My friend has an autistic child, and to reach his full potential that child needs a safe place to play outside, experiencing natture in all the seasons and all those usual thing kids need to experience to mature. And because this is an autistic child who may wander off and find harm, his yard needs to be fenced in all around. Being a growing child, that fence needs to be 6 feet tall, perhaps requiring a variance.
So my neighbor in good faith went before our neighborhood's housing committee, armed with an armful of documentation from professionals attesting to this autistic child's need for a 6 foot tall fence around his yard/play area. And true to form our neighborhood housing committee said Nooo. Given this housing committees well earned reputation for trying to turn the 'hood into a Kenwood by zero tolerance enforcement of the zoning codes, I was not surprised.
However, in this case this housing committee had risen far above their usual high standards of arrogance, and in clear and direct violation of federal law. The federal law in question is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and it federally preempts the zoning and building codes of every municipality in the country, Minneapolis included. This neighborhood housing committee from hell's draconian directive also violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act and our own Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance which contain the same protections as the ADA.
Now in anger I'm tempted to proclaim "Let the Lawsuits Begin!" But would it not be better to reform our NRP and Neighborhood Organizations to prevent future debacles of this magnitude? Which brings me to more thinking, a dangerous but necessary thing... A bit ago I injured my good leg at work, and the long term prognosis is that I'd better not commit to climbing steps in the future. Now I have a 117 year old multistory house with narrow doors and a tiny bathroom, and a 5 year old single level garage that structurally meets all of national code and 99% of Minneapolis code for a house. Given that it is much more feasible to remodel the garage into a handicap accessible home than the house, is Minneapolis not in violation of the ADA with it's overly restrictive codes for preventing me from making my home accessible? And are we not thusly vulnerable to multi million dollar class action suits for enforcing arbitrary and capricious codes?
And that's just the first multi million dollar class action suit... Those same Minneapolis codes drive up the cost of affordable housing by requiring, again, unnecessary features be added to housing that puts that housing out of reach of virtually every class protected by human rights laws. Then consider that some of our council members wish to make those codes even more restrictive, barring all but the relatively wealth from Minneapolis home ownership. Methinks the makings of the mother of all class action suits against out city lay in those onerous codes and there overzealous enforcement by near self appointed busybody neighborhood housing committee dictators.
I suggest our city return to the proud traditions of civil rights as promoted and enacted by Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey and our Democratic Farmer-Laborite Council Members and overrule this overstepping neighborhood housing committee.
Hangin' on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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