Mayor Rybak and List Members:
I was cleaning up my email account today (darn those pesky Hotmail account
size limits) when I came across a message from Mayor Rybak to the List from
last January (1/24/2002). The message was about the recently inaugurated
Mayor's trip to D.C. for a meeting of the Conference of Mayors. Discussions
on the issue of affordable housing figured prominently in the message.
I bring this up because there has been a lot of discussion lately on the
List about the Mayor's perceived lack of attention to affordable housing
(whether in the form of budget priorities or taking the time to grant
interviews). Obviously, this is a concern to many people, myself included,
who voted for R.T. in 2001 because we saw him as the candidate who was most
committed to addressing this issue. I have no interest in adding to that
discussion here. (Although, my gut feeling is that I should give the Mayor
the benefit of the doubt on housing given the challenges he faces while
trying to govern in the midst of a budget crisis). I want to (momentarily)
shift the discussion on affordable housing away from how the shrinking local
budget is being sliced up to what is and can be done to increase the size of
that pie (and fight funding cuts due to HUD accounting errors).
Some points from this year-old message from the Mayor to consider:
Mayor Rybak wrote:
"I was put on the Conference of Mayors Housing Task Force, and I'm chairing
a Housing subcommittee. This means I will also be helping them
draft their national housing proposals to be passed at their convention in
June. I talked to city council members when I got back this afternoon and
suggested we have a common national housing agenda...I'll bring that through
the conference of Mayors, they can through the League of Cities...and
Minneapolis can be driving the national housing agenda."
My question:
"Advocate aggressively at other levels of government" is on the Mayor's list
of Top 10 Affordable Housing Strategies (published on 9/12/2002 and
available at:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/priorities/affordable-housing/20020912statusreport.asp).
I'm wondering what has come out of the Mayor's role as chair of the
Council of Mayors' Housing subcommittee? What efforts have taken place or
are planned to allow Minneapolis to drive (or - since it's currently not on
the national media's radar - create) the national housing agenda? How can
citizens assist in this effort?
Mayor Rybak wrote:
"[I] went to a reception for at the home of Sen. John Kerry of Mass. He's
carrying housing legislation in the Senate and his staff asked me if people
here would be interested in hearing him talk about it. (He's probably
running for president so this would be a good way for Minnesotans interested
in this issue to find out how good he is on this....and to help force this
issue onto the national agenda in this year's race.)"
My question:
Did we ever get Senator Kerry out to Minneapolis to talk about national
strategies for affordable housing? Now that he officially IS running for
President, what can be done to help get housing issues onto the national
agenda? Is there anything that can be done to leverage this relationship or
relationships with other potential national allies on the housing issue?
Mayor Rybak wrote:
"I'm pushing . . . to restore the tax incentives for housing investment that
were taken away in the 1980s."
My question:
Has anything happened on this front? Is this still a possibility and would
it help if it did happen? Given the Bush Administration's focus on tax
relief instead of spending as the preferred tool to stimulate the economy,
might there be an opportunity to get this included in whatever stimulus
package actually passes Congress this spring?
I'm addressing these questions to the List, as well as the Mayor because I
think that others might have constructive thoughts or ideas. The bottom
line is that Minneapolis can't hope to solve its affordable housing and
homelessness problems alone. We don't have enough money. More importantly,
we can't wait for Democratic leadership from Washington on this issue (or
any other). Here in D.C., the Democrats are not in power. Leadership needs
to come from the places where the Democrats and other progressives ARE in
power. Mayor Rybak can be a real positive force in this area - if he
chooses to become one.
Paul C. Rohlfing
Former Linden Hills and Lyndale resident, temporarily in Bethesda, MD
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
P.S. I can forward the full email from Mayor Rybak if anybody wants to see
it. -PCR
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