Dave Polaschek wrote: 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.
PL: No, Dave you probably aren't the one to say what a given block in Lowry Hill should look like. Nor am I despite my residence in the neighborhood. Residence in a neighborhood should not give you veto power over what other people choose to do with other parcels of land in your politically defined neighborhood. Oh sure, we all want more affordable housing developed, right? But when it comes down to it, I can just about guarante that 90% of us would not choose to have it go up across the street from our home. Most everyone is a believer in NIMBY if it really gets close enough to them, which is precisely why we need to take control away from neighbors and neighborhood groups if we ever wish to see a sizeable amount of "affordable" housing developed. Question for all affordable housing advocates in favor of strong input from neighborhood associations over development issues: If a developer knocks on your front door and says, "Good evening sir or ma'am. I'm going to redevelop the parcel of land right across the street. Would you prefer that I build "affordable" apartments that will be occupied by low-income residents or expensive condominium units that will be occupied by upper-income residents?" Honestly, which would you choose? Is it really any surprise that we don't see a huge supply of "affordable" housing being developed? Paul Lambie Lowry Hill __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.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
