I have to start with appreciation for Keith's advocacy for West Broadway over time. But I am concerned about his interpretation of events related to the West Broadway rezoning study.
The community has defined for itself a future vision for this important commercial street. This has been spearheaded by the West Broadway Area Coalition, which represents all of the neighborhoods bordering on West Broadway and its business and nonprofit community. (See www.wbac.net for more info.) Keith highlights the fact that a rezoning process is underway for West Broadway, and it is one of several important steps to implement the vision by fostering appropriate development. Keith has been an important and energetic member of the WBAC Board. I am the City Planner assigned to the rezoning study. What is accurate about Keith's post is that, due to workload constraints, the rezoning study is taking quite a bit longer than any of us would like it to. What is troubling is that Keith has found a way to lay this delay directly at the feet of the Mayor. Keith's conjecture is not accurate that the delay in the rezoning study is primarily due to my serving as part of the Mayor's affordable housing transition team. There have been many competing responsibilities that have slowed the West Broadway project. Several general points, and I'll sign off. 1) West Broadway is not alone. There are many important priorities that are not being attended to as well as they should. 2) Some of this "attention deficit" relates to fiscally responsible actions intended to get a handle on the City's financial house at a time when it has suffered several hits at the same time. A temporary hiring freeze has meant that the Planning Dept, like other City Depts, have not been able to fill vacancies during a several month period of uncertainty. My understanding is that the freeze will lift shortly now that the state legislature has concluded its business. 3) The good news. This Mayor and City Council have an appreciation for community planning. They have protected the Planning Department in this round of budget cuts, and are expecting that when the freeze is lifted, the community planning section of the Planning Department will be one of the areas that is strengthened. The findings of the McKinsey study are reinforcing this area of focus. Tom Leighton City Planner Seward > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 7:21 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Mpls digest, Vol 1 #859 - 13 msgs > > > Message: 13 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 08:18:55 EDT > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], > [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Mpls] RT 's Haste in Transition Hurt Our Plan Disposition/West > Broadway > > Avenue with the most potential must wait, again > > > There is a City imposed Moratorium on Development on West Broadway. > Cultivating new business activity and vitality on this avenue, already a > difficult challenge here, is further impeded by this additional obstacle. > In > the bad old days, Jackie Cherryhomes, while lavishly rewarding the DT > portion > of her former Ward offered little more then punishment for her > neighborhood > corridor, West Broadway. Like an abusive parent, with the wrecking ball as > > her rod, she made her periods of simple neglect feel like a holiday from > her > wrath. Many of us have tried to make a development "carrot" out of the > moratorium "stick". The professed goal of the moratorium was to allow time > to > create an optimal development plan through a zoning (use) overlay. We had > a > City Planner working to refine/redefine our Zoning Use Plan. RT diverted > this > person to his Transition Team and delayed our development plans at least > an > additional 6 precious months. RT, you must have known what this man's job > assignment was when you grabbed him away form us? Give him back; and come > around this Northwest quadrant of your City to show us you care about > problem > solving here. > _______________________________________ 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
