On Jan 16th, the Jordan Area community Council, along with McKinley, Hawthorne and a couple of other neighborhoods, hosted a meeting addressing the proposed changes to the MCDA Real Property Disposition Policy. During the discussion, much was said lauding the idea of mixed income housing and the city's financing of housing projects for affordable housing.
The following questions were raised; Isn't it true that subsidized housing is supposed set aside 10 or 20 % of the developments units for affordable housing? Isn't it also true that the city council passed an ordinance a couple of years ago allowing developers the option to provide these units anywhere within the city limits, not necessarily on the site being subsidized by public funds? The answer to both questions is yes. Council President Ostrow admitted that this ordinance had been misused in the past. When pressed as to whether he or any other council member present would be trying to get this ordinance changed or rescinded, the council members were remarkably quite. The other members present were Johnson, Johnson-Lee, Lillegren and Niziolek. This seems to make the council's desire to promote mixed income housing in the city seem insincere to say the least. As long as this ordinance exists, affordable housing will be pushed into our poorest neighborhoods and the good views will be for the rich, financed by our tax dollars. I would like to hear what the candidates for the Third Ward have to say about this, since both sides of this issue impact the Third Ward directly. Anne McCandless Jordan _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
