Oh, I do hesitate to go here, but I can't help myself... Questions for the list relating to the CVI and Lydia House proposals for supportive housing that require waivers from the city's own ordinance limiting these facilities from being located within a quarter-mile radius of each other:
1. Why have the ordinance if it is never enforced in the very neighborhoods that led to the ordinance in the first place? Was it all placating politics meant to quiet neighborhood activists in the first place? 2. While I don't think the ordinance has ever been upheld in the neighborhoods of Phillips, Stevens Square-Loring Heights and Whittier, does anyone doubt that it would be in tonier, politically stronger neighborhoods? Just a new spin on an old issue, Cara Letofsky Seward Home to one supportive housing facility FREDRIC MARKUS wrote: >Despite some legal sabre-rattling by David Lillehaug, attorney for >Ventura Village, the Zoning & Planning Committee voted unanimously >yesterday afternoon to deny the appeal of the Planning Commission's >decision to permit the construction of a supportive housing facility >serving 128 persons and 2 commercial uses at the southeast corner of >Chicago and Franklin. Project for Pride in Living (PPL) is the immediate >beneficiary of this decision, which signals a willingness by the new >city council to get real about dealing with the pool of 5700 homeless in >Minneapolis so many of whom are families with children. > >PPL proposes to build 16 units for disabled households with 4 additional >units selected for anchoring leadership qualities, not disability. The >progam is modelled in part on a successful example on St. Paul's East >Side named "New Foundations". Quoting from New Foundations' (NFs') >brochure: "A non-profit organization founded in 1994, New Foundations' >mission is to work in partnership with the families who come to New >Foundations and with the community to address the interconnected issues >of addiction, poverty, and homelessness. Through affordable housing and >comprehensive services, New Foundations helps create healthy, vibrant >communities with homeless women in recovery and their families." PPL >envisions the possibility of 2-parent disabled households within the >scope of their proposal, hence a maximum of 32 disabled individuals who >are heads of households. Both programs stress the value of having a >stable place to live, a supportive surrounding community, and access to >vital services. New Foundations lists recovery support, education and >employment, job retention support, family health/community building, and >children services as captions for a detailed assemblage of available >vital services. > >Compelling testimony came from several folks who were themselves >examples of the success of supportive housing programs, taking exception >by their own personal stories to Ventura Village's hypothesis that these >vulnerable families would be doomed to failure because of the vexing >surroundings at Chicago and Franklin. > >These voices in recovery signal the possibility of convincing "urban >renewal" - a renaissance based on human achievement, not just the >replacement of buildings or the transfer of populations. Of particular >note is that this outpost of a promising future is meant to serve as an >example of hope to that very surrounding neighborhood that Ventura >Village finds so nasty, a settled place comprised of people drawn from >that neighborhood but living with "new foundations". > >This only works with the support of the larger community, not just with >the helping hands of non-profits like PPL and New Foundations, but >beyond that, good wishes and tangible support from many quarters. The >intrepid members of the Zoning & Planning Committee - Chairman Gary >Schiff and fellow council members Dean Zimmermann, Paul Ostrow, Lisa >Goodman, Dan Niziolek, and Robert Lilligren - have sent the admirable >signal to our city that our new leadership is of good heart in this >matter. Now it's up to the rest of us, including Ventura Village, to >ponder that significant message. > >Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten > > >_______________________________________ >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 > > _______________________________________ 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
