Forwarded on behalf of John Cevette. -----Original Message----- From: John Cevette [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 7:03 PM To: Gregory Luce; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Mpls] Lydia House Goes to Court
The neighbors who live and work near 1920 LaSalle prepared an extensive task force report on Plymouth Church's Lydia House, which described in detail the hyper-concentration in our neighborhood of people who require supportive services, fully 31% of the total population within 1/4 mile of the proposed project when Lydia House is opened. The full neighborhood task report is online at www.TheLydiaHouse.com Among the solutions proposed by the neighbors to Plymouth (1) Undertake a more needed use for the building, such as 24-hour child care for which there is a desperate requirement, one supported by a Plymouth Church study, or undertake affordable housing for families, another serious need. Unfortunately, there are no taxpayer dollars to pay for these uses. Plymouth gets $5.2 million in grants along with a $500,000 developer's fee for itself with its proposed use. It refused to discuss any alternative uses with the neighbors. (2) The neighborhood task force identified 30 properties for sale currently for Plymouth's Lydia House project, many more suited to supportive housing, many which cost less per square foot, and were in neighborhoods with no supportive facilities. Some locations where in neighborhoods where (gasp!) some of the Plymouth Congregation actually live. Response: Plymouth Church was not willing to discuss these alternative locations for Lydia House. (3) After the City Council approved all the zoning variances for Lydia House, 4 more supportive facilities (19, 20, 21 and 22) were announced in our neighborhood, two within a 1/4 mile of Lydia House. The Minneapolis zoning law required there be no more than one supportive facility per 1/4 mile. We are now faced with the prospect of 22. The neighbors proposed to Plymouth that it work with the Zion Baptist Church, which purchased one of the proposed facilities (2208 Blaisdell Avenue) for supportive housing to locate the facility in one of the 30 Minneapolis neighborhoods without any supportive housing. No response from Plymouth. Plymouth Foundation Board Chair Steve Wellington told one neighborhood group that it is "Plymouth's property and they can do whatever they want with it." It is this hard-line approach to neighbors, Plymouth's refusal to discuss alternative uses for 1920 LaSalle and it's statements that it intends more projects in our neighborhood that led to filing of a lawsuit against Plymouth Church and the Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation. The lawsuit complaint text is available at www.livableneighborhoods.com What more would others have us do? Are 22 facilities enough? If not how many should we take before 56 neighborhoods are required to take their 1st or 2nd facility? And at what number of facilities in our neighborhood do we become a ghetto where special needs populations are de facto required to live because that's where all the facilities are? Is this discrimination? Is this segregation? And how much do you expect me and my neighbors to do support this population? And lastly, should Plymouth have the right to do what it wants with property it bought with taxpayer dollars, and for which it collects for itself a $500,000 developer's fee, paid by taxpayers? John Cevette Whittier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com _______________________________________ 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
