15. October, 2003 - what a tuesday
- After almost three hours meeting with folks who are part of the group opposing historic designation (among other things) yesterday evening, I came home and watched the remnants of the Marlins-Cubs game. The Cubbies were up, and all seemed to be going well until the Marlins capitalized in The Inning. Sheesh. Oh well, at least the chances of the world ending because the Cubs and Red Sox met in the World Series are diminished. Then again, the way life has been going lately, the pocky-clips is sounding like it might be a pretty good thing.
- One of the things that became painfully clear at the meeting last night was that most of the students (greeks) involved in the Coalition for Non-Profit Student Housing have no idea of how our neighborhood association works or what it does.
- One example is the NSP Relicensing relicensing process. I’ve been involved in that process since (at least) sometime in late 2000. I’ve written multiple letters to FERC, gone to dozens of meetings, and spent hundreds of hours on the process. The only power the neighborhood association really has in the process is due to me (and Ted) having a consistent message and repeating it again and again for over three years. A single letter may have had some effect, but without years of follow-up, it would have been for naught when negotiations between Xcel and the Park Board broke down.
- Similarly, the Bicycle Path 5-year Planning process at the city began in April 2001. I’ve been involved for most of that time (though less lately) with the city planners, trying to get some sane bike-paths around our area. Sometime next summer, the reconstruction of 5th St SE will be done, and will still include the bike lane that’s always been there, even though it doesn’t meet all the city guidelines, and so was maybe going to be removed. The missing link in the bike paths along East River Road will be completed, too. While these are things other folks have been pushing too, I like to think that my showing up at all those meetings helped push matters in the right direction. These are just two examples of things I’ve been involved in personally. Multiply that by a couple dozen active members and we actually get some good things done, but none of them happen as the result of a simple vote, which is an important point the Coalition seems to be missing.
- MSA criticizes council historic vote, weighing in on the side of the Greeks. I think it’s amazing how up-in-arms people are over this historic designation. We’ve already got a number of houses in the neighborhood that have been designated historic, and their owners usually are happy to have been chosen. Yes, it means an extra step when you want to do exterior renovations, but it also means that someone’s watching out for the houses, and they won’t get butchered by a developer with no sense of the history of the neighborhood (or just doesn’t give a rat’s ass).
- The University Student Legal Service and Housing and Residential Life Agencies to ask U to delist landlords who receive more than three citations from the city. That means that Jim Eischens and Joe Welp will no longer be listed at the housing office as soon as these changes go into effect. It’s a real shame that it took a house-fire where people died to get these changes made.
- Steph has some comments on other Neighborhood developments, this time in the housing market. Personally, I hope the condo-market in my neighborhood gets overbuilt. Maybe it’ll mean I’ll be able to find a place I can afford that I’ll actually want to live in.
Copyright 2008, Dave Polaschek.
Last updated on Wed, 15 Oct 2003 08:45:30.