I accidentally erased Terrel Browns email that asked (paraphrasing here): Is PPL doing anything to address desegregation in Minneapolis?
Why is no one asking that to the non-impacted neighborhoods where there currently is no affordable housing? Why is PPL supposed to address supportive family housing issues as well as fix desegregation in Minneapolis? Why is there an assumption that everyone moving into PPL is a person of color? As a shelter provider who has tried to site shelter in non-impacted neighborhoods, we come up against just as much resistance from those neighborhoods as we do in "impacted neighborhoods." Are we supposed to spend years (YEARS!) banging our heads against a wall to try to site one shelter in Linden Hills when we have community members sleeping outside? There are people in EVERY SINGLE neighborhood who would be opposed to affordable/supportive housing or shelters. I agree that poverty should NOT be concentrated in the core of the city, but what happens when every other neighborhood blocks you out as well? Allysen Hoberg Audobon Park -----Original Message----- From: Steve Cramer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 11:41 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] response from PPL Executive Director Jim Graham's bitter and abusive post to the Minneapolis Issues List last week about Project for Pride in Living, Inc. (PPL) demands a response. Thanks to the List Manager for calling Mr. Graham on his inflamed rhetoric, but more needs to be said. I am quite certain a ruling by the Federal District Court thwarting Mr. Graham's (and Ventura Village's) goal to stop the Collaborative Village Initiative (CVI) project in mid-stream pushed him over the edge. Even so, the poisonous language was remarkable even by his standards. There is no excuse for spewing such venom. The organization Graham attacked (and not for the first time) has been a vital force in the Twin Cities for more than three decades. During that time PPL has completed well over 1300 affordable housing units, both apartments and homes, located in dozens of Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods and three inner-ring suburbs. (At this moment there are neighborhood supported PPL housing projects under construction or planned in East Phillips, Jordan, Regina, Kingfield, Hawthorne, Summit University and the East-Side in St. Paul, and the City of New Hope.) We have directly employed thousands of immingrants, men and women leaving prison, and economically disadvantaged people - and trained hundreds more for employers like Abbott Northwestern Hospital and US Bank - giving these folks a chance to become contributing members of the community. Our Self-Sufficiency Program provides supports to families, typically single moms, designed to help them gain greater self-reliance and leave dependence on public assistance behind. Education programs like Jeremiah's Porch College House (in Ventura Village) and the Partnership Academy Charter School we sponsor serve inner-city kids by providing a quality learning environment and relationships with caring adults tutor/mentors. This work over 30 plus years earned PPL designation as one of ten outstanding community development corporations in America by the Fannie Mae Foundation. Over the years PPL has worked cooperatively and creatively with every kind of organization imaginable - community and neighborhood groups, businesses, civic organizations, government agencies, other non-profits, colleges and universities ... the list goes on. Then there is Ventura Village and Jim Graham. Simply put they have declared war on PPL, and its time for us to respond. Here is a different perspective for Minneapolis Issues List readers to consider when they evaluate the current state of affairs between PPL and the handful of white homeowners, including Graham, who hold an iron grip on the Ventura Village organization. The root cause of tension is PPL's commitment to build Collaborative Village at Elliot and Franklin. Thanks to the recent court rejection of a motion to enjoin the project, CVI will be built as a new 20 unit structure providing affordable family housing. 16 of the units will be rented to carefully screened families who are experiencing chronic homelessness. The other 4 will be occupied by families who have advanced from those circumstances to a position of greater stability, and will therefore act as role models to others in the building. Graham persists in characterizing the future tenants of the project as "recovering addicts". I assume he does not mean the children who will reside there instead of a shelter or a relative's couch, nor does he mean the future adult tenants whose disability has nothing to do with drugs. Mr. Graham must have a powerful crystal ball to know in advance the mix of tenants before PPL or our partner Pillsbury United Communities (PUC) have selected among applicants. PUC's role, by the way, is to work with PPL to provide comprehensive supportive services on site at CVI. (Ironically, the only way these services designed to help tenants succeed won't be delivered in this way is if the Ventura Village lawsuit ultimately prevails, as unlikely as that seems at this point.) One more fact about CVI. Funding for the project is being provided - despite the cloud of the Ventura Village suit - by the City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, Hennepin County, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Home Loan Bank, the National Equity Fund, Twin Cities United Way, and the Otto Brememr Foundation. These are not institutions which hold ill will for the inner-city. Graham's screed repeats the saw about non-profit organizations victimizing helpless neighborhood organizations like Ventura Village because of our money and power. Please. Even a casual observer of Minneapolis City Hall knows neighborhoods hold considerable sway over decision making. In fact, CVI must be an especially meritorious project to overcome the pro neighborhood group bias that often carries the day. For PPL's part, in virtually every interaction over 30 plus years it has been possible to find common ground with other interested groups - including neighborhood organizations - around our mission of helping low-income people become stronger contributors to the community. In many cases that commitment to individuals and families has extended to building up the neighborhoods where they live through commercial revitalization projects like Mercado Central or transformative housing initiatives like Portland Place, widely credited with helping lead the turnaround of property values in Phillips. But when confronted by implacable, irrational opposition and bullying tactics, I am proud to say PPL will stand tall. This is particularly true when the opponents are in no way representative of the interests of low-income families or newly arived Minnesotans absent from the "official" neighborhood process. Predictably Graham attacks Chicago Crossings at Chicago and Franklin as the cause of drug problems in Ventura Village. The assertion that a building causes the drug trade so many have combatted so vigorously in so many ways is simplistic and ignorant of the complex underlying causes of the crack phenomenon in Urban America. But unlike Mr. Graham, I am going to give credit where credit is due and say Ventura Village has worked hard to address drug trade along Franklin Avenue. Their tactics have frequently been counter productive in my view, but they have tried. So has PPL. We established the first Phillips police sub-station in Chicago Crossings. We paid for off-duty cops. We still pay for private security. We have brought public officials including judges who can make a difference to the area and urged more effective action. Our staff have put their personal safety at stake many times. We have also focused on finding productive options for those who might gravitate towards drugs as an alternative. The response over several years has been a team effort involving many groups and individuals from the area. And we have had success. The problem is not eliminated, but it is dramatically reduced. Any fair minded person would say so. There are many other points to be made - about PPL's relationship with the Somali community (25% of our tenants, a large number of employment trainees and three full-time staff are Somali, and our relations are excellent), the motives of our staff (dedication, service, compassion, selfless are terms that some to mind) ... I could go on and on, but won't. Here is the final point. Graham's recent diatribe was in response to an inquiry from a list member elsewhere in Minneapolis. His precise language was deeply offensive, but the essence of his message was he hopes PPL will leave Ventura Village. No chance. Our new Service Center and Headquarters is under renovation at 11th and Franklin. CVI will be built. We are almost done with a new single-family home to be sold to a lower-income buyer at 21st and Elliot. Our building across from Chicago Crossings will be renovated into an education and employment learning center as part of our current $10.8 million capital campaign. Most importantly our programs will continue to serve dozens of Ventural Village residents and children every year the neighborhood organization never sees because of their narrow vision of the community. 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 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
