Earl Netwal wrote: Minneapolis' central neighborhoods provide a unique combination of architecturally sufficient facilities and the most effective mass transit system the state has to offer. Proximity makes the whole thing work particularly well. Proximity to county and city offices downtown, proximity to jobs downtown and in the periphery of downtown. Proximity to non profit service agencies which fill the storefronts of our main streets.
Proximity is the key for the services and a natural reason promoting concentration. On the other hand, the residents ask what type of normal neighborhood are these people being integrated into? One in which it is normal to see people beating on their heads walking down the street??? John Cevette replies: Mental health professional advise--and our national health policy advocates--that people who need supportive housing should live in facilities of 6 or fewer residents. Minnesota's largest care provider, REM, Inc., is moving to close its facilities that house over this number on the basis they don't work very well. Housing adequate for 6 or fewer residents exists in every neighborhood, and there is nothing architecturally unique in Whittier, Stevens Square or Phillips conducive to this type of business. (Note bene: Lydia House is a 40-bed facility.) And obviously small facilities, widely dispersed, would provide real integration into society. Yes, the bus system works, until you need to get to your job in Eden Prairie or Eagan. For most people in supportive housing the jobs are in the suburbs, not downtown. They're clerks, maids, janitors and maintenance workers, not white collar professionals. Sure there are some blue collar positions in the downtown; there are many more in the suburbs. Living in Whittier, Stevens Square or Phillips is no guarantee there'll be proximity to work, and likely it will be the reverse: they cannot get to their jobs. Let me see if I get the social service facilities proximity reasoning: There is supportive housing which requires social service agencies which attract more supportive housing which attract more social service agencies which attracts more supportive housing. Southside Pride is quoted in the January 2002 Hamline Law Review, and has counted more than 320 governmental, quasi-governmental and private social service facilities in Phillips alone. However, proximity is also a code word for segregation: If one builds a facility in these neighborhoods because all the social services are there, when a person needs supportive housing there is no choice of where they must live. Sure, the crime may be high. Sure, they may want to live in the Kingfield, Central or Seward neighborhood, but sorry. Their type of housing exists only in Whittier, Stevens Square and Phillips. As in effect say, "this is where you belong." Proximity is also a code word for profit. Supportive housing and social service agency profits. It's convenient for them to have all of their facilities in in close proximity. Some of the 50 or so people living in supportive housing on my block are mobile and can travel for services, the others requires services brought to them. The services delivered in a facility are expensive. It may be one of the reasons the supportive housing industry (via Tom Fulton and a group called the "Family Housing Fund") have agreed to pay all the legal fees for Plymouth Church in the Lydia House litigation with one of the most expensive law firms in Minneapolis. Their stated goal is to get rid of the 1/4 mile spacing requirement, giving them free reign to turn our neighborhoods into a property tax-free, taxpayer-supported supportive housing complex. People who require supportive housing deserve the right to live where they want, where they can be successful, and in a truly residential setting and neighborhood. The supportive housing industry's counter lawsuit against the Whittier neighbors to eliminate the 1/4 mile spacing between facilities is a self-serving, discriminatory, segregationist act that should be condemned by people with a social justice conscience. John Cevette Whittier _______________________________________ 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
