Along with Michael's comments below I would like to add that the new framework is very shallow in addressing basic concerns regarding Open, green space, water (especially drinking water), and air particulates in the region that will grow with their anticipated growth numbers. The short-sightedness on the transportation planning for this region is going to "kill" us all, one way or the other - it's our air or our water.
The Framework can be downloaded PDF version via the Met Council website. It's a doosie for bedtime reading about our future.
Annie Young
Mpls Planning Commissioner
printed in this week's Minneapolis Observer:
MET COUNCIL PLAN MEANS TROUBLE FOR CITY
You may want to look at the draft Development Framework that is being circulated by the Met Council as a guide to the region's development through the year 2030 ("It's Just My Opinion, But," 11/24). The new, highly ideological Met Council members insisted on rewriting the Regional Blueprint that was approved by the previous council because that version had a strong emphasis on transit and Smart Growth. The current council is not only totally discounting further development of rail transit and assuming a major shift in housing and employment growth to their favored suburban locations, but the Framework assumes that only 800 units of affordable housing will be developed each year. And those will be supported by the Met Council through largely unidentified "market forces." I would encourage readers to not only read the Framework, but look at the tables at the end on projected growth in households and employment. These growth projections are not based on any objective modeling, but are mostly negotiated between council staff and individual cities and townships. You will find a vision of the region's future that would likely mean a deteriorating urban core, more pollution and traffic congestion, further sprawl across 19 counties, and a further shift in political power to Republican-oriented suburbs.
Michael Krause
Executive Director
The Green Institute
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