I would like to comment on the idea of moving the houses now on the Ace Hardware block. A member in an earlier post mentioned the obstacles and lengthy time frame to move a house in the city. However, when I was chair of the Whittier Alliance Housing Affairs Committee, the Alliance successfully moved three houses to the 2500 block of 1st Av S. All three houses were slated for demolition including the house next to the Wedge Coop. The Wedge graciously donated the house to the Alliance making the project financially feasible. It is VERY possible to move homes. Yes, there are many obstacles and needed permits but the developers and movers take care of these not the neighborhood organization. The key to making these three moves possible was that there were no acquisition costs---all three were donated. We also asked the owners to donate the funds that would have been used to demolish the homes. This can be $8,000-$15,000 depending on the size of the house.
If your organization is interested in knowing more please feel free to contact me and I will pass along the name of the non-profit developer we used. Terry Erickson Whittier P.S. Drive by the homes and take a look at these magnificent historic structures. All are owner occupied with rental units in two of the homes. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 7:17 AM Subject: RE: [Mpls] Ace Hardware Parking Lot Proposal > Thanks to everyone who has commented on our Ace Hardware situation. > > Jay Clark's critique gave me pause and made me think, "Why DIDN'T I hold > a neighborhood meeting?" > > This is especially disquieting for me since I've sort of gained a > reputation as a neighborhood-meeting-mad board president. In the past > year, we've held community meetings to talk about transit issues (bus > hub and bus routes), a treatment program that wanted to build a 70-bed > unit in our vacant nursing home (Prodigal House), a charter school that > wanted to go in the same facility (they dropped out suddenly), a liquor > store that wanted to add a hard-liquor license (Westrum's)...I didn't > need to think twice about any of those. It was obvious. Why didn't I > think it necessary in this case? > > Even weirder, even before Jay's post, we were already planning > neighborhood meetings for the Kingfield blocks if the Ace Hardware > houses end up in our neighborhood. > > There are only so many volunteer hours in the day, and you have to draw > the meeting line somewhere, but Jay has a point: if I lived next to what > would become a parking lot, I'd want to lobby my neighborhood group, > too. Perhaps we got swept up in helping Ace's cashflow, and then helping > try to move the houses, without thinking of the next-door folks. > > The only solace, I guess, is that there are bright orange notices posted > on both front-yard trees at the homes, I assume about the public hearing > at City Hall. People do have a chance to lobby the people who actually > make the decision: the City Council. > > However... those orange official notices are all but impossible for > passers-by to read because the trees are up a hill. Politicians would > not restrict themselves to brightly-colored sheets of paper when running > for office; why not institute readable-from-a-distance, > lawn-sign-and-rebar signage for properties with potential neighborhood > impacts? > > Guess we all need to do a better job getting the public info. > > Learning by doing, > David Brauer > King Field - Ward 10 > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > Great problem, and one that is repeated in difference permutations > > throughout the city. > > > > For me, the most important job of the neighborhood organization board > in > > a situation like this is not to debate the pros and cons of the > > > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.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 > > _______________________________________ 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
