KFAI radio aired a feature on Lydia Housing on Tuesday afternoon. Plymouth Church Senior Pastor James Gertmenian and Plymouth Church Neighbor Foundation Director Linda Satorius told the interviewer neighbors who oppose Lydia House are racists and discriminators.
As one of those neighbors I can tell you our neighborhood�where we chose to live�has the highest concentration of supportive housing in the state. Our four neighborhoods house 57% of the supportive facilities of Minnesota. 22% of my neighbors are Hispanic; 20% are African American, and 12% Asian American. Yes, that�s right. We�re one of the few neighborhoods in Minneapolis with a minority of European Americans, and a sizable minority of people who require supportive services. 28% of the people living within � mile of Lydia House are mentally ill, chemically dependent or otherwise require support. The neighborhood plaintiffs are block leaders; block patrol captains, active in the Whittier Alliance and Stevens Square Community Organizations. They work tirelessly to integrate, to grow and to improve the livability of our neighborhoods. The supportive housing industry has closed ranks behind Plymouth Church to provide political clout and cash to�according to one church member�whack the neighbors hard. And they appear to have copious amounts of both cash and clout to their whacking. According to senior church members the Family Housing Trust stepped in to pay the legal bills for Plymouth Church and Neighborhood Foundation. Family Housing Trust Executive Director Tom Fulton belittled opposition to Lydia House in a recent Southwest Journal article as �a few neighbors�. It is well known that more than 100 neighbors voted in 4 separate neighborhood meetings to oppose Lydia House. 45 neighbors spent weeks developing and writing a task force report on the impact on Lydia House. Several dozen neighbors have stepped forward with donations for the neighborhood legal defense fund. Then after underwriting Plymouth�s legal defense, Fulton then had the audacity to say the same news report that opposition by neighbors was driving up the cost of this $5.4 million, $360 a square foot Lydia House project. Huh? All the neighbors ask in their lawsuit is the Minneapolis City Council enforce its own zoning law, and space supportive housing facilities 1,250 feet apart. Lydia House will be the 18th violation of this law if it opens. The neighbor�s lawsuit against hyper-concentration is in federal court and a decision is expected by mid summer. Fultom is quoted as saying if the neighbors win this will �a major setback� for supportive housing. It is hard for me to see how enforcing the zoning law is �major setback�. Plymouth with its own considerable cash and clout it could provide housing opportunity for the disadvantaged in some of the 56 neighborhoods where many church members live, and where there is none now. Now that sounds like integration. As well, it means putting one or two supportive housing facilities in the very same neighborhoods where some of the supportive housing industry folks live; like the neighborhood where Central Community Housing Trust Chairman Alan Arthur lives (Orono) or where Simpson Housing Services Executive Director Gif Jamison lives (Seward). When one looks at the neighborhoods where these supportive housing industry people live, it seems as though they have been effective in keeping supportive housing out. How dare anyone call my neighbors and me racists. John Cevette Whittier www.TheLydiaHouse.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
