At the Third Ward city council debate at Edison High School last week I was stunned to hear councilmember Joe Biernat come out in favor of housing on the Riverview site. This appears to me to be a total contradiction with the Upper River Plan that he has long championed and worked so hard to get approved by the city council just last year. Since the Upper River Plan was adopted, it has already taken one big hit--the approval of American Iron's metal shredder. Now we have the single best site for riverside park development come available in a part of the city long neglected and short of lake or riverfront parkland. And instead of securing this site, the city appears ready to allow over half of it to be used for upscale "market rate" housing--as if we haven't already been building enough of that along the river south of Plymouth Avenue. When is the city going to realize that we now have a "seller's market" and we don't have to cater to every investment proposal that comes along out of fear that if we don't all the development money will go to the suburbs?
If the city can't even get it together to move ahead with the easy parts of the Upper River Plan--securing a prime vacant piece of land that is the largest parcel likely to be available any time soon (without evicting existing industries,businesses or homes)--how can we expect it to ever be able to do the difficult and expensive parts of the plan (such as relocating industry off the riverbank)? Is the Upper River Master Plan being sold down the river almost before the ink on it is dry? Bruce Shoemaker Holland Neighborhood/NE 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
