On 5/27/05 10:25 AM, "Dorie Rae Gallagher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Barbara wrote: >> 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. >> > In the eighties, the city rehabed four buildings in the Powderhorn area. > These were for low income which turned into cooperatives run by a supposedly > non-profit. The non-profit, in reality, is given grants by the city. The > buildings pay one half of the property taxes assessed and rents are on a > sliding scale with the city paying the rest. These four buildings have been a > source of contention for the neighborhood for many years. The good families > have come and gone quickly while the druggies held steadfast. > > There were several meetings a few years back pertaining to housing along > Hiawatha at 42nd and 46th. There was a clear decision that the housing should > be mixed development with low income/fair market. Knowing what has happened > along the block in Powderhorn, I believe Sandy made the right decision. I think both Barbara and Dorie have raised good points for why it's reasonable to have concerns about the Simpson Housing proposal for 42nd and Hiawatha. However, here's the problem I have with Sandy Colvin Roy's involvement (or perhaps lack of) in this. If her concerns were along the lines of what Barbara and Dorie pointed out, she could have been a lot more proactive in working with Simpson to try and address those concerns than she appears to have been. As Barbara pointed out, she has gone through the process of having bailed out low-income housing developments before. Did she share those experiences with the Simpson folks when this proposal first came to her? If not, why not? Maybe they could have come up with a way to address them if they'd known that was her concern. Instead, she let them go through six months of community meetings, wasting everyone's time, before finally deciding that the land should go through open bidding. I know from past experience in my ward/neighborhood that when somebody comes to my council member with a development proposal, he lets them know pretty early on what they can probably expect for neighborhood concerns. A good recent example was when somebody proposed a liquor store in the Quarry shopping center. Since there have been previous proposals along those lines in the past and they've been pretty strongly opposed by the neighborhood, he provided them with that history and they decided to withdraw the proposal before putting a lot of time and energy into something that wasn't going to be well-received. That saved everyone from a lot of drama that likely would have resulted in nothing happening anyway. Or, sometimes a proposal gets modified before coming to us because our council member pointed out certain aspects that probably weren't going to fly. As for the residents who claim there was no "good-faith effort" to inform them of the development, I have to say I'm a little bit skeptical of that. I've seen far too often in my neighborhood and others around here where attempts at community outreach/engagement are ignored until a decision comes out that folks don't like. Then you suddenly have all these folks coming out of the woodwork talking about how "we weren't informed of this, where did this come from, what's going on here" and so forth. I've also seen even smaller supportive housing or low-income housing projects than what was proposed at the 2-acre lot on 42nd and Hiawatha that were killed because of opposition in my or other Northeast neighborhood. It's usually coded in comments like "increased traffic" and "doesn't fit with the character of the location" and so on. But it's really about not wanting any of "those people" around. As if having a few low-income families moving into the neighborhood is suddenly going to turn us into a ghetto. Mark Snyder Windom Park 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
