Thomas Leighton has done a good job of illuminating the planning landscape re the location of affordable housing. This is a familiar vocabulary to many of us who have been championing the cause of housing affordable to folks at the low end of the income scale.
I confess not to have read the many recent posts about PPL's motives - this is such old news to me and I'd rather be tracking on national stuff that will have a draconian impact on all our lives. However, do bear with me in understanding that there are still considerations of propinquity to services for certain kinds of affordable housing, competing with and complimentary to housing for people in their child-rearing years. I've moved recently to Ebenezer Tower Apartments, a senior high-rise in West Phillips owned and operated by a non-profit church agency. This is a great place with a mix of market rate and Section 8 units. There are many services onsite and it's a short walk to Abbott's pharmacy and for that matter Abbott itself. There's a rest home adjacent and a nearby funeral home. MTC lines (9, 22, 5) are also handy. Ebenezer's footprint includes additional residential facilities along Park Ave. and their parent agency is also headquartered within a stone's throw. There's also a large seniors' multiunit across Park Avenue and two public housing highrises on Fifth Ave. over by the freeway. I'm still pretty mobile, so I take the MTC to Cub and/or Rainbow or walk over to Uptown via the Greenway. Less ambulatory neighbors have the opportunity to be bussed to Kowalski's on Hennepin once a week. Dairy and produce are sold onsite weekly and there's also a small convenience store staffed by resident volunteers. We can cash personal checks for modest amounts and there is a popular onsite meals program. We all grow old, folks. Baby Boomers take note! Many thousands of Baby Boomers, in fact, and everybody's got to live someplace. Ebenezer and their peers can't service the scope of this demand and market-rate housing can't carry this burden either. >From this geographer's lips to the body politic's ears: I'm talking site AND situation beyond today's demographics and parochial opinions that focus just on siting. There are demonstrable economies of scale here at Ebenezer and astute planning will have to find room for several additional Ebenezers, so to speak, as my following age cohorts have to come to grips with their emerging need for supportive environments. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003 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
