A response to Mark's open note. He states: > This plan will --
> . encourage more driving and more pollution in our neighborhoods; Or fewer miles driven and cutting through neighborhoods to the highway, if people eschew longer trips to the suburbs to shop in a neighborhood store that has steadily expanded offerings. I know I shop at Home Depot a lot less since Ace has expanded. Ace wouldn't have invested hundreds or thousands in a lot if they didn't think it would boost their business. As any customer knows, as they have profited their store, prices, and employment (of Minneapolis residents) has all gotten better. > . remove homes or spend precious NRP housing money on moving homes, > rather than creating more affordable housing (during a time when > the creation of housing is supposed to be the top priority for > our new city leadership); The plan does create more affordable housing. The money doesn't just go for moving - Ace's $20,000 helps with that. When the houses are moved, Kingfield's $50,000 will be brought up to code (both fall well short now), both will get new roofs and new boilers, the one-bedroom will be expanded to a 3-bedroom. On top of that, our NRP funds will create increased affordability. Lyndale Neighborhood Development Corp. estimates they will sell the houses for $120,000-140,000, but they will sell to a new land trust that may well sell to a homeowner for less since they will own the land. >From our point of view, all this for $25,000 a unit represents a great investment of NRP housing funds. > . push forward on a fast track with minimal public feedback; 2 neighborhood board meetings, a neighborhood NRP meeting Planning Commission, council committee, 1 full story in Southwest Journal, one section of another story, lengthy discussion on 800-person citywide email list (for a lot longer than 2 weeks!) and 400-person neighborhood email lists, notices on the property. > . set another bad precedent for using public resources for private > benefit. Note: Ace is not being subsidized. They paid full value for the lot and cover all construction costs themselves. They will pay an additional $7,000 to accomplish the move (on top of another $13,000 contribution that represents foregone demolition costs). The "public subsidy," as noted below, goes to moving **and improving** houses that will then be sold for less. I think the board, and most residents of Kingfield, don't see a private/public benefit as an either/or. We see a private and public benefit, with no subsidy to the private business, and that's a good thing. > Instead of another parking lot, we need to -- > > . slow down and implement a sustainable and comprehensive > transportation plan for our neighborhoods that emphasizes > alternatives to more cars and more pavement; The Kingfield neighborhood board is here for you, Mark. Since I joined the board, we have: 1. worked with the Met Council on a groundbreaking plan to reroute buses for neighborhood-friendly service 2. worked with neighbors to SA on 40th and Lyndale to close an unnecessary gas station and solicit affordable-housing proposals on that site. 3. Created and funded an east-west 40th Street Greenway plan and even fought some neighbors to reduce parking and create a double bike-route. 4. Worked to narrow Nicollet Avenue between 40th and 46th to help calm traffic (a plan undone by past council members due to business concerns - that was no easy struggle) 5. Are trying to extend the same concept to Nicollet between 36th (northern border of Kingfield) and 40th when the next repave comes. 6. Worked to detail and mitigate the effects of proposed freeway ramp moves along 35W 7. Working with council members to stop 35W expansion that threatens neighborhoods without truly encouraging mass transit or truly solving congestion. We can use all the help we can get on these efforts, Mark, especially pulling them together. I hope when we get past this issue, you'll be there to help do the day-to-day work we're already doing and add your skills toward creating the comprehensive transportation plan we all want. As for the 24th-hour anecdotal race angle, I too have talked to neighbors. A few facts: 1. All 26 property owners around the site, including the next-door neighbor to the lot, have signed the petition approving the up-zoning. (I believe this includes the Macedonia Baptist Church, which has a largely African-American congregation.) Now people living in the houses may not be property owners, but most are. 2. Both of the owners of the houses and the three renters were white. No minorities were displaced for the lot. 3. The next-door neighbor (next to the lot) and behind-the-lot neighbor have both contacted me in support of the project. I don't know if they're white or black, but they support the lot, are pleased Ace's owners have worked with them, and are really pleased the Kingfield neighborhood has worked so hard on a house move. 4. The houses will infill vacant lots four blocks away, in an area likely as poor and minority as where they currently sit. Who knows - the families who benefit from the improved, more affordable housing may well be minorities - but in any event, they will be people who couldn't afford to buy where the houses now sit. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 President, Kingfield Neighborhood Association board of directors. _________________________________________________________ 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
