With Mr. Hartwell's permission, I am posting his well spoken comments from yesterday's Z&P Committee Meeting with regard to the Riverview Supper Club site. Please note that besides running a business within close proximity of JADT's proposal, Mr. Hartwell is also a resident of Minneapolis in Council Member Goodman's ward:
I just returned from the Minneapolis Zoning and Planning Committee vote on the JADT request to rezone the Riverview Supper Club site to allow residential development. With the notable exception of Councilperson Jim Niland, what I left with was an overwhelming feeling that the committee showed a remarkable lack of courage in voting to approve the zoning change as did Councilperson Biernat who spoke publicly supporting the zoning change. The site is currently zoned for industrial use. The Park Board has demonstrated and testified today that they wish the entire site were a park. Councilperson Biernat claimed that the process had gone along too far and to not rezone the property would be to deny property rights of the owners and those that wish to redevelop it. Councilperson Ostrow and Campbell essentially echoed this view. The truth is the JADT group acquired the option on the property knowing full well what the existing zoning was. They hoped that they could get the zoning changed but there was never any guarantee of that. They choose to invest hoping they could get the zoning changed knowing that they had some risk that this would not happen. To now say they have gone too far to turn them down is simply nonsense. What we saw was a lack of courage to stand up and say, “we will deny the application to change the zoning, which is fully within our right, and hope that those supporting the entire site to be a park will follow through on their commitment to the park and find a way to make it happen”. Instead, everyone except Councilperson Niland choose to show no courage and go along with the proposal. (Councilperson Mead abstained as did Councilperson McDonald after the other votes were counted) It is a shame for us today and future generations. It is a stunning example of why the voters choose to make changes in their city government. It is so clearly a lack of vision and courage to do the right thing. David Hartwell Bellcomb Technologies 70 22nd Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 612-521-2603 _______________________________________ 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
