I am following the thread about the mixed use developments with interest. I attended the Urban Land Institute Conference a couple weeks ago and saw several presentations from other cities that showed revitalization of their core city neighborhoods through a variety of high density, mixed use,village oriented development. Those neighborhoods are now fully occupied and thriving. I was energized by what I saw because it affirms that the development plans currently being drawn all along Lake Street in addition to the plans already drawn for Ventura Village and parts of Stevens Square and Whittier are following a proven path and are headed in the right direction. All of these development plans call for high density, mixed use, village type development with commercial and retail at street level. Pedestrian friendly, transit oriented, bicycle friendly, green space considerate, community gathering places. The plans add one element I didn't see in the other city plans that makes us unique. The micro commercial spaces. The Nicollet and Lake Street redevelopment plans call for flanking the K-Mart and grocery store block buildings with 20x20 micro commercial space to accomodate the new entreprenuer. A great feature in the South Minneapolis neighborhoods that line Lake Street. It also softens the big block building look. While I think 70,000 units with 14,000 affordable is a pretty aggressive goal, I do think that the projects currently drawn for Lake Street and other parts of Phillips, Whittier and Stevens Square are realistic. Four of the plans along Lake Street already have private developers attached to the projects. Ventura Village just received the go-ahead to proceed with their carriage house program. Between these 9 different development plans we are adding well over 15,000 units of mixed use housing with about 3,700 of those being affordable at the 30% - 50% of metro median income range. I feel confident that the neighborhoods are headed in the right direction with their plans. In the early 90's the theme I heard in neighborhoods was to lower density. I sense that thought has changed now because people are aware there is a housing crisis and not just for lower income people. I sense people are taking the problem seriously and for the most part are willing to work toward solutions. I know the crisis is far bigger than can be solved in 3 or 4 neighborhoods in Minneapolis. I do think that neighborhoods can be great catalysts to doing something about the problem and are much more creative about addressing it in a way that fits well within their community. The bigger question for me is what investment in the solution will the different branches of government make? This is going to take all levels of government to address. While we will be successful at finding private developers who are willing to invest in these projects, I don't believe they can be done without investments of tax dollars whether it be through TIF or out right appropriations. The public private partnership is essential in bringing real solutions to this problem. We can't all be fighting for crumbs. The investments have to be real. This to me should be an important reason to keep TIF and NRP alive and well. It's also going to take some incentives to get private people interested in being in the rental property business again. The Feds took away the tax credit for owning rental property in the 80's and I am convinced that played a major role in the problem we are facing today. The profit in individual rental properties is marginal. For most people it is a part time business unless you own a large portfolio of properties. Between property taxes which are assessed at a much higher rate, operating costs, and the time required to manage the properties, there just isn't much incentive to be in the business for many people. We saw a lot of rental property owners leave the business in the late 80's. Without providing some incentive to be in the business we are not going to see the kind of private market investment that will be required to bring a real solution to this problem. Barb Lickness Whittier Ward 6 City Council Candidate __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
