, Tom Foley, and David Fey, of course. I also recall Kathy ten Broek, Dorothy Bridges, Tom Strietz, Gretchen Nicolls ... there's more, but I just can't remember them offhand, even though I'm personally acquainted with almost all of them. I read Steve Brandt's report in this Wednesday's paper, December 19, 2001, and his final sentence has David Fey indicating that your housing efforts will be concentrated on the 50% MMI target. When we see each other on Friday at the Affordable Housing Advocate/Faith Community meeting, I will be asking you to recall that the activist run-up to the Affordable Housing Task Force and the Task Force itself stopped at 30% MMI. Now we are told that the target product of your transition team has moved on up to the very 50% benchmark that led me for one to abandon SSB and her supporters on the City Council. How did you get the doughty veterans on your housing transition team to abandon the 30% crowd? How have we activists accomplished anything if the replacement we supported now offer the very same elevated target that elides so very many of our city's households? What about using the City's MMI instead of the Metro MMI so we have a better handle on the reality trip? Fred Markus Horn Terrace Ward Ten __ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing projects in the works
I would be happy to answer any question, in fact I would be REQUIRED to, if I had my hand in the public till. But I don't. Minneapolis is in deep financial doo doo BECAUSE no one asks questions. Now that I've asked, it seems like getting an honest answer might a problem too. Vicky Heller St. Paul ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing projects in the works
I agree with Britt Robson that this amounts to cluster-bombing of rhetorical questions rather than engaging in a real discussion. I get the point, after all, that you object to what you perceive to be excessive subsidies. Plus, I asked a general question about a recent trend where some landlords appear alarmist about overbuilding. Finally, you are asking the wrong person these specific questions, though I can give you general answers off-list based on my knowledge, if you want. Try calling the developers or public entities involved in these or researching for information on the net for the following projects: Franklin-Portland Gateway, developed by CCHT, Hope Community, and Franklin Avenue Development www.ccht.org will get you started in the right direction Many Rivers (Niibiwa Ziib), developed by American Indian Housing and Community Development Corporation www.exodusdesign.com/aihcdc/housing_dev.htm gives a brief description Near Northside Redevelopment (Heritage Park), developed by a number of public and private ventures www.mcda.org can get you in the right direction and City Pages and others have had numerous articles about this development over the years I would imagine Met Council and MHFA would also have applications for grants from some of these developments and would be obligated to share those applications if you wished to review them. If I attempted to answer these questions I'd likely need to start a new career, though I also believe answering them won't really satisfy some people. Best of luck. Gregory Luce North Phillips (work) Victoria Heller wrote: What is the total amount of the public subsidy (including financing) for each project? Are the taxpayers of Minneapolis on the hook for any debt? Who is the developer for each project? How much cash is each developer contributing from his/her own pocket to each development? How much is each developer paying him/herself in developer fees? How much is the MCDA receiving in administrative and bond related fees? Who will actually end up owning these multi-million dollar properties? Who will manage each project and receive management fees? How much each year? What are the total construction costs per unit? 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, etc.? Was eminent domain used to take private property from others for the benefit of the developers? How much did the developers pay for the land? To whom? How much rent will be charged for each unit? 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, etc? Will the Federal government be paying any of the rent to the developer? What happens if the developer cannot find enough tenants willing or able to pay the rent? Will tax increment financing be used in any of the projects? In what year will any increased property tax receipts be realized? By how much? If you would be kind enough to furnish these answers, our list members would be able to respond to your question about whether or not these projects make sense. Vicky Heller St. Paul ___ 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 ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Question at 55th and Lyndale
One rainy Saturday afternoon earlier this year, I happened to run into a protest in the business district around 55th and Lyndale. (Old Boulevard Theatre area). Apparently, the businesses were voicing their concern about a proposal to build affordable housing in the area. Does anyone know about this proposed project and if it is still planned? If so, will it affect the existing businesses in that area of town? -Original Message- Subject: [whittier] Mayoral Housing Summit Mayor Elect R.T. Rybak announced today that he will host a Housing Summit: WHEN: January 5th, 2002 TIME: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PLACE: Christ the King Catholic Church WHERE: 50TH St. and Zenith Av. So. It will be a daylong community meeting on affordable housing options. R.T. wishes to invite community groups, foundations, faith based communities, the private sector and the many others in our region who can help attack this crisis. ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing projects in the works
A few questions about the 3 projects you mentioned: 100+ units planned for going up at the corner of Franklin and Portland 76 units very likely going up on Franklin and 15th Avenue 900 units going up over at Near North (now called Heritage Park) What is the total amount of the public subsidy (including financing) for each project? Are the taxpayers of Minneapolis on the hook for any debt? Who is the developer for each project? How much cash is each developer contributing from his/her own pocket to each development? How much is each developer paying him/herself in developer fees? How much is the MCDA receiving in administrative and bond related fees? Who will actually end up owning these multi-million dollar properties? Who will manage each project and receive management fees? How much each year? What are the total construction costs per unit? 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, etc.? Was eminent domain used to take private property from others for the benefit of the developers? How much did the developers pay for the land? To whom? How much rent will be charged for each unit? 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, etc? Will the Federal government be paying any of the rent to the developer? What happens if the developer cannot find enough tenants willing or able to pay the rent? Will tax increment financing be used in any of the projects? In what year will any increased property tax receipts be realized? By how much? If you would be kind enough to furnish these answers, our list members would be able to respond to your question about whether or not these projects make sense. Vicky Heller St. Paul ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing For-Profit Voice/ RT--Check your E-mail;then answer
Keith asked about input from private property owners into thinking about an affordable housing plan: There is one person on the transition work group who is strictly a private landlord and several more who have interests. More important, I have had several long meetings with landlords to go over detailed ideas for a housing policy, and this is being incorporated into the group's work...Much of the work on zoning and regulation reform has come from these groups. (For example, the idea of smart codes which I have often talked about and recently discussed with Gov. Ventura came from these talks.)I'll continue to get more opinions from property owners because we need to solve this with more than just public money. If you have any other ideas please post them because we need all we can get. R.T. Rybak -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 8:24 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Housing For-Profit Voice/ RT--Check your E-mail;then answer In a message dated 12/11/01 11:37:03 AM Central Standard Time, PennBroKeith writes: Subj:Re: [Mpls] Housing/ RT, can WE come to the table? Date: 12/11/01 11:37:03 AM Central Standard Time From: A HREF=mailto:PennBroKeith;PennBroKeith/A To:A HREF=mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED];[EMAIL PROTECTED]/A, A HREF=mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED];[EMAIL PROTECTED]/A In a message dated 12/7/01 11:34:53 AM Central Standard Time, PennBroKeith writes: RT, (When) Can We Come To the Table? I believe it defies logic to leave for-profit, small business people called landlord, out of the mainstream committee formed to help determine future city housing policy. I asked RT the question below last week and still await an answer. Herewith, I repost the Question to RT. Keith Reitman, Near North Dear RT, Welcome to City Hall. Since the policies and prizes are being passed before Jan. 2, I wish to ask you a question about affordable housing initiatives you are formulating. Which people from the private sector, small businessmen called landlord, have you selected and appointed to this affordable housing roundtable so far? I have a fear that all nonprofit and no bottom line experience means spending more money with less thought. Our tax money is short, let the idea list grow long. Thank you. Keith Reitman, a small voice for small business, Near North Still waiting so Keith says; Last night, at the MPRAC property rights meeting and holiday party, we heard from Council members elect Johnson Lee, Zimmerman, and Lilligren. We were reminded by them of how huge the affordable housing issues were in swinging the election outcome toward change. Today I viewed Mpls. cable channel 6 rebroadcast of the Nov. 14th MPRAC Meeting. The groups founder, Charlie Disney, cautioned the group that helping win elections for people is not enough, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must come to the table of city policy construct. We must bring our ideas and our hard-learned knowledge forward. Either by city leaders' invitation, or if they omit us, by aggressive political action and dissent, we must participate in the formulation and institution of any and all housing initiatives in this city. Our hard earned property tax dollars and the interests of all Mpls. stakeholders in these issues demand we come to the table. We have heard from smart responsible council members; RT.- WE await your call and assignments even though it appears you have already started the housing round table without us. Keith Reitman, --RT., phone home, Near North ___ 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 ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing/ RT, can WE come to the table?
In a message dated 12/7/01 11:34:53 AM Central Standard Time, PennBroKeith writes: RT, (When) Can We Come To the Table? I believe it defies logic to leave for-profit, small business people called landlord, out of the mainstream committee formed to help determine future city housing policy. I asked RT the question below last week and still await an answer. Herewith, I repost the Question to RT. Keith Reitman, Near North Dear RT, Welcome to City Hall. Since the policies and prizes are being passed before Jan. 2, I wish to ask you a question about affordable housing initiatives you are formulating. Which people from the private sector, small businessmen called landlord, have you selected and appointed to this affordable housing roundtable so far? I have a fear that all nonprofit and no bottom line experience means spending more money with less thought. Our tax money is short, let the idea list grow long. Thank you. Keith Reitman, Don't Ostrowcize us, Near North ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing
I promise not to spam people with more emailsand I'm about to go back into a cave for a few days... but wanted to also pick up on this point from Eva: What bothers me is RT seems to be spending much more of his time and energy on the Twins stadium that he has on the issues he ran on -- namely affordable housing. As far as the coverage of my actions, this is true. But it's not the case. This afternoon I'm meeting with David Fey and our affordable housing task force, which has been working very hard over the past few weeks to lay out our proposed agenda. It's very strong work so far and I expect it to get better. We are going to refine it today, air it before council members and legislators early next week and then bring it forward probably late next week. I am also going to be talking about this when I meet with Gov. Ventura in about an hour. This is coupled with our plans for MCDA, NRP and Planning reorganizationwhen are also being defined. This work, plus organizing my office, is where I'm spending my time. The stadium issue was put on my plate, and not the other way around. I'm not sure I've done the best job with that, or at least with communicating what I'm doing. That's harder in a transition period when we are trying to do this work without a skeleton staff or office...(remind me to think about transition funds for the person who beats me in the next election) Also wish there was 24-7 news coverage and interest in affordable housing, as there is in baseball. Sorry for making excuses but I quite openly acknowledge that the news about stadiums,etc. has overwhelmed the work on housing...I hope to change that when we come forward with our report next week. Eva's right: I should be spending my time on affordable housing. I am and I hope that will become more clear soon. ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing/ RT, can WE come to the table?
In a message dated 12/7/01 11:21:09 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: As far as the coverage of my actions, this is true. But it's not the case. This afternoon I'm meeting with David Fey and our affordable housing task force, which has been working very hard over the past few weeks to lay out our proposed agenda. It's very strong work so far and I expect it to get better. We are going to refine it today, air it before council members and legislators early next week and then bring it forward probably late next week. I am also going to be talking about this when I meet with Gov. Ventura in about an hour. Dear RT, Welcome to City Hall. Since the policies and prizes are being passed before Jan. 2, I wish to ask you a question about affordable housing initiatives you are formulating. Which people from the private sector, small businessmen called landlord, have you selected and appointed to this affordable housing roundtable so far? I have a fear that all nonprofit and no bottom line experience means spending more money with less thought. Our tax money is short, let the idea list grow long. Thank you. Keith Reitman, Don't Ostrowcize us, Near North ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing, my contribution to the 24 hour news on affordable housing.
I have a suggestion for RT and the new council. City inspections at the behest of the city attorneys office are pressing the landlords to take over another responsibility of the city's. Seems some court ruled that the city can't take landlords notice as sufficient notice to perform a city mandated city inspection. This would not be a complaint driven inspection but a annual license inspection. The city is fearing a lawsuit. Now the city wants us to go door to door and secure the signatures for approval by the tenants. Here's the problems. 1. It leaves the tenant with the impression that they can turn down any inspection. This is bad. Landlord has the right to inspect as long as reasonable notice is given. This has stood con law, case law, statute law for over 1000 years. 2. This extra expense will have to be paid in more rent increases. 3. This is the city's responsibility. 4. Good landlords will comply. Bad landlords will only seek signatures from the units that are ready to be inspected. Units that are not ready to go will have to be inspected after an administrative warrant is obtained. How much time and money will be spent on this procedure before the city gives up and only inspects the units that have consented? 5. What about the tenant who wants to say no but feels intimidated just by the landlord's presence? RT AND DAVID FEY, IF YOUR READING, KILL THIS EXTRA REGULATION RIGHT NOW. TELL THE CITY ATTY'S OFFICE TO DO WHAT ST. PAUL DOES. Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - But it's not the case. This afternoon I'm meeting with David Fey and our affordable housing task force, Also wish there was 24-7 news coverage and interest in affordable housing, as there is in baseball. Sorry for making excuses but I quite openly acknowledge that the news about ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing demolition moratorium(investor perdition)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [from GDL post] In addition, we have to engage lenders in some of these discussions. Lenders have absolutely no interest in a building's occupancy once they foreclose--they would rather the building sit empty, shut off the water, etc., until it is sold. We need incentives for lenders to maintain the building as an occupied building after foreclosure and to work to get it sold quickly rather then letting it sit empty and possibly decline further. Rebuttal: Keith [Reitman] says, Lenders have absolutely EVERY interest in a building's occupancy after they foreclose. Why would a lender left holding the debt for a property a borrower ran from want ...the building ...(to)sit empty, ...(to)shut off the water, etc., until it is sold(?)Water shut off and abandonment leads to board up, break in, arson, freeze damage, and many other perils that lead to condemnation, speedy depreciation of lenders collateral and possibly a vacant lot/total loss. I do presume this type of outcome more likely in North Phillips then Kenwood but I haven't seen to many abandoned sites in Kenwood lately. Sadly, we are currently seeing a bank/lender abandon a building in Hawthorne after a foreclosure, despite our ability to manage it, bring it up to code, pay water bill, etc. (prior to foreclosure we were appointed to keep the building habitable). The lender just wants it off its bad debt list and will dump it as soon as possible, though with their red tape sooner is not typically soon enough. Now it is vacant (the bank gave the tenants notices to move, something we could do little about) the water is off, no one is monitoring it, and who knows what will happen. Let's see if this property goes down or someone comes forward to purchase and rehab soon. I'm pessimistic and disappointed. Gregory Luce North Phillips ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
A little over 2 years ago, MPHA sold on the private market 7 boarded-up, single family homes that were in very tough shape. They ranged in price from $2,500 to $45,000 with most of them sold in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. As part of the sale, each buyer had to agree to fix them up and use them for family home ownership purposes (not rental). Based on my windshield survey of the units several months after the sale, all them were fixed up and are currently occupied. I know for a fact that some of buyers really struggled with the magnitude of the rehab work involved, however they perservered and today 7 formally boarded up homes are nice, completely updated homes contributing to the neighborhood instead of detracting from it. Also more recently MPHA sold 2 homes that had been boarded up for 5 years (don't ask). MPHA required that a work program and financing needed to be in place as part of the terms of the sale. Both homes will receive close to $65,000 to $80,000 dollars worth of rehab work. These homes were in an extreme state of disrepair with the neighborhood recyclers taking anything they could, new roofs needed, all mechanics, kitchens, bathrooms, you name it. (It was fun telling Excel Energy and the water Department that we couldn't do a final meter reading when these homes were sold because there was no meter to read!!). The bottom line is that homes can be repaired and brought back up to code. It is extremely expensive and time consuming, and it isn't something a person can do on the weekends and evenings after work. It takes professionals and lots of dollars. Due to this experience, I can understand why it's difficult to justify the use of amount of taxpayer dollars needed to fix up all the boarded up homes in the City. If the public subsidizes the entire cost of the rehab or significant portion of it, not many houses will get rehabbed before the money runs out; if the subsidy is capped at let's say $10,000 to $20,000, other funds will be needed to get the house up to code. In my opinion, the rehabbing of the boarded up housing stock should be a private matter with the City making available the boarded up homes at a very low cost and let the private financing market provide funds for the rehab. On a related note, HUD has a commissioned a study looking at the barriers to rehabbing affordable housing. It is very academic and quite long (400 pages spread over 2 volumes). However some of it is pretty interesting. Volume II does provide case studies with pro formas. To download the pdf files or to order Barriers to the Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing, Volume I: Findings and Analysis and Volume II: Case Studies, visit the HUD USER Web site at: http://www.huduser.org/publications/destech/brah.html Dean E. Carlson (NOT the Project Manager for Hollman, but MPHA Development Coordinator) Ward 10, East Harriet - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 3:39 PM Subject: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor David Piehl writes: Some months ago, there was lengthy discussion on the reduction in total number of dwelling units available in the city of Minneapolis, based on census data - it was something like 17,000 units less. The discussions that ensued - as well as work done by several affordable housing groups - identified demolition as the primary driver behind the reduction in the number of units available; hence the (overly broad) statement to open the discussion. I believe many of the units demolished are unneccessarily victims of the wrecking ball, sometimes because they housed problem occupants, sometimes because they are just not part of a larger plan that certain civil servants may feel is best for the area. It is my opinion that demolition is the simple, band-aid solution of choice for certain city staff. Our experience in Central with the houses that were sold by the MPHA as part of the Hollman agreement a few years ago is a classic example. Nine MPHA homes in Central were conveyed to MCDA in the first round, staff at MPHA said they chose to convey to the MCDA so the homes would be thoroughly rennovated and sold to owner occupants rather than investors. MCDA proposed demolishing all of them. MCDA had rehab estimates for each of the properties that were astonishingly high to support their assertions. The residents of Central didn't buy into this thinking, and pushed for further assesments. One of the homes was located on the corner of 33rd and Chicago Ave - MCDA claimed it needed in excess of $100,000 of work to be up to code, including lead abatement, and should be demolished. When the house was toured by some state officials, neighborhood residents, and folks from some of the local non-profit developers, everyone was astonished by the great condition of the home. Lead tests showed that lead abatement had already been done, and a large amount
RE: [Mpls] Housing demolition moratorium
I thought David's original post was fairly limited, in that it involved a moratorium on demolition while we review how to recycle/reuse items in a building scheduled for demo (or revisit whether to demo at all). Not a bad idea, though a review of policy will often take a long long time, and buildings that should come down ought to come down (though I guess that's the emergency exception). Case study for discussion: The MCDA just purchased a sound but struggling duplex on the 2400 block of Bloomington in Phillips for $115,000, with the intent to demolish to make room for the Village in Phillips development. A moratorium would obviously affect that development. Is that an intended effect of the moratorium--to delay some developments pending such a review? I ask genuinely, not knowing more about the Village in Phillips development. Other issues: a few folks have suggested that the moratorium would affect currently occupied problem properties in that it would not demolish those quickly enough. I have trouble with that jump--that is, the oft-stated solution to a problem property (that is occupied) is to demo it. There are other alternatives, plus a moratorium now would not affect such occupied properties. In addition, we have to engage lenders in some of these discussions. Lenders have absolutely no interest in a building's occupancy once they foreclose--they would rather the building sit empty, shut off the water, etc., until it is sold. We need incentives for lenders to maintain the building as an occupied building after foreclosure and to work to get it sold quickly rather then letting it sit empty and possibly decline further. Gregory Luce North Phillips (but writing from outside of Boston, where the average one bedroom is about $1200) David Piehl wrote: In light of this history, I challenge the new council (re-elected and newly elected) as well as mayor-elect Rybak to call for an immediate city-wide moratorium on non-emergency demolition of housing until recycling policy options can be reviewed. A moratorium on demolition would make a strong statement about how serious the new council is about the affordable housing problems. ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Codes Smart Codes
Gregory Luce writes on smart codes and condemned housing rehab - Original Message - From: Gregory Luce [EMAIL PROTECTED] [much deleted text] [T]he city issued a list of required repairs, all of which I've listed at the end of this e-mail. The list is unusual only in the sense that it really is not as extensive as most that accompany properties that are vacant and boarded. Except in very few instances, the text describing the repair needed is the exact text provided by the inspector. I encourage you to read through some of them to think about what is now required for this property. I'm a handyman/carpenter by profession, so I'm familiar with some of these issues. I'll try to comment with an eye toward how smart codes might facilitate rehab and reoccupancy in a way that's not cost prohibitive: Repairs Required Building Inspection 1 Raise grade around building for positive drainage 2 Repair or replace uneven sidewalk 3 Tuck point chimney and foundation 4 Tear off and re-roof house and garage to code 5 Make correction to exterior steps to provide rise and run to code 6 Repair broken basement windows and maintain ventilation requirement by keeping windows openable 7 Replace rotted and broken roof decking (mostly around chimney) 8 Provide exterior and interior handrails (in reach) at all steps and stairways. Provide guardrails around all landings that are more than 30 above grade, including along open side of basement stairs 9 Provide smoke detectors on every level and in every bedroom Out of this whole list, the most important things are roof repair (from a structural standpoint) and smoke detectors (from a safety standpoint). The other repairs on this list (steps, handrails, grading, tuckpointing) really shouldn't prevent re-occupancy of a solid building, though they should be dealt with eventually in order to make the building more safe, and to prevent potential structural damage (wet foundation, weakening brickwork, etc.) Plumbing Inspection 10 Water Service: Bring meter and valves up to code 11 Water Piping: Bring all water piping up to code and sizing--back to water meter 12 Gas Piping: Bring all gas piping up to code and proper sizing 13 Waste Vents: Bring all waste and vent up to code 14 Floor drains: locate and bring up to code 15 Laundry tray: make workable, bring up to code 16 Water Heater: Bring water heater up to code; make workable 17 Washer: Legal hookup 18 Dryer: Gas and vent legal hookup 19 Kitchen sink: bring up to code and make workable 20 Gas range: if gas, install to proper size and install code valve 21 Bathroom water closet: new closet; bring up to code 22 Bathtub: code faucet and bring up to code 23 Basin: bring up to code I'm not a plumber. I think Mr. Luce commented that these guidelines are really vague. I agree. Unless the inspector saw potential for sewer gas backup, or pipes that were so badly corroded that they were in danger of bursting, I don't believe that simply having older plumbing should be an obstacle to occupying this house safely. Consider the cost of this: not only would you have to replumb the entire house (waste and supply lines from and to the meter/street), you'd also be ripping out and reinstalling plaster/wallboard and structural framing members throughout the house. Gas line hookups are also incredibly important -- perhaps a CO detector requirement near each gas burning appliance would be a reasonable requirement. Electrical Inspection 24 Basement: ground service to requirements of the 1999 National Electric Code; install a ceiling light in northeast room of basement Safe electrical service is important. 25 First Floor Living Room: install a paddle fan box for support of the paddle fan or install a conventional light fixture 26 Kitchen: install a grounding type receptacle for the stove area 27 Northwest bedroom: add one wall receptacle 28 Bathroom: remove swag light fixture and install a conventional wall mounted fixture 29 Attic area: install a light fixture for the ceiling box or install a blank cover for the box I'm also not an electrician. But all the stuff above is minor, and seems reasonable and relatively inexpensive. 30 Garage: wiring to meet code or remove all wiring to it and in it If the wiring is genuinely dangerous, this is valid. If it's not, and this house is in a neighborhood where you might want a motion detector or security lights, or if the owner wants/needs an electric garage door opener, maybe this needn't be a requirement for reoccupancy. 31 Repair or replace all broken or missing switches, receptacles, light fixtures, fixture glass, paddle fans and wall plates Cheap, do it yourself commonsense stuff. MWA Inspection 32 Replace or repair all damaged duct in the basement 33 Replace or repair damaged return grilles 34 All supply air registers must have operable dampers Gas and Furnace Inspection 35 Clean burner 36 ORSAT test furnace 37 Install
Re: [Mpls] Housing demolition moratorium(investor perdition)
In a message dated 11/16/01 11:47:26 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Other issues: a few folks have suggested that the moratorium would affect currently occupied problem properties in that it would not demolish those quickly enough. I have trouble with that jump--that is, the oft-stated solution to a problem property (that is occupied) is to demo it. There are other alternatives, plus a moratorium now would not affect such occupied properties. In addition, we have to engage lenders in some of these discussions. Lenders have absolutely no interest in a building's occupancy once they foreclose--they would rather the building sit empty, shut off the water, etc., until it is sold. We need incentives for lenders to maintain the building as an occupied building after foreclosure and to work to get it sold quickly rather then letting it sit empty and possibly decline further. Gregory Luce North Phillips (but writing from outside of Boston, where the average one bedroom is about $1200) Rebuttal: Keith says, Lenders have absolutely EVERY interest in a building's occupancy after they foreclose. Why would a lender left holding the debt for a property a borrower ran from want ...the building ...(to)sit empty, ...(to)shut off the water, etc., until it is sold(?)Water shut off and abandonment leads to board up, break in, arson, freeze damage, and many other perils that lead to condemnation, speedy depreciation of lenders collateral and possibly a vacant lot/total loss. I do presume this type of outcome more likely in North Phillips then Kenwood but I haven't seen to many abandoned sites in Kenwood lately. ALSO, says Mr. Luce, ...the oft stated solution to a problem property is to demo it. There are other alternatives... Yes, indeed there are Mr. Luce, and we property OWNERS wish to explore all of them to preserve our rights and our small business investments. Some of us may take a deep breath and clench our fists when we think of all the challenges we face to keep order in a building. We may face a criminally insane tenant or tenant guest, an uncaring or hostile CCP?SAFE office, a hostile council member or neighborhood group or activist, bullying Legal Aid attorneys or small claims court judges who think the poorest person should prevail. And finally, some of us may face a crafty or conniving, tenant remedies group with a desire to take someone's building, equity, or cash-flow thru manipulation of the law, Minn.504 stat. or other legal manipulations. Such a group may be financed with NRP money, grants from foundations, pro bono legal services, and other monies to out gun a small businessman already under siege and under capitalized and unable to utilize his legal remedies Quick enough. At the end of the day, the disinvestment caused by these types of perdition may cause a further loss of affordable housing and a more unstable neighborhood. Keith Reitman, let's work together to solve problems, Near North ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
Tim Bonham wrote: Statements like the following always seem to set my personal BS detector ringing: Most of us are well aware that a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis is the demolition quest the city has been on for almost a decade. Whenever anyone starts out saying we all know that..., I look to see what they are trying to sell me. So before I'm willing to agree that I am well aware that..., I'd like to see some figures from David supporting this assertion. For example: - are demolition permits for past years significantly higher than previous years? - are the majority of these demolition permits obtained by the city, or by individual owners? - are houses being demolished because of a city demolition quest, or simply because of an aging housing stock? I.E., is the average age of houses being demolished going down? snip David Piehl writes: Some months ago, there was lengthy discussion on the reduction in total number of dwelling units available in the city of Minneapolis, based on census data - it was something like 17,000 units less. The discussions that ensued - as well as work done by several affordable housing groups - identified demolition as the primary driver behind the reduction in the number of units available; hence the (overly broad) statement to open the discussion. I believe many of the units demolished are unneccessarily victims of the wrecking ball, sometimes because they housed problem occupants, sometimes because they are just not part of a larger plan that certain civil servants may feel is best for the area. It is my opinion that demolition is the simple, band-aid solution of choice for certain city staff. Our experience in Central with the houses that were sold by the MPHA as part of the Hollman agreement a few years ago is a classic example. Nine MPHA homes in Central were conveyed to MCDA in the first round, staff at MPHA said they chose to convey to the MCDA so the homes would be thoroughly rennovated and sold to owner occupants rather than investors. MCDA proposed demolishing all of them. MCDA had rehab estimates for each of the properties that were astonishingly high to support their assertions. The residents of Central didn't buy into this thinking, and pushed for further assesments. One of the homes was located on the corner of 33rd and Chicago Ave - MCDA claimed it needed in excess of $100,000 of work to be up to code, including lead abatement, and should be demolished. When the house was toured by some state officials, neighborhood residents, and folks from some of the local non-profit developers, everyone was astonished by the great condition of the home. Lead tests showed that lead abatement had already been done, and a large amount of rehab had already been done by MPHA. It was clear to many people present that the MCDA had generated rehab numbers without ever viewing the property. Maybe they used a standard calculation per square foot, I don't know, but in the end this home was nicely rennovated and sold to an owner occupant for about $75,000 or $80,000 - and there was no subsidy required!! The sale actually generated a profit that was put into less profitable rennovations! If one couples this experience with statements made by senior staff at the MCDA about the value of new construction, and that new construction is the only way to attract suburban buyers, then it lends credibility to the demolition quest theory. Further, the fact that inspections demolished houses if the cost of code compliance exceeds the cost of demolition (about $12,000) is another major issue. In the midst of a housing crisis, it seems that the cost of the demolition could be better spent on the rennovation. I could site dozens of homes that MCDA controlled that were demolished without ever making them available to the public. The dollar figures applied to rennovations are often absolutely bizarre. My opinion: If MCDA can't rennovate a property they receive, they need to do a Request for Proposals before a property is demolished. A moratorium on demolition of housing is probably over-broad, but it's a starting point for discussion. Realistically, properties that have had a fire, for example, might be clear cases for an emergency demolition. Properties that have never been accessable to the public should in no case be demolished until they are made available. To put a little perspective on it all, when the out-going council and mayor established the current demolition evaluation process, the city was very different than it is today. At that time, there was excess housing stock, and all the talk was about how falling housing values could be supported, and the need for less density. In that environment, less scrutiny of re-use options prior to demolition was less of an issue. Today, we have a housing shortage, and values have skyrocketed. It's time to start getting creative about finding ways to use what we have. David
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If one couples this experience with statements made by senior staff at the MCDA about the value of new construction, and that new construction is the only way to attract suburban buyers, then it lends credibility to the demolition quest theory. snip To be fair to MCDA, suburban possible homeowners, and urban possible home owners, now that I own an old house, I can give much more credence to those who want a new home. I've been here 4 years and I'm a long way from having all the work that needs doing done. I'm very close to being 60 years old--two more years. It's getting harder and harder to keep up with the demands of an old house. So, had I the money, I would opt for a new house so that I could spend the next few years puttering around in the garden rather than sanding the wood work, remortgaging the house for big repairs, or otherwise using brain space to worry about plumbing and electric, and all the rest. Empty nesters, whether suburban or urban or rural transplants, can probably say 'been there, done that' to all this house fussing. And be absolutely justified in so saying. WizardMarks, Central ___ 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 ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
According to a Planning Department 2000 Census Report and verified against Census Bureau website data, the number of Census-enumerated housing units in Minneapolis are: 1980: 168,828 1990: 172,666 2000: 168,606 Absolute decrease of 4,060 housing units. The number of occupied dwelling units went up from 1990 to 2000 by 1,670 increasing the occupancy rate. While not casting any claim on whether or not the City has been too aggressive in demolishing housing units over the past decade, the Census data does not claim anywhere near a loss of 17,000 units. Does anyone have the number of housing demo permits issued by the City as well as new unit production for Mr. Bonham? Matt Bower Office of Grants Special Projects City of Minneapolis Nokomis Resident Tim Bonham wrote: Statements like the following always seem to set my personal BS detector ringing: Most of us are well aware that a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis is the demolition quest the city has been on for almost a decade. Whenever anyone starts out saying we all know that..., I look to see what they are trying to sell me. So before I'm willing to agree that I am well aware that..., I'd like to see some figures from David supporting this assertion. For example: - are demolition permits for past years significantly higher than previous years? - are the majority of these demolition permits obtained by the city, or by individual owners? - are houses being demolished because of a city demolition quest, or simply because of an aging housing stock? I.E., is the average age of houses being demolished going down? snip David Piehl writes: Some months ago, there was lengthy discussion on the reduction in total number of dwelling units available in the city of Minneapolis, based on census data - it was something like 17,000 units less. The discussions that ensued - as well as work done by several affordable housing groups - identified demolition as the primary driver behind the reduction in the number of units available; hence the (overly broad) statement to open the discussion. ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] housing demolition moratorium
Councilmember Zerby: A moratorium on housing demolition is overbroad. Instead we need better regs which set clear standards for when structures should be demolished. I know its a lot more complicated, but that is reality. As I said in my post the other day, houses have life cycles, just like cars or any other product. If there was a car shortage would it be wise to put a moratorium on taking cars off the road? Of course not. At some point every car become dangerous to the drivers of that car and to other drivers on the road. The same can be said for housing: when houses become delapidated beyond repair they become a hazard to occupants and to neighborhoods, especially neighborhoods like mine (Whittier/Phillips). Councilman, I would encourage you to drive by 2100 4th avenue south, by the Electric Fetus. The house is a fire hazard, it doesn't have several exterior doors, has broken windows, etc. SAFE officers tell me the inside is like a war zone. Between 1/1/2001 and 9/30/2001 there were 58 police calls to the house. Yes, 58-including calls for drug trafficing, domestic abuse, etc. The house is dangerous to the occupants, is an incredible drain on police resources, is impeding redeveloping of the 4th and Franklin area, and severely taxes people who live near it. There is a woman who lives next door who I understand is traumatized by the house and its occupants. Before a moratorium is put in place, think about living next to this building-24/7. Dave Harstad Whittier --- Betts Zerby [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: David's idea of a moratorium on housing demolition strikes me as a good idea and I'd be inclined to favor it. Are there any downsides to it that other list members think merit attention before adopting it? Paul Zerby = Elizabeth J. Zerby Minneapolis MN __ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ___ 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 __ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] housing demolition moratorium
It seems there are ways to deal with all the problems you name other than demolishing the house. If it is unsafe, it can be vacated for safety reasons, and fixed up. The moratorium on demolition seems a good idea to me as well. As I understand the city's current policy, a house is torn down if it costs more to repair it than demolish it. However, it costs much more to build a whole new house. The housing crisis is complicated, and needs a thoughtful response. I am heartened to see a new council-person taking a thoughtful approach to this issue, and asking questions. Amanda Cedar-Riverside Ward 2 ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
I think a moratorium on non emergency demolitions has merit. When I moved onto the 2400 block of 17th Ave, in Phillips, there were three 1800's vintage duplexes across the alley. We bought the rattiest one and rehabbed it. Is it a palace? No. But it does provide affordable housing for two families. The other two were allowed to deteriorate and were torn down. A moratorium will at least give us some time to get things sorted out. Exceptions can be made of course. Old housing is affordable because it is already paid for. It is a rare building that could not be fixed up cheaper than putting up something new. When buildings come down, they should be made available to scavengers first--let us get everything useful out before the wrecking ball arrives. There is a market for used building materials. An aspect of affordable housing that is not being talked about is energy efficiency. Green buildings cost less to operate. At the Green Institute we have what we call the 1-10-100 formula. Simply put this formula says that for every $1.00 that you put into constructing a building you will, over the life of that building, spend $10.00 on utilities and maintenance AND if it a commercial building, you will spend $100.00 over the life of the building on your staff(on salaries, health care, etc.) This formula tells us that if you can slightly increase the cost of the initial construction of the building in order to cut your energy savings in half, you will save big time. So if you can change the formula to $1.25-$7.50-$100.00 you have huge savings over the long run. For this to have any practical application, we need to work with the lending industry in order to restructure mortgages in reflect this savings. It is in a way like TIF, in that it uses future savings to finance up front costs. Also, buy greening the building you can make a building more pleasant and healthy in order to cut down on absenteeism and health costs, the savings are huge. Dean Zimmermann Commissioner, Mpls Park Rec Board City Council Member, elect Ward 6 612-722-8768 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 5:03 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor Most of us are well aware that a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis is the demolition quest the city has been on for almost a decade. Clearly, the most affordable housing is the housing that we already have. A lot of funny math and functional silo behavior on the part of city departments and agencies has contributed to the problem. MCDA and Inspections both are guilty of excessive demolition of properties that could have otherwise become affordable units for folks, whether homeowners, condo-owners, or renters; everyone who would live in the city has suffered. Our landfills have suffered, the timber we use is not old enough to vote (thus poor quality with heartwood and sapwood everywhere), and increasingly we turn to plastic (petroleum based) for new construction, which has a pretty short shelf life. Clearly other agendas contributed to the demolition quest. In some cases, I believe otherwise salvageable houses were demolished simply because that was easier for the staff person involved (as opposed to cost effectiveness or social agendas). In some cases, staff have stated that they believe new construction is the only way suburban buyers can be drawn into the city (even if it's true, why is that desirable?). In light of this history, I challenge the new council (re-elected and newly elected) as well as mayor-elect Rybak to call for an immediate city-wide moratorium on non-emergency demolition of housing until recycling policy options can be reviewed. A moratorium on demolition would make a strong statement about how serious the new council is about the affordable housing problems. I have actually already spoken with a number of council members regarding this issue, and it was well received. So folks, how about it? David Piehl Central/8th Ward __ The information contained in this message is private and confidential information which may also be subject to the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine. This information is intended only for the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the message. Thank you. ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] housing demolition moratorium
I will bet that someone living next to a house that has been boarded for 20 months, has addicts breaking into it to shoot up, which has become the Hyatt Regency for rats and cockroaches, whose yard looks like the Amazon, and for which there are no tangible prospects for a rehabber to come in and fix the building, will find a downside to the idea of the city government putting a moratorium on demolition, especially since the city will probably spend years studying the matter before it is ready, if ever, to get in there and fix the house. And all the time the house is deteriorating more and more, and becoming less and less salvageable, and more and more of a danger to the neighbors. Jay Clark Cooper Betts Zerby wrote: David's idea of a moratorium on housing demolition strikes me as a good idea and I'd be inclined to favor it. Are there any downsides to it that other list members think merit attention before adopting it? Paul Zerby = Elizabeth J. Zerby Minneapolis MN __ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ___ 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 ___ 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
RE: [Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
Statements like the following always seem to set my personal BS detector ringing: Most of us are well aware that a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis is the demolition quest the city has been on for almost a decade. ... David Piehl Central/8th Ward Whenever anyone starts out saying we all know that..., I look to see what they are trying to sell me. So before I'm willing to agree that I am well aware that..., I'd like to see some figures from David supporting this assertion. For example: - are demolition permits for past years significantly higher than previous years? - are the majority of these demolition permits obtained by the city, or by individual owners? - are houses being demolished because of a city demolition quest, or simply because of an aging housing stock? I.E., is the average age of houses being demolished going down? I have no idea what the answers to these are. Maybe David does have these figures. But I personally would like to see some of these figures before accepting his assertion. Tim Bonham, Ward 12 ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing demolition moratorium
This is great thread, to which I'll add my two cents: All of the suggestions so far have been about how the city or MCDA could deal with problem properties. I think that is the wrong approach. First, the demolition moratorium idea: this could leave a bunch of derelict houses sitting around, causing unneccessary pain to neighbors. Some houses are just not worth it, so I disagree. Second: having said the above, I personally do not trust our city officials to always know which properties are worth rehabbing and which are not. Only the market can do that job properly. If someone has a vision and some cash, I say let them have at it. So here's my suggestion: Any vacant/boarded properties which come into the city's possession ought to be put on the market immediately. They should be sold to the highest bidder. That purchaser must, of course, comply with the codes and standards that have been set forth, (i.e., they can't just slum the place out) but ought to be allowed a reasonable opportunity to salvage the building. If a property doesn't sell within some amount of time, that can be taken as an indication that there is no financial incentive to rehabbing the place, and it is likely that demolition is the best option. Tired of the wrecking ball AND of living with tinderboxes... Connie Nompelis Ward 6 - Ventura Village __ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Crisis A Challenge for the New Council Mayor
Most of us are well aware that a major contributor to the affordable housing crisis is the demolition quest the city has been on for almost a decade. Clearly, the most affordable housing is the housing that we already have. A lot of funny math and functional silo behavior on the part of city departments and agencies has contributed to the problem. MCDA and Inspections both are guilty of excessive demolition of properties that could have otherwise become affordable units for folks, whether homeowners, condo-owners, or renters; everyone who would live in the city has suffered. Our landfills have suffered, the timber we use is not old enough to vote (thus poor quality with heartwood and sapwood everywhere), and increasingly we turn to plastic (petroleum based) for new construction, which has a pretty short shelf life. Clearly other agendas contributed to the demolition quest. In some cases, I believe otherwise salvageable houses were demolished simply because that was easier for the staff person involved (as opposed to cost effectiveness or social agendas). In some cases, staff have stated that they believe new construction is the only way suburban buyers can be drawn into the city (even if it's true, why is that desirable?). In light of this history, I challenge the new council (re-elected and newly elected) as well as mayor-elect Rybak to call for an immediate city-wide moratorium on non-emergency demolition of housing until recycling policy options can be reviewed. A moratorium on demolition would make a strong statement about how serious the new council is about the affordable housing problems. I have actually already spoken with a number of council members regarding this issue, and it was well received. So folks, how about it? David Piehl Central/8th Ward __ The information contained in this message is private and confidential information which may also be subject to the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine. This information is intended only for the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or copy of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the message. Thank you. ___ 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
[Mpls] Housing Code: No. 1
I thought it would be useful to bring some real context to the debate about the housing code and RT Rybak's and others' issues about smart codes (something I support so long as it does not ultimately jeopardize tenant safety). So, occasionally I'll post to this list the status of a property Project 504 is trying to bring back online by helping the owner/landlord bring it out of its current status as a boarded and vacant building. I hope you'll indulge me, ask questions, comment on the process, or think about how complicated it can be at times--or just say it's not so useful to post such information here. So, here goes (we have the permission of the owner/landlord to do this, though we agreed to keep the address and owner's name confidential out of respect for privacy): The building is a single family two bedroom home in a north Minneapolis neighborhood. The Hennepin County Attorney brought a nuisance action against the prior owner (a member of the current owner's family) because of illegal activity at the property. Ultimately, the county attorney's action shut the building down until an acceptable management plan could be submitted and accepted by the county attorney. I suspect that the the community was in favor of shutting down the building. We helped the landlord develop the management plan, and it has been accepted by the county attorney's office. In the meantime, with the building boarded on account of the nuisance action, the building was condemned, and the landlord came to us after the condemnation. The condemnation, of course, meant that the owner had to apply for and obtain a code compliance inspection, a long process indeed. The owner paid a $300 nonrefundable fee to housing inspections, who scheduled a full code compliance inspection. At that inspection, the following inspectors went through the property: building inspector, housing inspector, plumbing inspector, electrical inspector, and two inspectors associated with boiler/furnace systems. It was truly a sight to see six different city cars pull up to the property for the inspection. About three weeks later, the city issued a list of required repairs, all of which I've listed at the end of this e-mail. The list is unusual only in the sense that it really is not as extensive as most that accompany properties that are vacant and boarded. Except in very few instances, the text describing the repair needed is the exact text provided by the inspector. I encourage you to read through some of them to think about what is now required for this property. The building is a solid building in relatively good shape (only two housing maintenance code violations were cited), but the code-compliance inspection, as expected, cited all sorts of needed repairs, many that may cost substantial money. In addition, the landlord is required to put down $2,000 in cash with the City as a deposit to allow permits to be issued for repairs and to assure that repairs are made within six months. That has been done, with Project 504's help. Our task now is to figure out available financial resources for this landlord, including potential funding from MCDA or other neighborhood community development agencies. This is not a sophisticated landlord, in the sense that the landlord has other properties or other resources to tap into to make these repairs. The landlord is, however, committed to bringing the property back on-line to provide affordable housing to a good tenant. That's why we'll work with this property and the landlord. It is not my intent to criticize anyone with respect to this process. The city inspectors, for instance, have to follow current requirements of the ordinance and building codes (though I do have some criticism I will share with the inspections department about the need for them to provide more specificity as to what is needed--it is rather troubling to pay for and get an inspection and not know what is actually wrong with, for instance, the plumbing). I am hoping, however, that this post and the several that may follow it to update folks on our progress will shed some light on what is currently required to bring a building out of condemnation. I hope these posts bring ideas from everyone to the forefront, especially as the issue of smart codes gets much more public scrutiny and, perhaps, approval. In the end, I hope that we can report that the building is no longer boarded and vacant and a family has moved into the house. Gregory Luce N.Phillips Repairs Required Building Inspection 1 Raise grade around building for positive drainage 2 Repair or replace uneven sidewalk 3 Tuck point chimney and foundation 4 Tear off and re-roof house and garage to code 5 Make correction to exterior steps to provide rise and run to code 6 Repair broken basement windows and maintain ventilation requirement by keeping windows openable 7 Replace rotted and broken roof decking (mostly around chimney) 8
Re: [Mpls] Housing Code: No. 1
Kudos Mr. Luce for bringing this to the forum! He has caught the spark in the ether. All this work and the extraordinary cost generates from the behavior of a tenant. Not the landlord. Because this citizen/tenant routinely broke the law, the house was condemned! We the taxpayers killed the house,for the crimes committed by a non-law abider. This is being 504ed. How much of the taxpayers money will be spent on rehabbing this house? How much govt. time will it cost to bring it online, how much time has been spent all ready? All of this to save a two bedroom house, enough to house one small family. I can see why bulldozing works. Just different people get employed. Bring on the smart codes. Why we waited this long, is beyond me. Craig A. Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Gregory Luce [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 12:25 PM Subject: [Mpls] Housing Code: No. 1 I thought it would be useful to bring some real context to the debate about the housing code and RT Rybak's and others' issues about smart codes (something I support so long as it does not ultimately jeopardize tenant safety). So, occasionally I'll post to this list the status of a property Project 504 is trying to bring back online by helping the owner/landlord bring it out of its current status as a boarded and vacant building. I hope you'll indulge me, ask questions, comment on the process, or think about how complicated it can be at times--or just say it's not so useful to post such information here. So, here goes (we have the permission of the owner/landlord to do this, though we agreed to keep the address and owner's name confidential out of respect for privacy): The building is a single family two bedroom home in a north Minneapolis neighborhood. The Hennepin County Attorney brought a nuisance action against the prior owner (a member of the current owner's family) because of illegal activity at the property. Ultimately, the county attorney's action shut the building down until an acceptable management plan could be submitted and accepted by the county attorney. I suspect that the the community was in favor of shutting down the building. We helped the landlord develop the management plan, and it has been accepted by the county attorney's office. In the meantime, with the building boarded on account of the nuisance action, the building was condemned, and the landlord came to us after the condemnation. The condemnation, of course, meant that the owner had to apply for and obtain a code compliance inspection, a long process indeed. The owner paid a $300 nonrefundable fee to housing inspections, who scheduled a full code compliance inspection. At that inspection, the following inspectors went through the property: building inspector, housing inspector, plumbing inspector, electrical inspector, and two inspectors associated with boiler/furnace systems. It was truly a sight to see six different city cars pull up to the property for the inspection. About three weeks later, the city issued a list of required repairs, all of which I've listed at the end of this e-mail. The list is unusual only in the sense that it really is not as extensive as most that accompany properties that are vacant and boarded. Except in very few instances, the text describing the repair needed is the exact text provided by the inspector. I encourage you to read through some of them to think about what is now required for this property. The building is a solid building in relatively good shape (only two housing maintenance code violations were cited), but the code-compliance inspection, as expected, cited all sorts of needed repairs, many that may cost substantial money. In addition, the landlord is required to put down $2,000 in cash with the City as a deposit to allow permits to be issued for repairs and to assure that repairs are made within six months. That has been done, with Project 504's help. Our task now is to figure out available financial resources for this landlord, including potential funding from MCDA or other neighborhood community development agencies. This is not a sophisticated landlord, in the sense that the landlord has other properties or other resources to tap into to make these repairs. The landlord is, however, committed to bringing the property back on-line to provide affordable housing to a good tenant. That's why we'll work with this property and the landlord. It is not my intent to criticize anyone with respect to this process. The city inspectors, for instance, have to follow current requirements of the ordinance and building codes (though I do have some criticism I will share with the inspections department about the need for them to provide more specificity as to what is needed--it is rather troubling to pay for and get an inspection and not know what is actually wrong with, for instance
Re: [Mpls] City of MPLS Housing
And if nothing else shoudn't The City should have contracted with The Green Institute's DeConstruction program to take all that is salvagable out of the house first? Gross! What is so difficult about understanding this issue. It seems so basic. In a sustainable community policies would be set that would have decisions made using a balance between the economics, the environment, and the social equity. It seems in the case Kim presented none of these three factors were thought about before the bulldozer came. Maybe we need some new folks at City Hall that will present more sane methods for making these kinds of decisions in order to make Minneapolis an eco-city. We're part of the way there with our parks, lakes and trees. It is time to go the rest of the way in setting new policies for the city and establishing Minneapolis as an eco-city. In my eco-city dream thinking first about reusing and recylcing would be part of this new direction of thinking about what we are doing to our fair city. It means we would have to do business differently - but isn't it about time? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Annie Young Phillips, Ward 6 ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] City of MPLS Housing
Hi, Annie Young! On 10/27/01 2:09 AM, you wrote: And if nothing else shoudn't The City should have contracted with The Green Institute's DeConstruction program to take all that is salvagable out of the house first? Gross! What is so difficult about understanding this issue. It seems so basic. Yes, it does. And I spoke with Vickie Brock and Dorie Mead Sept 18th about another historic 6-plx that was taken down without salvaging. At that time I asked why our neighborhood request for deconstruction/salvaging was ignored. I raised a flag about this duplex at 3648 Columbus and the plan to tear it down and asked about salvaging and our Central Neighborhood Policy to utilize the Green Institute. Evidently, the city has a hard time finding time to encourage salvage during the six weeks that followed. And now the home is gone. Which one is next in the City? Is there one in your neighborhood? I think this might make a good media story. I'm ashamed to admit that those are my tax dollars that tore that home down. What a city I live in! I wonder why the rest of the world sees America the way they do. -- Kim Kimberly GoodmanPhone: 612-823-4488 3700 Park Avenue Fax: 612-823-3194 Minneapolis, MN 55407 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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
[Mpls] Re: City of MPLS Housing
Kim, I can understand your feelings. Some years ago I lived for 2 years at 1919 Columbus Av S in the Phillips Nbhd. This was a fine old house with wonderful woodwork, etc, etc, probably not unlike the house that you described. I was saddened when I drove past the old home a couple of years ago and saw only a vacant lot. Besides feeling that the house should have been an excellant prospect for rehab on rational terms, I also felt like a part of my past, my history, had been violated. However, I do not know the circumstances, and I suppose the house could have burned down, and may not have been the victim of questionable demolition. The demolition, and then the maybe* construction of a new building, procedure has been done thousands of times (*oftentimes the vacant lot is split off to adjacent properties).The costs and outcomes are predictable and city staff are very familiar with the procedures, and these procedures probably do not take much staff time. Even though I suspect that many building rehabs would end up being cheaper, rehabs surely take up much more staff time and stress. So many questions and decisions. First of all, is the building worthy of rehab. Then a hundred more decisions about whether or not to do this or to replace that. And all decisions are left intact to possibly come back to haunt the city in the future. Jerry Boardman, at a meeting once, related the story about one rehab - a ceiling in a city rehabbed house fell in on the occupants. I do not mean to let the city off the hook by stating this. I strongly feel that we should save as many old building as possible, and we should learn to deal with the extra difficulties of rehab. Dave Stack Harrison From: Kim Goodman Subject: City of MPLS Housing I am angry. I am disappointed. And I am not surprised.Yesterday afternoon a backhoe was delivered to tear down a turn of the century home on my block to make way for a flood park.It was not much to look at on the outside, but inside the woodwork was all original varnish, oak and maple. The duplexing had been done with beauty and craftsmanship. The house was structurally and mechanically sound. Inside the floors were maple and in perfect condition. ... ___ 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
[Mpls] City of MPLS Housing
I am angry. I am disappointed. And I am not surprised. Yesterday afternoon a backhoe was delivered to tear down a turn of the century home on my block to make way for a flood park. It was not much to look at on the outside, but inside the woodwork was all original varnish, oak and maple. The duplexing had been done with beauty and craftsmanship. The house was structurally and mechanically sound. Inside the floors were maple and in perfect condition. It was a 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom: 2 family duplex. The house needed nothing. Many original windows, many replacement double-pane insulated windows. Picture rail, full turn of the century moulding and crowns, a clawfoot tub, you all know what I'm talking about. And yet the city deemed it cost-prohibitive to move. AND NOTHING WAS SALVAGED. Okay, that is an overstatement. Someone took the balusters and rail and a few door knobs. Nothing else. Why are we tearing down perfectly good houses? Replacing this duplex with a similar quality building must cost at least a $225,000. Why not sell it for $10,000 with the condition it must be moved by owner by a set date? Why not save the cost of demo and collect a purchase price at the same time. Where are those two affordable housing units being built in Central Neighborhood to replace this duplex? Lots of why questions, I know. But I cried as this home came down and now sits as a pile of rubble on my corner. And it is not the first home to meet this fate at the hands of the City. When will it be the last? --Kim Rev. Kimberly Goodman Phone: 612-823-4488 3700 Park Avenue Fax: 612-823-3194 Minneapolis, MN 55407 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis
Wizard raised good points. They need to be addressed and/or challenged. The point of taking housing down is to make it impossible for the poor to find housing within the city and the value of homes to rise so taxes can as well. I call this the boutiquing of the city. Please no poor people, or their jobs or their housing, can't we make the whole city look like 50th and France? Some people call it class cleansing. Whole families wind up in shelters (same as the poor house, grim, grim, grim). The Dickensian poor house is hear already folks. Mary Joe runs it. DISCLAIMER MJ RUNS A FAB SHOP I question a society that causes a need for this. This is a terrible bind, but in this housing crisis all the stake holders--which means everyone with shelter--need to help find a solution. Policy makers need to start listening to and doing what the stake holders ask. One current example would be at the legislature this year. The Gov and House had a 33% cut in rental prop tax. I doubt this would lower rent. It would stem the current spiral upwards. But it was a casualty in the Senate. That would be one SMALL step. I agree with Gustafson, that it does mean taking down marginal houses--and maybe the two houses next to them, to build multi-unit buildings. This is how we built the modern 2 1/2 (11-12 units) story walk up. We built a bunch of these from 1960-1970 in the city. Then the neighbors and the neighbors said we don't like them or what goes on there that kind of hot zoning stopped. BTW most of those buildings are now approaching 40 years of age. I have three of them. They have housed thousands over the years. They have stood the test of time quite well. --a nod to neighbors who don't want to have to look at some of the infamous multi-unit buildings which have been built in the past. We have a couple in my neighborhood so ugly they make your eyes bleed to look at them. Above is an excellent example of what I mean. Infamous 1030 Morgan Ave. N. will forever stand out as the symbol of how Minneapolis dealt with crime and criminal behaviour in the '80s and the '90's. Does anyone remember the front end loader crashing into the buiding on Golden Valley Road? That was crimefighting at it's worst. Affordable housing is never pretty, rarely is it desirable. But it is needed. Now lets get it build with minimum distraction. Lets stop punishing those who currently provide it. Lets stop discouraging those who might try it. Craig A. Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re[Mpls] Housing Crisis
Last month the MPHA Board voted to authorize their staff to explore the notion of having that agency be a full-boat developer of affordable housing, not just a caretaker agency for the - ballpark figure - $500 million public housing stock extant and wholly owned in Minneapolis. New federal rules also permit MPHA to undertake substantial partnerships with private entities. Both MPHA and MCDA have looked closely at what turns out to be a promising market potential for senior housing in particular and MPHA is meeting with housing advocates June 1 to go over the agency's current one-year and five-year draft plans prior to the MPHA Board's public hearing on June 27. The Minneapolis High Rise Representative Council (MHRC) will have some heavy-duty comment finalized for inclusion in MPHA's annual message to its federal overseers and other interested parties. Stephen Seidel, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, an agency participant in the Consortium of Nonprofit Developers, argues that economies of scale will once again have their day in the production of affordable housing stock. Warning against unthinking reliance on the current mixed-income formulation he says: In mixed-income developments, the standard approach is to reserve 20% of the units for households with very low incomes (i.e. incomes below 50% of area median). This means that in order to produce 20 units of affordable housing a development needs to produce a total of 100 units. Based on this 20% formula (and using the figures produced by the Minneapolis Affordable Housing Task Force which in 1999 determined that the city of Minneapolis alone needed 14,000 additional units of affordable housing), relying entirely on the mixed-income development approach would mean 70,000 total units of housing would need to be produced in order to create the 14,000 units of affordable housing needed just in the city of Minneapolis. Seventy thousand units of housing equals approximately one-third of all the housing units that currently exist in the city of Minneapolis. Clearly, producing 70,000 of units of housing in Minneapolis is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, tens of thousands of households are living in sub-standard housing -- housing that is overcrowded or housing that consumes too large a share of their modest incomes. Cradle to grave collateral costs of inadequate housing on a massive scale are there to be noted. Ask the service professionals who deal with family crises. Ask the law enforcement community. Ask the families and individuals themselves, especially renters. Ask the neighborhood associations across the city. Ask small businesses about the destabilizing effects of too little housing for too many people. Ask our tourist and convention visitors and our suburban commuters about their personal comfort levels once the sun goes down. Large businesses and relatively advantaged homeowners might well consider the cost of the pounds of cure required when our elected officials and public agencies duck ounces of prevention strategies - specifically the vote in Minneapolis to move the definition of affordable from 30% to 50% of metro median income. Such a patent avoidance strategy deserves the attention of all the city's voters because more of the same will mean sharply increased public costs in the years ahead. One may hope that a more resolute mayor and city council (aka the MCDA Board) - will abandon economic handwringing and get on with some major housing production for the gazillion Minneapolis households who bring in less than $20,000 annually. This is a large city and we don't - we can't - all live in $150,000 to $200,000 bungalows with little lawns out front. ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis
Thanks to Jordan for highlighting the issue. The quote Mr. Mondale community leaders are not asleep at the switch is a hoot. I presume he includes elected and appointed government officials in that grouping.I submit that the regional housing shortage has at minimum been seriously aggravated by community leaders or at worst created by community leaders. If your cautious in accepting the landlord's opinion, ask any tenant advocate. Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] Any street The census statistics appear to support what is obvious: the housing situation in the metro area is a disaster, http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?template=census_asl ug=hous23 ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing Crisis
Jordan is right. The reports this morning only confirm what many folks have been saying for years. City planners reported that between 1990 and 2000 there was a net loss of over 1,500 housing units in Minneapolis. Between 1991 and 1998 the City demolished more units than it added. The Family Housing Fund found that there are roughly 12,000 homeless people metro-wide and that there are 68,900 renters with incomes below $10,000 in the metropolitan area, but only 31,200 housing units with rents they can afford. The housing crisis is real. It is time to take change course and really take action. Here are some ideas I have been promoting in my campaign. They are not necessarily original with me, but I offer them here as a ideas that those of us concerned about the housing problem can discuss and perhaps unite around as we move ahead to work for solutions to this serious problem facing our city. Here is my list of the top strategies to start with: - Stop demolishing and start emphasizing maintenance, preservation and renovation. - Focus on in-fill and sell some of the 860 city-controlled vacant lots for new housing. - Require that one of every four units in any city-funded housing project is affordable. - Provide incentives and ease the process for the private sector to create new housing. - Develop design standards for single and multi-unit projects that work for all neighborhoods. - Educate ourselves about housing needs, resources and creative options like carriage housings, co-housing, cooperatives, lease to own and targeted home buyer assistance programs. It is time to bring all the stake holders --- neighbors, neighborhood groups, housing service and resource centers, developers, property owners, funders, architects, planners and those with housing needs Ñ together as equal partners to solve our housing crisis. Cam Gordon for City Council Ward 2 Green Party Endorsed www.camgordon.org Fresh Leadership, Creative Solutions, Responsive Representation Cam Gordon Candidate for Minneapolis City Council, Ward 2 914 Franklin Terrace Mpls. MN 55406-1101 (612) 332-6210 http://www.camgordon.org ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis
Cam has some good suggestions, but his last paragraph needs attention. Cam asks that we bring all of the stake holders together. We have been having roundtables with all of those people for quite awhile (16 years). It doesn't work. When My hometown is serious about this issue they will recognize that the owners,builders,funders are more then equals then the rest of the invitees. They are the ones who can solve the problems. As for the rest, they are opinion adders and expense generators. Neighbors, neighborhood groups, housing service and resource centers add costs to housing, they don't create housing. They can be part of the solution, but not in a fashion that they have grown accustomed to. Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] City planners reported that between 1990 and 2000 there was a net loss of over 1,500 housing units in Minneapolis. Between 1991 and 1998 the City demolished more units than it added. The Family Housing Fund found that there are roughly 12,000 homeless people metro-wide and that there are 68,900 renters with incomes below $10,000 in the metropolitan area, but only 31,200 housing units with rents they can afford. The housing crisis is real. - Stop demolishing and start emphasizing maintenance, preservation and renovation. - Focus on in-fill and sell some of the 860 city-controlled vacant lots for new housing. - Require that one of every four units in any city-funded housing project is affordable. - Provide incentives and ease the process for the private sector to create new housing. - Develop design standards for single and multi-unit projects that work for all neighborhoods. - Educate ourselves about housing needs, resources and creative options like carriage housings, co-housing, cooperatives, lease to own and targeted home buyer assistance programs. It is time to bring all the stake holders --- neighbors, neighborhood groups, housing service and resource centers, developers, property owners, funders, architects, planners and those with housing needs Ñ together as equal partners to solve our housing crisis. Cam Gordon for City Council Ward 2 ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Housing Crisis
Between them, Bob Gustafson (Affordable housing thread) and Craig Miller (Housing Crisis thread) point up some of the issues which make the housing crisis such a tough nut to crack. -preservation vs. a desperate need for housing -those who stand to get taxed out of their homes vs. using tax money to build affordable housing -stake holders vs. developers MCDA vs. other developers (Many Crows added this one). With the Holman decree, SSB seems to have wanted to have Becky Yanish (as MCDA) take down as much marginal housing as possible, so SSB could put pressure on the suburbs to house those who earn 30% or less of the median income. Too, the current research says that those who are from the lower income strata need to be scattered to enable them to pull themselves up by their boot straps, so to speak (if they had straps, if they had boots to pull up). The real politick of that is a pretty gruesome sight with unintended consequences up the wazoo. The point of taking housing down is to make it impossible for the poor to find housing within the city and the value of homes to rise so taxes can as well. Whole families wind up in shelters (same as the poor house, grim, grim, grim). Whole families live out of their cars, under bridges. The homeless become feral as a self-protection, poor regular people wind up on the outside looking in after having been a part of the life of the body politic, then they get angry, then they get dangerous. People with nothing to lose are always more dangerous. People who worked hard to earn houses all their lives are angry, maybe, but they're hopeless, too. Often they die to escape poverty or it kills them from lack of proper nutrition. At the same time, if the taxes and costs of services rise too much more, I'll be joining them under the bridges, so I have a legitimate reason to want some solutions which do not require huge tax bites that I can't afford to pay, even though, having been homeless at times, I would not wish that situation on anyone. (It was doable when I was young and frisky and strong and a much bigger risk taker. I'm 57 now and camping out for months on end--I've done it--is no longer my idea of a good time.) This is a terrible bind, but in this housing crisis all the stake holders--which means everyone with shelter--need to help find a solution. I agree with Gustafson, that it does mean taking down marginal houses--and maybe the two houses next to them, to build multi-unit buildings. At the same time, I would give a nod to preservation to this extent, it isn't necessary to take down every older, vacant house like MCDA was doing--a nod to neighbors who don't want to have to look at some of the infamous multi-unit buildings which have been built in the past. We have a couple in my neighborhood so ugly they make your eyes bleed to look at them. I feel stumped and frustrated about this, and I'm moving toward hopeless. WizardMarks, Central ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Housing Crisis
The census statistics appear to support what is obvious: the housing situation in the metro area is a disaster, with fewer units created at any time since the Great Depressions the lowest vacancy rate of any metro area in the country, and the biggest increase in homeless - according to the local newspaper of record: http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?template=census_aslug=hous23 Jordan Kushner Powderhorn ___ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] housing and gentrification
A week ago I wrote this in an addendum to g,g,and g. Jacking up could be demolishing 6000 units of housing over a decade while your population is growing by 14,300. Voila! then I went on to talk about creating scarcity and supply and demand and other basic economic principles. I was taking a sarcastic jab at Carol Becker when i used the jacking up analogy and also her avowed support of the Mayor. Carol responded: State of the City 1992 found 177,227 units. This included 76,811 single family homes and 56,761 in buildings with +5 units. In the 1999 State of the City, there were 177,569 units, with 77,660 sing. fam. homes, with 58,855 in buildings with +5 units. It is inaccurate to imply that there has been a loss of 6000 housing units and thus imply a scarcity being created by the demolition of housing units. Well then how about the number 1,984 units demolished in the decade from 1989-99? Admittedly it ain't 6000 but then again it's not Ms Becker inplication that there was no loss and that in fact there was a whopping increase of 342 units over 6 or 7 years. And it is important to note this came during a net increase of 14,300 new arrivals to Minneapolis, 50,000 or so of them Somalian refugees who live primarily within the environs of the city of Minneapolis. Then consider the large influx of Latinos to the city sopping up low cost housing like it were so much brown gravy on a meat loaf dinner. The implications of the dearth of low cost housing and the influx of foreign immigrants weigh most heavily on our poor black population increasingly scattered to the less friendly environments in the suburbs and who then feel even more isolated in the majority society. This also has implications for black enntrepreneurship and economic development. Housing statistics are very difficult to interpret especially factoring in geographic and demographic data. If you go back 20 years which is a reasonable cycle in that it covers a decent range to see a trend and because it corresponds to the administrations in City Hall of Don Fraser and his protege Sharon Sayles Belton, you see how different neighborhoods saw changes in the number of units in different categories that is difficult for me to analyze. I suspect the numbers would verify my previous conclusions relative to immigrants and the transplanted native black population. Complicating the analysis is how units are accounted. In 1980 a new category appeared in the distribution of housing units by structure and community. THE CONDO, TOWNHOUSE category which began to balloon. Whether or not this is a good thing is open to consieration. It's always best when one can own their house but when poor people who cannot afford such a structure are displaced in favor of those that can pay you have gentrification, or perhaps re-gentrification in that we see the reversal of the flight to the suburbs that began in the late 50's and carried through the 70's. I received a number of replies on these posts. One post spoke of the fact that the Hollman settlement called for relocation to scattered sites in suburban communities. This is no solution. First of all, suburban communities are having their own problems just keeping up with their own needs in the affordable housing arena without being saddled with Minneapolis' exportation. Second: If you had witnessed the testimony of Ms Terry Tyler in last Friday's Near Northside Implementation Committee, you would reconsider the remedy to the problem. Ms Tyler is a young black single mother who moved to Chaska in good faith as a result of the Hollman settlement relocation and in her own words my life has been a living hell and if I could move back today I would. She then recounted a pattern of racist harassment that was oh so polite only to the degree that nobody put a burning cross on her lawn or showed up in white sheets carrying torches. They just complained at every chance to municipal authorities. one could not help be moved by her story. I know all about Chaska. My former wife fell afoul of the white majority Missouri Synod Lutherans for being one of those kind of women dontcha know and she couldn't get away quick enough. I hate to be a suburb basher but if a tornado ripped through Chaska I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Better yet, I hope Ms Tyler sues and takes those sanctimonious prigs for all they've got. Serve 'em right. Well I think I have wandered sufficiently from my beginning point and given the sunshine I think it's time to go out and play. Oh, but before I go, for those interested in housing issues I found a story in the May 4th issue of Finance and Commerce about Jim Graham and his idea to build carriage houses a fascinating story and a welcome addition to a possible solution to some of our housing problems. Cheers! In the inimitable words of Arnord Schwarznegger I'll be back. Tim Connolly Ward 7 __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you
