This may be slightly off Minneapolis specific - but it definitely affects us.
KARE TV is running an "Extra" series on why TC housing, including
Minneapolis, is so expensive. They are blaming the Metro Council for
restricting the amount of land available for new houses, and this is
driving up prices.
To me it sounded a lot more like editorial than news reporting. I haven't
heard them say anything about the problems associated with the new
development that they seem want. Their main complaint is that the land
costs for a lot have gone from $80,000 inside some line set by the Met
Council to $20,000 outside of the line.
They also didn't bother to discuss the huge number of vacant lots in
Minneapolis that could be converted to housing, and the number of vacant
houses that could be rennovated.
One would hope that they would put the other reporting that they have done
on what is happening out their since the ramp meter shutoff together with
the ex-urban development that they seem to want. Then hopefully they would
see the traffic congestion as a hint of why Metro Council exists and tries
to restrict growth.
They showed pictures of developments on one side of the line where the
inside development was a lot more dense than a few feet away on the
outside of the line. They presented this as if it were an undesirable
result - which for them it probably is.
I think that there is also an article on this in the Strib today.
Rich McMartin
Bryant Neighborhood.
