Thomas Leighton writes: "Every one of these [non-profit] organizations has a track record of doing high quality development, and being open to neighborhood input. They are staffed with talented and well-intentioned individuals."
Vicky comments: These same individuals are very highly paid too - with public money. Those of us who use our own money to build and operate housing, are struggling to make ends meet. I noticed that the West Bank Community Development Corporation and the West Bank Project Area Committee weren't mentioned as two of the "good guys." These "non-profits" claim to have done $100 million of redevelopment in Cedar-Riverside -- producing the highest poverty rate (46%) and the lowest homeownership rate (10%) in the City. I wonder if anyone downtown knows what happened to all of that money. Here is the important point that no one has mentioned. Neighborhood groups often COLLECT CASH from the projects they APPROVE. This has been true on the West Bank for over twenty years. Smart developers give the neighborhood activists a taste of the money. The West Bank PAC actually became a general partner in Riverside Plaza (for just one year) and received a general partner "fee" of $250.000. The executive director of the PAC, Tim Mungaven, received thousands of dollars in "consulting fees" during the months preceding the closing. Mungaven now owns and/or operates nearly ALL of the housing in Cedar-Riverside, though he lives in Seward when he's not on his hobby farm. Very recently, the developer who wants to buy my land on the West Bank asked me "how much do we have to pay the hippie to get this deal done?" I wonder if these situations were covered in the ETHICS RESOLUTION passed by the City Council earlier this year. So my question to Mr. Leighton: How many of the APPROVED projects involved PAYOFFS to the corresponding neighborhood groups? Vicky Heller North Oaks 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. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
