I believe this was just the method that was used to originally create the "set aside monies". I believe Gretchen Nichols might have even been involved in that process. Gretchen possibly has forgotten that fact? Or perhaps her intent was for the money to be used for something other than helping poor people?
The NRP Policy Board by-laws were not violated. Peter McLaughlin is if not the "Father" of NRP is certainly its "Midwife", and he certainly would not have allowed a raid on NRP Affordable Housing funding. Instead Peter was one of the proposals supporters. To say Peter McLaughlin, with his record, did not have the interests of poor people in mind is to border on the ridiculous. Gretchen Nichols and the Mayor need to really reconsider their positions before attacking Peter McLaughlin on either affordable housing, concern for poor people, or knowledge of NRP. They simply do not have the credentials Peter has, in any of these areas! This was an example of Neighborhood representatives joining with elected Hennepin County Officials to create a program to give people "SUSTAINABLE AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP". It complies with the very heart of NRP. It uses a small amount of public money to leverage over 20 times that amount for a redevelopment opportunity. It is a "Neighborhood Initiative" that stabilizes Neighborhoods and Communities, and it gives economic opportunity to poor people who would not have that opportunity otherwise. It creates affordable housing! It IS the very essence of what NRP was designed to do. The real question should be what motivates those who object? We really need to look closely at those people and determine their reasoning and their future believability. They certainly DO NOT represent either poor people's interests or neighborhoods. Exactly whom do they represent? The proposal was to create such a program specifically for poor people as affordable housing. Of course there will be income guidelines! The criticism leveled has come from those with other interests than the welfare of poor people. They have come from people with interests and commitments to developers and political cronies. Just before reading Eric's post I was on the phone with someone who makes over twenty-five thousand dollars a year for a family of three but can not afford a house. A working person who pays for rent, but can not get the 10% down payment or qualify without some program like the one the NRP Policy Board passed. He called because a Mortgage Company had suggested he call me about such a program. Why, I have no idea, unless someone from that company reads the MPLS Issues or saw it in the paper. I told him to call a couple of City Council Members and ask them if they will help him and his young family buy their own home. We probably need other folks calling their CM's to urge them to help working poor people have the opportunity. An associated question but slightly off of the subject: What neighborhood interest or issue does the Center for the Neighborhoods actually represent? This is not meant as a mean spirited question. It is a question that I was asked by someone reading the Issue's. If the organization opposes "Neighborhoods" in most cases, what neighborhoods are they at the Center for? Perhaps Cam Gordon or one of the Seward Neighborhood people, where it is located, could answer this question? Thanks, Jim Graham >"There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies, >revolution into minds, or poor people into homes". - Toe 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
