Paul Lambie wrote: >Admittedly, I do not have all the specific information >about the details of this project, but it does not >seem like a unique situation. I welcome any comments >from anyone who would like to tell me why the >"neighborhood" should have any say into whether this >housing development occurs or not. I use the term >neighborhood loosely, because the people who speak on >behalf of the neighborhood are certainly a small >minority of the neighborhood population who are >politically active and have the time to attend >neighborhood meetings.
I guess I'm one of that "small minority", since I'm on the board of the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association. The reason I feel qualified to speak about this area is that I've lived (as a renter) in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood for 17 of the past 20 years. I regularly walk or bike past the proposed Stone Arch Apartments area and have an idea what it's like. I wouldn't feel qualified to say what should be a given block in Lowry Hill might be, but I think I have an idea of what's in Marcy-Holmes. I started out thinking that the project wasn't such a bad idea, since it would turn some currently unused land into housing. It would probably encourage MetalMatic to eventually leave, opening up even more space for housing. But the more I've heard about the Stone Arch Apartments proposal, the less I like it. We've got a large student population in this neighborhood. Turns out students aren't eligible for affordable housing. The rest of the apartments will be priced out of reach of most students. So no real help for the students in the project. The lot is sandwiched between two sets of railroad tracks, one mostly unused (except to park an occasional empty freight car), and one still in regular use by ADM. Across the in-use tracks is MetalMatic, which has heavy truck traffic during all three shifts. Across the unused tracks and SE Main St. is the University of Minnesota steam plant, which gets noise complaints from people living on the other side of MetalMatic (2-3 blocks away). That's not surprising, since I can hear it from 6 blocks away. The project area is polluted and would require cleanup. I haven't heard of any results of studies of the pollution on-site, but simply walking past you can see that the ground is contaminated with oil. There are spots where the weeds won't grow, even though there's no traffic on them. In the last plan we saw, the windows on the building won't open. That's to cut down on noise. Beyond that, there won't be any outdoor areas for tenant uses (other than parking). Affordable housing usually means families with children. Any kids would have to cross two streets to use the park which has no play equipment. I'd like to see more affordable housing in the neighborhood. One of these years I'd like to be able to afford to buy my own home in Marcy-Holmes, rather than renting. But I don't think that affordable housing should be dumped in industrial areas. As for this particular site, I believe that it will be a great location for housing one day. If MetalMatic leaves, and ADM quits using the tracks that divide those blocks in half, it'll be a good site for housing. When it's cleaned up and the proposed white-water park is put in across SE Main St. from the site, it'll be a great location. But that's not the current reality, and none of those things may come to pass. Dave Polaschek Marcy-Holmes _______________________________________ 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
