On Monday, Karen Forbes wrote to the list about 3424 Columbus (archived at
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00699.html). Her post
listed three issues with the property: (1) the sale of the property to a
private party, (2) the lack of snow removal at the property, and (3) the
quality of the snow removal. I would like to address each of these issues.
1. The MCDA brought two development proposals out to the neighborhood for
review. One proposal was by Powderhorn Residents Group (PRG) for a
single-family house to be sold to an owner-occupant; the other was from a
family that would be the owner-occupant of a new house. The PRG proposal
required considerable subsidy; the family's proposal required no public
subsidy. Both proposals were forwarded to the MCDA Board of Commissioners.
The Commissioners selected the proposal which required no subsidy. That
development is now under contract and should be under construction soon. As
for the concern about affordable housing, the family (of five) is indeed at
or below 50% of median.
2. The MCDA owns 1,032 lots around the city. It is our policy to get out
to each of them within 48 hours of a snowfall. Admittedly, this is not
always possible, but we do try to get it all cleared within two days. While
we do not keep property by property records on snow removal, I was able to
verify that this is the first complaint that we have received on this
property since the MCDA acquired it in 1995.
3. In her message, Ms. Forbes writes of a truck with a six-foot plow on the
front getting stuck on the sidewalk, being towed away, and leaving the
sidewalk unshoveled. I have spoken with the MCDA's plow drivers and found
that they did indeed get stuck in the REAR of the property where they were
plowing a space for a tow truck to remove an inoperable vehicle that was
parked on the lot. (Incidentally, the tow truck got stuck in the alley,
too.) By Tuesday morning, when I went to look at the lot, the sidewalk was
cleared down to the cement.
Robert Cooper
Minneapolis Community Development Agency
NRP/Citizen Participation Department
155-5th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55401
voice: (612) 673-5239
fax: (612) 673-5259
web: http://www.mcda.org
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