OOPS I hit enter too soon. To continue from my previous post...... Every time the people in my neighborhood have raised issues about the location of a supportive housing facility and brought up the subject of concentration the conversation always seems to digress into the merits of the individual program and how horrible we are to oppose it. The merits of these programs have never been the issue for me. It is the location and the continued concentration of it that is the issue.
Everytime we attended the Planning Commission meetings the conversation digressed to a discussion about what a wonderful program this and that was and how awful we were to even consider fighting it. I have been finger shook by more nuns, county commissioners, city council members, planning commissioners, ministers and church people from the suburbs than I care to count over my advocacy on this issue. So have the other volunteers. There has been very little effort (in my opinion) on the part of the supportive housing or affordable housing advocates to work with the suburbs to change zoning codes that prevent this type of housing from ever being located in their borders. And Paul, while I appreciate your statement that Lynhurst has voted in favor of every affordable housing project in the last ten years the reality is that you have very little if any affordable housing and Lynnhurst certainly has no supportive housing facilities or homeless shelters. I have talked to many people who wish there were supportive housing facilities in Minnetonka, Wayzata and Eden Prairie. They have loved ones that require this sort of housing and the only place they can find it is in Whittier or Phillips. The connections to their relatives would be alot easier to manage if these facilities were located in each community to house people from that community who require this type of housing. I wish the industry people who spend countless hours organizing good church going people from the exterior neighborhoods and suburbs to go the Planning Commission meetings to speak passionately about how badly a particular supportive housing facility is needed in my neighborhood of Whittier and in Phillips would spend that same amount of time getting those parishoners to lobby their local politicians to change the zoning laws and open their fortresses. If we truly need more homeless shelters in this city start lobbying the church up the block from you. I am sure the county would be happy to partner with that church and provide busing to get the homeless people who can't get into the shelters in my neighborhood to those churches. It's certainly a better and more humane solution than letting them sleep under bridges on 94. Mount Olivet is a huge church with great facilities. You think they might consider it? How about St. Helenes or Incarnation? How about Nokomis Lutheran or Minnehaha Methodist? How about Edgewater Methodist or Nokomis Heights Lutheran? Any takers on the North side? Barb Lickness Whittier ===== "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead 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
