As a former president of the Kingfield board, I'd like to respond to a couple of Margaret's comments.
She writes: Take my neighborhood of Kingfield as an example--largely middle class-- and the last time I checked, not a haven for people who are homeless. From having been on the KFNA board and now on the NRP steering committee I shudder to think where housing dollars will go if left to the control of the Kingfield Neighborhood. The last board meeting I was at, much was being made of the two (potential) single family units for low income people that may be built. Those two units will merely replace the two houses that the KFNA board and the City Council and the Mayor supported being torn down for the Ace Hardware Parking Lot. Me: Something for people to remember: the infamous Ace Hardware homes were NOT affordable housing. They were more expensive than many homes in our neighborhood, including on Margaret's block. Our original plan with the Ace homes was to move them off Ace's property and make them affordable - using up to $100,000 in NRP money (for which I earned Keith Reitman's enduring condemnation; being caught between Keith and Margaret gives me a wry satisfaction). The move didn't work out for many reasons, but Kingfield's interest and financial support weren't two of them. Margaret subsequently quit the board, so she wasn't around when Steve Jevning (current president) and I spent countless hours trying to pressure Ned Abdul, the developer of the nursing home at 4429 Nicollet, to include low-income housing - in a 29-unit development, by the way. NONE of the loudest Ace protestors were there when the Kingfield Neighborhood Association spent money to appeal the Planning Commission decision preventing us from adding an affordable housing REQUIREMENT to Ned's variance. I acknowledge the principled protests of Ken Avidor and Mark Knapp, who believe the houses should not have been taken for a parking lot. (If they want to buy me a beer, I'll tell them why I haven't set foot in Ace for a year.) But the rhetoric of the affordable housing complaint strikes me as hollow here. We tried to preserve the houses. We tried to make them affordable. They weren't affordable in the first place - they were the "middle class" homes of a "fortress neighborhood." Margaret again: ����� The problem with that is that neighborhoods such as mine are "Fortress Neighborhoods"... they have not let in people who are poor and homeless for the most part. The economic segregation succeeds in keeping their voices out, at least in my neighborhood. So... if you follow the logic, if you have never been allowed in, how in the world do you obtain a voice to let you in? ������� The term "affordable" must be constantly challenged. The poorest of the poor must be served first. Fortress neighborhoods cannot be allowed to continue to play the game of "well there is no affordable property available to develop low income housing, so our hands are tied." Me: 99 percent of what creates "Fortress Neighborhoods" is market economics - not the imagined motives of neighborhood activists who other activists don't like. Home prices are rising. Even with NRP money, a neighborhood can't reverse that. In my mind, the only thing that the Kingfield neighborhood has done that could be tagged as "fortress" was not approving Prodigal House. But Prodigal never asked, and as I've said before, market economics played a huge role there, too. Margaret: ���� To be fair to Kingfield, a very active group of Kingfield residents did involve themselves with the Ad Hoc Affordable Housing group ... my hats off to all of you. ������� Walk the talk, walk the talk, walk the talk. ������������������������������� Me: The Ad Hoc group was a wonderful group of true citizens who helped educate the neighborhood about affordable housing and its challenges. Many have helped board in the months since the group dissipated. However, a great weakness I have seen � and still see � is that it all seems to be talk. I hear much condemnation and stereotyping of "white middle-class" residents, but precious few workable solutions, at least at the neighborhood level. I applaud Margaret for rejoining the neighborhood via our NRP Steering Committee. But I want a roadmap to affordable housing. Your tools: the $400,000 left in Kingfield's NRP and all the time one can inspire - rather than hector - out of volunteers. Give me a plan after the campout is over. I still haven't heard one that the neighborhood can realistically do. The Kingfield Neighborhood Association SHOULD pat themselves on the back for facilitating two new affordable homes on vacant lots in the neighborhood - they didn't spend much money (which they don't have) but became the catalyst to involve non-governmental organizations AND overcome minimal neighbor opposition. This is the essence of leveraging neighborhood strength. If it's not enough, I submit it is two more affordable homes than others have made here. David Brauer King Field TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ 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
