THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* Southside Neighborhood Group May Sue to Stop Highway Project
* U of M to Offer Degree in GLBT Studies
* Neighborhoods Protesting City Fees for NRP Administration
* Newest City Park Named for Former Commissioner
Plus: More condos on the river; so long, Eastgate; literacy and crime; and celebrating the hospitable linden tree
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SOUTH SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP MAY SUE TO STOP HIGHWAY PROJECT
The Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) last month voted to explore a lawsuit that would stop the controversial I-35W Access Project.
"If we don't do it, no one else will," KFNA board member Sean Wherley told Robin Repya in the Southwest Journal.
The group argues that the Access Project--which will widen Lake Street and add several new freeway ramps between 28th and 38th streets--will bring more traffic, noise, and pollution to the neighborhood. The City Council approved the concept in January and will vote on the specifics of the state-sponsored project this fall.
U OF M TO OFFER DEGREE IN GLBT STUDIES
The University of Minnesota will begin offering a minor degree in gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender studies this fall, reports Mehgan Lee in The Minnesota Daily.
The program, which will include a three-credit introductory course as well as 15 upper-division courses, will be administered through the university's Women's Studies Department. The university becomes the 12th major college in the country to offer such a program.
"I'm very pleased to see the university is one of the leading institutions as far as getting this program in place. It shows a certain level of dedication to GLBT students on campus," said Lucian Patino, co-chairman of the Queer Student Cultural Center at the university.
NEIGHBORHOODS PROTESTING CITY FEES FOR NRP ADMINISTRATION
Neighborhood groups are battling the city's planning department over what they contend are unprecedented administration fees that are cutting into their Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) funding.
Those fees--ranging from 2 to 7 percent of NRP grants--have neighborhood activists fuming and city officials on the defensive. "I understand that the city is tight for money," Debbie Nelson, a staffer for the Victory and Cleveland neighborhoods, told Gail Olson in the Northeaster. "But neighborhoods are not going to lie down and take this raiding of NRP."
Lee Sheehy, director of the Community Planning and Economic Development Department, argues that the city has been subsidizing NRP with free administration services, but can no longer afford to do so. "In the past year the staff of CPED has been reduced by 25 percent, including a number of layoffs," Sheehy said. "I understand the impact of limited resources, and I'm sympathetic to neighborhoods. The budget cuts, which have had such a significant impact, are not of my making and not of the neighborhoods' making. The amount of money available for the city's highest priorities--housing, jobs, economic development--have shrunk. We're not using fees to grow our staff. The costs of administration are absolutely appropriate."
NRP director Bob Miller said he supports CPED's desire to recover extra administrative costs, but admitted that neighborhoods are not happy about it. "The neighborhoods are seeing this as a new charge back against them when they're being strapped for dollars," he said. "We're seeing a number of cases where the contract has been rejected [by the neighborhoods] because they did not think the fee was levied appropriately."
It is simply a case of the city trying to control a program that was established to be independent, said State Rep. Joe Mullery, chair of the NRP Policy Board. "People don't understand that NRP is not a city department," he said. "[The legislation] maintains neighborhoods can do administration and implementation."
The fees, which apply to all NRP-funded activities after May 1, have pushed several neighborhood groups to consider writing their own contracts for NRP-funded services in order to avoid doing business with CPED. "I don't think CPED has the capacity to do all this work they think they should do and charge fees for," said Nelson. "For us, all they did was take a boilerplate contract and stick our name on it."
NEWEST CITY PARK NAMED FOR FORMER COMMISSIONER
The Park Board on August 20 will dedicate its newest park to former commissioner Ed Solomon.
Bounded by East 58th Street on the north, East 60th Street on the south, Cedar Avenue on the east, and 13th Avenue South on the west, the new Edward C. Solomon Park features open fields, wetlands, and hilly wooded areas, according to the Longfellow-Nokomis Messenger.
Solomon served as commissioner of the Fifth Park District from 1996 until his death in 2002.
For more, visit our Web site at www.mplsobserver.com
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