I have no dog in this fight and I have not spoken to CM Colvin Roy but in reading her response I picked up on the fact that she was raising issues about the fact that the proposed development was not a mixed use development.
My neighborhood developed several affordable housing cooperatives in the late 1980's. These cooperatives were not mixed use and because of the financing streams available for these perpetually affordable units, the rents were pre-determined and held to a certain level. The problem this created in these developments was that the rents collected did not offset the costs of the financing or the operating expenses of the buildings. These buildings have required very large infusions of cash close to every five years just to keep them afloat. It has been nearly $2 million dollars every time we have had to "bail them out" of the debt situation. What the problems caused was that units that were destroyed by "out of control" tenants could not be repaired on a timely basis meaning loss of revenue, routine maintenance items were not performed and deferred maintenance to the mechanical systems and structural issues could not be done because there was no reserve fund for deferred maintenance. The buildings were in a state of disrepair and required these large infusions of cash to deal with the problems. While the buildings maybe new for the first ten years and do not require a lot of major maintenance work, after that point there will be work required. In a building that is structured as completely affordable units the ability to raise rents to meet operating expenses is difficult and very limited. In mixed use developments where the major percentage of units are market rate, those rents can be high enough to fund the maintenance reserve accounts to keep the building in good shape into the future. They can also be adjusted to meet current needs. This is the type of development that has been going on all over the city for the past few years. Sandy has been on the council when the "bills" to stabilize the cooperatives in my neighborhood have been presented to the council on many occasions. Perhaps it is from seeing those expenses that she is raising the questions and asking the developer to rethink how they are structuring this development. 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. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
