List: Obviously Ms. Heller has chosen to ignore the fact that this issue is not only about affordable housing (which we STILL lack in abudance), but also a service needed for people living with HIV/AIDS. She again misses the original point of the first email that the neighborhood association was not opposed to the project on financial grounds but on grounds based in bigotry and discrimination. None of Ms. Heller's half-formulated arguments and defensive personalization of the issue change the fact that the project is needed and the community in which it is to be based has spoken against it based on bigoted beliefs.
There may be 394 vacant 1 BR apartments in Minneapolis but how many people are there that NEED apartments that have the economic ability to secure an apartment. And, much as Ms. Heller attempted to do with the issue of funding for the public schools, she is again choosing to ignore information readily provided. As I provided in a previous post, the Clare Apartments project is not only an affordable housing project but also a project that includes built in staff and service support for people living with HIV/AIDS. The project is designed to allow people living with HIV/AIDS a chance to live at home with appropriate social and medical support in a space that is supportive, nuturing and not isolating. And, the project is designed to provide housing to homeless individuals as well as other individuals using programs such as section 8. How many of the 394 units that Ms. Heller is speaking of are designated housing for homeless individuals? None I suppose. How many are section 8 classified? How many folks need this kind of support in the Twin Cities? I am positive the number is more than 394. I'm glad that Ms. Heller can be so flippant and declare that not only is there no housing shortage, which is not evident by any means (I will give her that we are not in the crisis situation in which we were a year ago as brought up by Michael Atherton). I am also impressed that she has determined through her clairvoyant powers that everyone out in the world has the emotional, social, and fiscal means to find and keep housing while attempting to deal with potentially debilitating life circumstances. Further,the issue of paying taxes is irrelevant to this topic. As I provided in a previous post, little taxpayer money is going to support this project. Of the taxpayer money that is supporting this project, it is money that has been previously assessed and designated for use as money to support people living with HIV/AIDS (if you have issue with this, take it up with Congress). This issue is not the same issue as building a new stadium in which new taxes may be levied to support the project. For those people who seem to believe that spending money on supporting people living with chronic and potentionally fatal diseases is somehow outrageous, they will be happy to know that funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and care has decreased steadily over the last several years (not necessarily correlating with a corresponding decrease in need or infection rates). As Ms. Heller challenged me previously, I challenge her to please support her claims with facts. Her claim that this project is unecessary is clearly not based on fact. The issue of necessary or not has been predetermined by need (and the fact that the 4.4 million has been raised). The issue at hand is whether or not the city will allow the hatred of a majority to prevail over the right of a minority to live. -Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx _______________________________________ 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
