I'm glad we are taking another dance around the issue of 1/4 mile spacing of supportive housing.
The other night I was grousing to the night doorperson in my building about the rule that I cannot entertain guests in my humble abode. She understood my frustration. Her suggestion was that I look into renting an apartment at Hope Harbor which has been built at the corner of Glenwood and 10th St. "Yikes", I screamed. "Who wants to live there?" I'm a bit of a snob. I grew up with privelege and it's still hard for me to reconcile my life situation with where I think I should be. I guess that's why I romanticize my current address. Continental Hotel sounds sort of cool don't you think? Unfortunately, when they answer the phone "Opportunity Housing, Continental Hotel" I shudder. The good news is its forcing me into the 21st century. I'm buying a cell phone. <gasp> No way I'll live in a place called Hope Harbor. The name could do more harm to a person's self esteem than would be gained by having a place to live. Talk about stigmatizing. Why not spend some extra bucks for a neon sign and call it the Depot Apartments or something. The location ain't so great either. Let's see, I get to choose between looking out on the 10th St. parking ramp, Mary Jo ville across the tracks, Harbor Lights on another side and Glenwood Avenue stretching all the way to the Evergreen on the west. For the same reason I hate the name Lydia House. Why not LaSalle Arms or The Vermont or anything but Lydia House. To all you Lydias out there I apologize. I hope the folks building the new place at Franklin and Eliot come up with a cool name for the building. These things are important. Pride of ownership and all that. Who wants to announce to the world they live in a group home or supportive housing or one step above down and out place in an industrial area surrounded by hard surfaces. Gregory Luce thought it might be good to hear from people who will actually live in these locations. At one time I might have been eligible for the Lydia(Vermont, LaSalle Arms)House. I fit three of the categories. The one I lack is AIDS. As far as I know. Haven't been to the Red Door lately. Put that on the to do list. I would love to live in that neighborhood. The views aren't much better than Hope Harbor but I'm sure I would feel greater hope living there. It feels regular and upwardly mobile. Place means so much when you're trying to assemble the pieces of a shattered life. I don't have a family so I cannot speak to the project at Eliot and Franklin but I'm sure it will be welcomed by those lucky enough to find a home there. There is room for all sort of projects existing in all neighborhoods in peaceful coexistence. People talk about Kenwood. Well, The Bridge exists at 22nd and Emerson and has forsomething like 20 years. Whoosh! has it been that long. If you're expecting a group home on Lake of the Isles you deserve being shunned for making ludicrous comments. It won't happen. Cost of land drives these decisions as does cost of existing housing. We haven't had a lot of teardowns in Kenwood. The serious problem we face is the availability of multi-unit housing in the city and the past policy of upgrading properties. I sat one morning in the Inspections office talking to a contractor who told me of the incentives he was offered if he would turn a duplex into a single family residence. This is not some wild story. It happens all the time. Neither Lydia House or CVI/PPL/Sabathani have been proposed maliciously. The bottom line is this where the best opportunities have presented themselves. And we must house people. What angers me so much about the people bringing suit against the city is when they talk about ill effects of overconcentration and reinstitutionalizing is; 1) they don't have an idea what any of that means(I'll bet doughnuts to dollars not one has ever been in an institution, and 2) where were they when the city started creating the new Skid Row on Glenwood Avenue? The well-being of the people who might live in these projects is way low on the list. Crime bothers them. That is understandable. But noone from the antis has studied statistical analyses that tend to refute their concerns. In the case of Lydia House they will not for a minute consider that they have untreated, unsupported people on their streets every night and that this might alleviate some of that pressure on their neighborhood. These people at one time argued that the people at Lydia House would not contribute anything economically to the neighborhood. FYI, Every of the tenants at the Continental Hotel save one that i know of shops at the Super Valu at 18th and Nicollet. Hey, I said I was a snob. I'm not going to continue fighting this endless loop of hostility and controversy. Go to court. Fight this stupid battle. Waste money we do not have the luxury of spending. I think someone has asked where this 1/4 mile spacing thing came from. If I'm not mistaken it was the former councilperson from the sixth ward who shepherded it through the CC to allay the hysterical screams from his constituents in Whittier. I don't have time to proofread. Excuse me. Tim Connolly Continental Hotel __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! 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