Wizard is correct, in her assertion that we can not return the City to what it was before "Freeways". I put "Freeways" in this way because they were anything but free. The City of Minneapolis paid a gigantic and horrific price to allow to allow Minnesota and the suburbs to thrive. It gave up billions of tax dollars from the property lost and the devastation of its inner-city commercial corridors. MnDOT, and the suburban legislators, would do well to remember who made that possible and upon whose backs you rode to get what you have.
Now let's talk "Mitigation". MnDOT and their lackeys, the Access Committee, would have us believe that mitigation dollars should be spent on improving "their" Freeway. This is analogous to the tobacco companies asking that the damages from the tobacco settlement be spent to improve the looks of their billboard ads. This "Mitigation" money is to compensate for DAMAGE. Those damages should be compensated to the damaged party, not to the party doing the damage. Before we start talking about new damage, such as adding new lanes to the Freeways, lets talk about a fair and equitable settlement of the damage claims the communities of Minneapolis have from the original building of the freeways. There should have been a development fund set up from which damaged communities could draw for development projects to compensate for what was lost. It should be set up now! In addition to a development fund the Federal Government and MnDOT should fulfill promises made to the residents of Minneapolis in order to get the freeways accepted originally. We need the freeway decked as originally promised, so as to reweave the fabric of Minneapolis and to return tax-base to the City. This has been accomplished in many U.S. cities and their is no reason, (other than laziness on the part of our politicians, and reluctance on the part of small-minded MnDOT Engineers), to not have this promise fulfilled. For those list members who are not informed of this issue go to www.venturavillage.org and look up section on decking the freeways. Congressman Martin Sabo has said he is willing to peruse this matter, but that the Minneapolis Mayor (RT Rybak) and the City Council, or the Metropolitan Council had to request such an action. The Met Council may not be sympathetic to the needs of Minneapolis and transit-oriented development, but we can certainly hold RT and our City Council' feet to the fire. All the cities that are touted by the City and Met Council as models of urban development are or already have decked their freeways. These paragons of planning include, but aren't limited to, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, (dare we say Duluth). We have the most powerful member of the US Congress' Transportation Committee representing us and our local elected officials are to shy or stupid to ask for the same consideration. MAYBE WE SHOULD ASK THAT A STADIUM BE PLACED ON IT FOR THEM TO TAKE SOME INTEREST. As ludicrous as it sounds that is exactly how we got the head of Minneapolis planning to start considering it. So here is a suggested plan for addressing the freeway access and I-35 situation. 1. Set up a task force of truly representative impacted community organizations Lets call it the " Urban Freeway Land-Use and Mitigation Task Force" or some such other meaningless title. 2. Immediately request our fair share of Federal and State Freeway mitigation dollars. If this does not pay immediate dividends perhaps DEMAND, and a Federal Legal Action would be more appropriate. But first lets allow Martin Sabo to work a little magic for us. 3. Set up a Development Mitigation Fund to assist impacted neighborhoods address the injury they have already incurred by redeveloping their commercial and housing base. 4. Start realistic community involved planning for the freeways so as to get the most benefit for OUR residents from them. (If we are paying the fiddler, we better darn well get some tunes we want to dance to) I am sure there are others with even better suggestions about getting a freeway system that OUR residents can use. By "our", I mean the communities of Minneapolis that have sustained damage from and through which "Freeways" pass. Jim Graham, Ventura Village _______________________________________ 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
