>
> At the risk of being called just another "new urbanist", here are my
> responses for Craig:
> > For the Met Council to be serious about wanting to increase the supply
of
> > all housing and affordable housing, they would have to do a 180 degree
turn.
>
> I disagree that the onus is on Met Council to change. Instead, I would
> argue that the onus is on developers, city councils and neighborhood
> organizations to pull their heads out of the sand (or wherever else
they're
> currently hidden)
CM: New urbanist want to align everyone to their Borg like thinking.
Observe, above. "developers, city councils, neighborhoods", all must do as
we say. Go ahead and ridicule them along the way to making your point.
Such as comparing them to ostriches.
and recognize that not everybody wants the "American
> Dream" of a five-acre plot in East Bethel or somewhere else out in the
> boonies or a smaller version of such here in Minneapolis.
CM: I live in an exurb on a lot of less then a third of an acre, so do the
majority of my fellow city residents. As to your statement about "not
everyone". Well your right and last I checked most don't. It's called
checking the facts.
Developers want
> these, of course, because they're far more profitable than building urban
> housing due to the misguided way we value land.
CM: They have to make a profit. Or they lose money. Cue the Beachboys.
Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have profit. McDonalds, Bryant Lake Bowl,
Target, Ragstock, TGIF, Kieran's would stop making profits. And they would
all stay in business for everafter.
I think it's long overdue
> that we institute some kind of "sprawl tax" on either developers or house
> buyers who insist on tearing up farmland or prairies for housing
> developments and add those revenues to a brownfield/urban redevelopment
> fund.
CM: Maybe we should charge a demolition tax for every house or unit the
city of Mpls bulldozes to the ground. Let's see 1,000.00 for all 500 Holman
wreckings. Say....that's half a million!! We could spend that on a new
condo and house one family if we put a non-profit in charge.
>
> > 1. Expand the MUSA Line. Not hold it in place. The current policy is
> > driving the cost of housing inside the Musa line to stratospheric
heights.
> > This is good for those who already own, but bad for all others.
>
> For those unfamiliar, MUSA is the sewer lines. My understanding of Met
> Council's process is that they extend sewer lines upon approval of a local
> government's planned development. If a local government follows Met
> Council's development guidelines, then Met Council will extend the lines.
> If not, then the development gets to dig wells or it doesn't happen. So
> when developers cry about being "penned-in" by MUSA, what they're really
> saying is that they don't want to play by the guidelines Met Council lays
> out.
CM: In a twisted fashion, yes it's true. But it still pens them in. Thus
you haven't answered the original thesis. The Met is driving up land costs
in the MUSA. Making housing less affordable.
>
> Some will ask why Met Council gets to set rules for things like that and
the
> reason is because they oversee waste water treatment - making sure that
what
> we put into the sewers is sufficiently cleaned up before being discharged
> back into surface waters or rivers. If Met Council simply extended MUSA
to
> anyone who asked, our currently overtaxed water treatment plants would
have
> long since been overwhelmed.
CM: They don't. They only extend when the petitioner pays the
pre-determined cost.
Example: My family in Stearns County can't get service, even if they ask
pretty please. So don't make it sound like the Met expands willy nilly.
They don't.
> I'm not sure what "spit the bit" refers to,
CM: It's a rural american colloquialism. To bad it's lost on some.
but when suburban officials wake
> up and start focusing a little less on NIMBY and a little more on offering
> variety and choices for housing development, including *gasp* affordable
> housing and access to transit for "those kinds of people" - then Met
Council
> would no longer need to dictate anything to the 'burbs.
CM: Glad we have the New Urbanist admitting in print what the Met Council
is up to. The word is "Dictate"
>
> Must one be a housing provider to have a meaningful opinion? I should
think
> my status as a taxpayer whose money Met Council is operating with would
lend
> some value to my opinion.
CM: I have an opinion how bread tastes and how it should look. Short of a
small comment here and there, I don't expect the Woullet's family to take me
seriously in their kitchen. Yes sir, the modern term is stakeholders.
What's your stake, other then your opinion?
>
> One thing that our oftentimes shortsighted developers and local
governments
> fail to realize is that our housing choices have much broader impacts than
> things like sewer lines and plot sizes. We already know about the
> congestion problems caused by folks who insist on living in Maple Grove
and
> working in Eagan.
CM: They don't insist, they chose. Do you insist on living in Mpls? Or
did you chose?
>
> The latest issue of Minnesota magazine (for U of MN alumni) also has an
> interesting article entitled "On Race and Space", that discusses the
impacts
> of sprawl on people of color. One example from the article is Detroit -
> it's a doughnut of affluence out in the suburbs and a gaping hole of
neglect
> in the inner-ring area. It is estimated that there are something like
> 40,000 abandoned homes in inner-city Detroit. While Minneapolis is not
> likely to get this bad anytime soon, it's something we need to be aware of
> and we need to be proactive to avoid.
CM: Start by cleaning up the crime, garbage, and less dictating to people.
Minneapolis Content. I am constantly amazed at how much time is consumed by
Mpls citizens, policy makers, in telling suburbanites how to build their
cities. What would happen if the numerically superior suburbs took an equal
interest in what Mpls is doing in their back yards? Wouldn't that be
charming?
Craig Miller
Former Fultonite
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