Mr. Cooper,
I would like to thank you for your thorough response to my concerns about
the snow removal at 3424 Columbus. I do feel the need to respond to some of
your points however,
> 1. The MCDA brought two development proposals out to the neighborhood for
> review. One proposal was by Powderhorn Residents Group (PRG) for a
> single-family house to be sold to an owner-occupant; the other was from a
> family that would be the owner-occupant of a new house. The PRG proposal
> required considerable subsidy; the family's proposal required no public
> subsidy.
Mr. Cooper, our block had many concerns in how the MCDA handled the above
transaction which I detailed very thoroughly in a letter to Keith Ford and
this list. Bottom line the neighborhood wishes were totally ignored by
everyone at the city level throughout this entire process. The issue of
subsidy was a complex one. What appeared to happen is that your
organization changed the rules on how you were to deal with the non-profits,
which included PRG. We perceive your organization as breaching an original
contract you had with the non-profit consortium because something better
came along. So with our tax dollars we are forced to support an
organization and a process that does not respect nor is responsive to what
the block has to say.
Both proposals were forwarded to the MCDA Board of Commissioners.
> The Commissioners selected the proposal which required no subsidy.
The Board of Commissioners of course is the city council so we felt the
process left us with no recourse. The system is a flawed system that appears
to be totally self serving and not responsive to the "Community" in
Minneapolis Community Development Association.
That
> development is now under contract and should be under construction soon.
I assume they must have closed on the property. Mr. Hall two weeks ago
stated that the closing had not happened.
As
> for the concern about affordable housing, the family (of five) is indeed
at
> or below 50% of median.
>
> 2. The MCDA owns 1,032 lots around the city. It is our policy to get out
> to each of them within 48 hours of a snowfall. Admittedly, this is not
> always possible, but we do try to get it all cleared within two days.
It is nice to know what your goals are for the removal of snow. Let it be
known that it took three months and only after a phonecall for you to remove
the snow. Again, I will restate the question, Why do we have to make the
phone call?
While
> we do not keep property by property records on snow removal, I was able to
> verify that this is the first complaint that we have received on this
> property since the MCDA acquired it in 1995.
I would like to say that we have not have had snow fall like we have in the
past several years. We only called because it had gotten so bad!
>
> 3. In her message, Ms. Forbes writes of a truck with a six-foot plow on
the
> front getting stuck on the sidewalk, being towed away, and leaving the
> sidewalk unshoveled. I have spoken with the MCDA's plow drivers and found
> that they did indeed get stuck in the REAR of the property where they were
> plowing a space for a tow truck to remove an inoperable vehicle that was
> parked on the lot. (Incidentally, the tow truck got stuck in the alley,
> too.) By Tuesday morning, when I went to look at the lot, the sidewalk
was
> cleared down to the cement.
Thank you for the clarification. I think it was a fair assumption to think
that the truck was out to plow the sidewalk seeing as I had just called
about the sidewalk. I had also called about the car that has been parked
there for the past six months. So again you are not taking care of the
property that you currently own and are depending on the people who pay your
salary to inform you when attention needs to be paid to your property. The
same people who care about what happens on their block and the same people
whose needs and desires you ignored.
In conclusion, I have heard many complaints about how the MCDA runs its
organization. But not until I had to experience the total lack of
consideration of our block's needs and the process that we felt totally
excluded by, did I really have an entire appreciation of how dysfunctional
you department actually is. If it was not obvious, I am totally irate with
the MCDA and the fact I have to contribute to this organization through my
tax dollars.
Again, as I did in the fall, I would like to thank the list for listening to
my frustrations with city government. My hope is that the candidates for
mayor would discuss their views on the MCDA and possible ways to make the
organization more accountable to the comunity's needs.
Karen Forbes
Central Neighborhood-where there is one more shoveled sidewalk
>
>
>
>
>
>
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