Terrell Brown makes the assumption that the mayor and city council is against development as a result of this vote. The vote was not against development, it was against this particular proposal that was well out of sync and inappropriate to the area. They recognized that by their vote.
One only needs to look at all the development happening on Lake Street, Hiawatha, Franklin, Downtown, Northeast, Uptown and other neighborhood across the city to see how much development is going on under the watch of Mayor Rybak and the current city council. It's an amazing Renaissance! Most of us who opposed this project are not against development itself, but sorely see the need to plan appropriately to support any development, particularly and especially in Uptown, due to the unique characteristic and needs of this area. This project would have changed the essential character of Uptown without any planning and in direct violation of the existing zoning. If there is good reason to allow such significant variances from zoning in Uptown, it is time to step back and do that in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner. Not piecemeal. It should be done with a vision that is communal and lead by our city leaders, not by a single developer. Now is a good time to reassess a city vision for Uptown, so that both developers and community know what that vision is and it certainly should be a vision that expands the tax base and improves out neighborhoods at the same time and that the infrastructure that is needed to support these developments is both possible and integral to any plan. Harvey Zuckman East Calhoun resident East Isles business owner PS: And no matter what happens, the ward the encompasses Uptown will have a new city council member come January, as the incumbent is not running. We now have 5 candidates vying for the position. It seems to me that his being the only vote on the committee to support the project only demonstrates how out of touch he is with his constituency and his colleagues on the city council on this matter. Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 14:50:29 -0500 From: "Terrell Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Council committee turns down Lagoon Project To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=response Two lines in the Strib story that caught my attention: " The council members and Mayor R.T. Rybak took pains to praise Ackerberg's work in the city and his vision, but they sent him away defeated and uncertain of his next step with the site he controls." and " Rybak, who is seeking reelection, also recently came out against the proposal." Minneapolis may have the distinction of being the only city in the country with a mayor who is against development. Here we have a proposal that required no city subsidy and increase the tax base of the city. Then the Mayor, who likes to cry about how poor the city is and how it can't afford things like police services, coming out against more revenue coming into the city's coffers. What's wrong with this picture? It wasn't all that long ago that members of the Council would defer to the member in whose ward a project is located (yes, they all like to stick their fingers into the 7th ward), and yes the Councilmember from the 10th was a supporter of the projects. Looks like it's time to find some folks who might engage their brains to occupy some offices at City Hall. Terrell Brown Loring 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
