Believe it or not, a freeway expansion that guts neighborhoods is happening now - not in some history book about urban renewal.
The movers and shakers at Hennepin County and Smith Parker are greasing the wheels of the 35W Excess Project. In the blink of an eye, a park, 7 businesses, and 16 homes could be lost to an asphalt assault on Whittier and Phillips. Anyone who cares about environmental justice or sustainable transportation will find my resignation letter to the 35W Excess Project Advisory Committee of interest: Stop the 35W Excess Project! I am writing to inform you that I am resigning as the Whittier Alliance representative to the 35W Access PAC. My hopes that somehow this beast would be tamed, houses and businesses would be saved and that somehow I could have an effect by serving on this body have been slashed. The 35W Access Project PAC continues to be a rubber stamp for the original plan of the Phillips Partnership to provide freeway access for the largest companies in Phillips. The 35W Access Project, or Excess Project, as it is more aptly called, would widen Lake Street to eight lanes sacrificing valuable immigrant and minority businesses. Instead of connecting communities, the Excess Project rips them asunder by glutting our neighborhoods with traffic lanes and demolishing established homes and businesses. All of this destruction has been well documented and can be viewed at http://www.stride-mn.org. Another article chronicling the anti-democratic and destructive Excess Project was recently published in the Pulse of the Twin Cities: http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=808&mode=&order=0 I don't have the stomach to listen to the lies and deception spread about at 35W Access meetings. Lie #1 - the Excess Project will bring an economic benefit to Lake Street. The Truth: Freeway access encourages big box retail, and bland suburban strip malls. Lie #2 - The public supports this project. The Truth: At public meetings in November of 2002, the public roundly heaped scorn upon the Excess Project. Read more at http://www.stride-mn.org/ publicparticipation/main.htm. Lie #3: We need better freeway access. The Truth: Commercial corridors and neighborhood streets are the heart and soul of our city. We would be better off connecting neighborhoods to one another by creating easier access for pedestrians bicycles and local automobile traffic. That kind of access encourages walkable neighborhoods, viable small businesses and places with character. If the Excess Project happens, we will spend decades trying to repair the damage. I hope that Whittier can appoint a dedicated volunteer for the 35W Access PAC to voice our discontent with this debacle. This is very serious. Whittier will LOSE a park (the tot lot at 28th and 2nd) and 6 viable small business, all owned by people of color. We will gain a glut of traffic snarls, asphalt and smog. We need to act as a neighborhood now to stop this. Jeff Carlson, Whittier ===== Jeff Carlson 2430 Clinton Ave. S. D43 Mpls, MN 55404 (612) 813-0116 [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus 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
