Tom Berthiaume wrote:
WM: There is also the fact that we did not object to Midwest Challenge, but as a neighborhood passed them through to the city council, maybe even with a positive recommendation (though I can't remember that piece anymore).Jim Mork wrote:"For starters, I hope a rep comes on here to explain RT's reasoning. But, hey, if you have solid evidence of both cases, rich and poor neighborhoods, why not post it here?" Thanks for your question Jim. I too would like an explanation of the Mayor's apparent change of position. Within the last ten years the Federal Fair Housing Act has not been used to over-ride chapter 536.20 to place supportive housing ANYWHERE, but the following: -Midwest Challenge 3159 Park Ave.
Midwest Challenge, Teen Challenge, and Aftercare, Inc. all have homes in my neighborhood. They have been a positive or neutral force in each instance. Plus, it's a way to watch/experience positive change happening to individual people and I really enjoy that.
WM: I have a problem with this characterization. Many of the people who live at Midwest, Teen, and Aftercare are people from this neighborhood. What we asked of them when they were sent to jail/prison/CD treatment, was that they change their behavior. They are doing that. It's a big challenge. They need us now to mentor and support the changes they are making in themselves. Further, we wanted these folks back when they agreed to change. Some of us remember some of them as children or know their families (in any case have some shared history); we don't hate them.
-Portland Village 1900 Portland Ave.
-Lydia "Apartments" 1920 LaSalle
-Collaborative Village Initiative 815 Franklin Ave.
Affordable and supportive housing needs to be built and fast. But if the
mayor's housing solutions are predicated on further concentration, further
segregation, and further unequal protection,
WM: The reason the city (state and feds too) has traditionally given for buying buildings in poor neighborhoods is that the properties are cheaper. Here is a place to front load subsidies; the city would subsidize the buying of the property in wealthier neighborhoods, not only for people who stay stable with assistance, but for people who don't have all the wherewithall for say King Field or Field-Regina or Longfellow. Some of us knew, when busing was invested in as the "solution" to segregation that it was not a solution, but a postponement. People have to live among each other to learn to desegregate. I learned to desegregate in East St. Louis; it was very educational and I had so much fun that I look back on it with nostalgia.And please don't change the subject by blaming the suburbs, however much they deserve it. Minneapolis can choose to integrate, but it will have to abandon the longstanding habit of packing it's difficult-to-place populations into just a few politically weak neighborhoods, and, as of today, that doesn't seem to be the way we are being led.
WizardMarks, Central
Tom Berthiaume Whittier, Stevens Square, Loring Park, Navarre _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
_______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
