Jim writes: > David, please compare Kingfield Neighborhood's Prodigal House and Ventura > Village's experience with PPL's CVI project. I do have to compliment Davis > and his neighborhood. I also have to admit that we in poor neighborhoods > are more than a little envious of that ability to hint at opposition to dry > up financing. That same City Council person, Brian Herron had no impact on > the siting of CVI in our neighborhood though he advised against it.
Don't know VV's experience intimately (despite Jim's posts and his frequent comparisons of Prodigal House to it). However, KFNA's website contains a copy of the letter I wrote to the neighborhood (I was president of the board back then) about a Kingfield-wide meeting with Prodigal House. (The letter and other stuff is available at www.kingfield.org under the "Affordable Housing" section; the building Prodigal House wanted became a housing co-op - $2,000, rent that become equity; excellent affordable housing). For those who are interested, here's the history lesson: Oct. 26, 2000 -- Hi everyone -- We had a fairly intense, crowded meeting on Oct. 25 to talk about whether Prodigal House would get our approval to go in the Good Samaritan Home at 4429 Nicollet. Prodigal House is a 75-day treatment program/extended living program for alcoholics, usually veterans. They are moving beyond veterans so they need to relocate from their current quarters at the Minnesota Veterans' Home. Before I discuss the meeting, I want to let you know that the Kingfield Neighborhood Association will be voting on the matter THIS WEDNESDAY, Nov. 1, probably at about 7:30. Our meetings are at King Park Center, 41st and Nicollet. Our vote is purely advisory, sent to elected officials, but they take our opinion seriously. We, in turn, take seriously the views of neighbors expressed at the meeting. At the meeting, 8th ward Council Member Brian Herron -- whose ward includes Good Samaritan -- said in no uncertain terms that city ordinance limits group homes to 32 beds outside of downtown. Prodigal House wants 70 beds at least. The group could get a variance, but Herron said he would not ask for one unless he had neighborhood approval. He added he might not even get a variance approved even if the neighborhood was ok, because other council members wouldn't vote for it. (My hunch is they wouldn't approve this because they don't want to give variances for larger facilities in their own wards.) Prodigal House officials responded that they believe there is a federal pre-emption of local zoning codes for a facility of their type. It is unclear if this is true; Herron seemed pretty sure a federal override doesn't exist. Without telling the neighborhood how to vote, Herron and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman urged neighbors to consider how needed these treatment programs are. There is quite a shortage, partly because they are hard to locate. Herron said there had been no problems with Prodigal House that he could find, other than they wanted a program that was too big for the neighborhood. He said many treatment programs of this type had actually become good neighbors in his ward. Dorfman talked about how expensive it is to lock alcoholics up when they commit crimes, as opposed to being treated in these programs. Again, neither took a firm position on Prodigal House, preferring to let the community discuss the possible problems beyond the agreed-upon need. There was plenty of discussion from the neighbors. Among the concerns were: 1. Size -- that Kingfield was the wrong place to site a facility double the size of city rules. Some felt ok if Prodigal House was 32 beds (the zoning limit), but not 70, which is what Prodigal proposed. Others were worried if a variance to 70 beds was approved, the group would eventually get bigger still. 2. Use -- that a charter school or affordable housing was a better use. The neighborhood board has approved a policy encouraging these two uses. 3. Property values -- families, who have only recently flooded back in to Kingfield, would not move in if there was a treatment program nearby. 4. Experience with neighbors -- Prodigal House has operated their current longtime facility on the expansive grounds of the Veterans Home, where there are not neighbors across the alley and across the street. 5. Traffic -- from lots of patients and staff. 6. Crime -- Some people felt Prodigal House's recovery rates (around 50 percent, typical for such programs) were too low and patients could get out and cause trouble in the neighborhood, with the possibility of burglary or public drunkenness or even sex crimes. Such activity could attract other criminals, such as drug dealers, to the neighborhood. Prodigal House maintains they have strict security and that when patients run, they get far away from the program. They say they could possibly have the state's lowest-level of sex offender (usually family molestation) but they have never had sex offenders in the program. They also noted that their patients are tightly screened, and have almost always been through other treatment programs before coming to Prodigal House. No one shows up drunk on their doorstep, and the overwhelming majority of patients are voluntarily committed. Some neighbors felt Prodigal House had not built up enough trust -- that details of their program were scant and their numbers seemed to move at times. (Prodigal House had distributed some information about itself, but not to a wide enough area.) However, some neighbors also felt this was an important and worthy program -- that when our friends and relatives have alcohol problems, we would want a facility like this. They argued that Kingfield needed to take responsibility -- that if everyone said no like some were encouraging us to, there would be no place for this valuable service to take place. In the end, to get the sense of the crowd, I took a vote. Some neighbors abstained. Here's how it broke down by meeting's end. FOR Prodigal House as a 32-bed facility (the zoning limit): 15 OPPOSED to Prodigal House as a 32-bed facility: 17 FOR Prodigal House as a 70-bed facility (Prodigal's current plan): 9 OPPOSED to Prodigal House as a 70-bed facility: 25 As you can read, the neighbors seemed overwhelmingly opposed to the 70-bed plan, and opposed but very split on the 32-bed plan. On Wednesday, the board will vote on a resolution to oppose or support Prodigal House's plan. The board can vote whichever way it wants, and I can't predict what we will do until we meet. I encourage any of you with strong feelings one way or the other to attend on Wednesday, November 1. Whatever resolution we approve, I will propose that we include the neighborhood's recent vote in our resolution. If you have questions or comments, either reply to this message or call me at 822-8601. Sincerely, David Brauer Kingfield Neighborhood Association President [PS The board votes 5-2, with 1 abstention and 1 not voting, to recommend against the 70-bed request] REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
