Jordan has the largest population of any neighborhood with no park building and no staff. Jordan also has one of the largest concentrations of youth of any neighborhood in the city. Jordan is one of the most underserved neighborhoods in the park system, and the city needs to correct this.
As for Jordan, NRP, and tot lots... When NRP was set up, NRP guidelines stipulated that at least 52% of NRP expenditures be directed toward housing. One of the most repeated criticisms of NRP has been that NRP housing expenditures has fallen significantly short of that figure. Most neighborhood groups have ignored NRP housing expenditure guidelines. Jordan suffered terribly from blighted housing, with people living in appalling conditions and with boarded houses dotting the landscape. Jordan residents were desperate to find a way to pull out of this rundown housing tailspin, and saw NRP as perhaps their last and best chance to do something. Jordan residents decided to throw 95% of their NRP dollars into housing. They took down the boarded houses, and put loan and grant money into repairing the housing stock that was salvageable. Jordan was one of the few neighborhoods whose housing expenditures exceeded NRP guidelines. And by throwing 95% of its NRP money into housing, Jordan helped make NRP's overall housing expenditure record look a little better for all those neighborhoods that chose to ignore NRP housing expenditure guidelines and spend their money instead on, say, park facilities. Perhaps if Linden Hills had been suffering the same crisis in rundown housing that Jordan did, Linden Hills residents too would have made getting roofs over people's heads and running water in the sinks a higher priority than new tot lot equipment and milfoil harvesters. Given its population size and concentration of youth, Jordan is woefully underserved by the park system. It is not an adequate response to say that Jordan should have spent its NRP dollars more wisely on tot lot equipment. Jordan complied with NRP housing expenditure requirements, when most Minneapolis neighborhoods did not. The correct response is to say that Jordan residents have the same right to basic park amenities as everybody else in Minneapolis, and the city will make it a top priority to provide the park facilities that Jordan residents deserve. Jay Clark Cooper P.S. Here is my pet idea on how NRP could maintain compliance with the 52% housing guidelines while still giving neighborhoods complete flexibility over how to use its NRP dollars Every neighborhood gets xxx NRP dollars. 52% of those dollars are allocated to housing, and 48% are unallocated. Let's say the neighborhood of Foofyton Meadows has average housing values of $400,000, The residents decide that housing rehab is not their top priority. Instead, they want to use their NRP dollars to build a merry-go-round and a gazebo in Double Latte Park. Foofyton Meadows can trade its housing-allocated dollars at a discount, say 3 to 2 or 2 to 1, to Jordan for some of Jordan's unallocated dollars. This way, Foofyton Meadows can spend its NRP dollars any way it wants, Jordan gets more money to put into stabilizing its housing stock, and NRP overall housing expendures actually inch above 52% ------------------------------------------------------- Replying to these comments: how do you explain to one of the kids in Jordan that they've got to wait until next year for the basics in playground equipment, because some kid in one of the "nice" neighborhoods needs to have internet access while sitting by the lake? Many neighborhoods paid for the tot lot upgrades using their NRP funds. All the Longfellow neighborhoods did. At Whittier Park, the PB paid for the tot lot but we put $2M into the gymnasium addition and other building upgrades. Linden Hills NRP also did a Tot Lot at the local park, added a new playground at an elementary school; added new fill, grass, backstops and benches along the baselines on two ball fields,; put over $100K into renovating our community library; and, worked with another neighborhood to put a community computer lab in SW High School. We also worked and put money into opening public school gyms for community use in the evening and on weekends, And, we donated a new milfoil harvester to MPRB to help keep the lakes clean. 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
