I'd like to welcome Basim Sabri to this list. It's interesting that every post of his to this list so far has attacked people who oppose his agenda. His original post sent via David Brauer implied that Central Neighborhood activists Walt Gutzmer and David Piehl were racist bigots. In a subsequent post he criticised Healy block neighbors for not sufficiently keeping up their houses, and claiming that death threat victims (the Lors) were engaging in cockfighting in their building. And now he's attacking Lisa McDonald for consorting with Republicans. Anyway, with regard to the cockfighting allegation (it's rather a colorful claim) were the police called regarding this? I would assume that City code prohibits cockfighting... Steve Brandt has a story in today's strib about Basim Sabri's proposed AmericInn Motel development...... http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?story=83859465&templa te=metro_a_cache Interesting quotes: "We're trying to bring people with dollars in their pocket to spend," said Ralph Bruins, an Urban Ventures executive vice president. He said that because the motel won't include a restaurant, area eateries would benefit. But some opponents say that a neighborhood vote several years ago opposed a previous Urban Ventures plan for a motel elsewhere in the vicinity. --------------------------------- As I understand it, Ralph Bruins and Art Erickson of Urban Ventures have repeatedly brought this motel idea to folks in the neighborhood, and they were repeatedly rebuffed. This type of behavior has earned them the moniker "Urban Vultures"..... WWBD? The article continues: The project, which would require a rezoning by the city, poses a ticklish election-year challenge for City Council Member Brian Herron, who favors community development but knows many residents oppose a motel. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Residents don't just oppose a motel, they favor this area to be developed as a mixed use retail/affordable housing. Residents in this area have invested alot of time and money into fixing their houses up, and are concerned about this investment getting trashed by having a motel up the block. ------------------------------------------------------------ Herron said: "[AmericInn officials] said that they feel like this community is on the upswing and this is where they want to be. I think there are some real benefits, but I think people have to be comfortable with the proposal." -------------------------------------------------------- Obviously alot of people are NOT comfortable with this proposal. Robert Lilligren, one of Herron's opponents opposes the use of this block to build a Motel. The question I have about Brian Herron is does he intend to be a rubber stamp for development and represent AmericInn and Basim Sabri, or will he represent his ward? Tim Bonham asked how many were at the 61st district Republican convention. There were about 30 folks there. So there were almost half the number of folks showing up for that as showed up for the ward 8 convention. Eva Young Central _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
