Kudos to Dean Carlson and Paul Lambie for their excellent posts regarding the Stone Arch apartments and the need for a more constructive response to the city's affordable housing crisis from some Minneapolis neighborhood organizations. The Metropolitan Council through its Tax-Base Revitalization Account is helping to fund the site clean-up for this project. From our regional perspective, Stone Arch is a model for smart growth as it utilizes vacant urban land for redevelopment purposes. It is especially significant that this redevelopment is located on a formerly polluted "brownfield" site and includes approximately 100 units of affordable housing near transit and other amenities. There will be close to one million people moving into the region over the next thirty years. We need to assure that smart developments such as Stone Arch can proceed. The region, including Minneapolis, can ill-afford to reject the affordable housing and transit infrastructure that are needed to accommodate this growth in a way that preserves the environment, and assures shelter for people at all income levels. Frank Hornstein Metropolitan Council Member, District 6 (Still in) Ward 13
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