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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Government, Developers, and Non-Profits Attempt to Make a Power Play on West Broadway
9:01 PM | 
Posted by
The I.I. |
This blog thread posted by the Irving Inquisition uses some explicit language, as well as depicting some aspects of life in North Minneapolis that some readers may find objectionable. Reader discretion is advised.
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Government, Developers, and Non-Profits Attempt to Make a Power Play on West Broadway
Take a look at this lovely document. What is it? This is the proposal by CPED to redevelop swaths of West Broadway.
At first glance this may sound nice but the reality is that it’s not. Ackerberg, Catalyst, CPED, and Hennepin County all got in bed together to build a 30,000 square foot monstrosity, with two levels, and a massive parking facility. They want to build this structure between Girard and Irving, on the north end of West Broadway.
What do they want to do with this structure? Stuff it with 200 Hennepin County employees, with the purpose of providing social services. Social services like public assistance, child services, mental health, and so on… That means that the intersection of Broadway and Irving will be swarming with the unfortunate dregs of society.
Why build here? Well, the official line from Joan Mathieu at CPED is “The Hennepin County Hub will provide adult and child social services to clients throughout north Minneapolis with much more convenient access than is currently available in the County’s downtown service center. Some space will also be available for affiliated nonprofits to enhance customer service.” In reality that means that Ackerberg Group builds the structure and makes a ton of money in the process. Catalyst—West Broadway’s non-profit empire—affiliated with the Ackerberg Group, will then own and lease out the property back to the county.
Oh yes, there’s more… Review page 9 of the document above. See that part about acquiring 11 parcels of land? There are multitudes of century old homes and apartment buildings there. These would have to be demolished to satisfy the requirements of the proposed facility. Demolishing dilapidated properties beyond repair is one thing. Demolishing inhabited structures that are serving their purposes is unacceptable.
So everybody makes money, meanwhile the Jordan and Old Highland neighborhoods turn into a cesspool vortex of biped vermin. Because this blogger resides a mere two blocks away from this ground zero of social services hell, I have decided to do everything I can to stop this initiative from becoming reality. The plan is to build momentum, based on public outcry, and then shoot this thing down. While the services proposed are necessary, they already exist, and they’re downtown where they belong.
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9 comments:
And a few parcels included in the plan are already owned by all the partners involved. When the machinations of interested parties seem to be in place well before input is sought from the community, I tend to oppose those plans on principle.
@ Hawthorne Hawkman,
Agreed. CPED isn't wasting any time. Albeit, I don't see how this project can bring "economic development" as part of their acronym name suggests.
I think you guys are just out of the loop. The development has been talked about for a while now. Get with it.
@ Anon 4:03,
Of course its been talked about for a while... For a while in the back room meetings between Ackerberg and the County. As for the general public, not so much.
I.I., have you seen the "century old homes" on this block? They're crummy. There's also a "Dream Home" and an ugly apartment building. The structures facing Broadway are also nasty. "Massive" parking facility? Hawkman, on his blog, seems to think that the parking might actually be insufficient. And "monstrocity?" I think the design, preliminary as it is, looks nice.
Your post strikes me as a knee-jerk reaction to something that makes you uncomfortable, namely social services. But, DUDE! You bought a house in North Minneapolis! Have you looked around you recently? You live in a very poor neighborhood. This project will be serving your neighbors, not creating a "cesspool vortex of biped vermin."
@ Anon 1:36,
Oh yes, so you're obviously an advocate of tearing properties down solely on what it likes like now. Did rehabbing ever cross your mind? Probably not. As for your opinion about the design... I don't give a shit. Good for you if you think all of this looks nice, but I'm no rubber stamp of approval.
Yes, I bought a house in North Minneapolis. I bought it over 6 1/2 years ago. Don't try to tell me how it is. Me and many others have been working to improve the quality of our surroundings. And over the past few years, I've seen dramatic improvements.
My neighborhood is not "very poor". Go to Gary, IN, or Newark, NJ, or New Orleans, LA; and check out those cities. That's where you can find the "very poor" neighborhoods. With that being said, this project will and IS scaring my neighbors.
This project will create a concentrated pocket of poverty that will insure the continuity of poverty.
Who are you anyway? Which non-profit suburbanite am I corresponding with? Or is this Megan again?
I think it makes alot of sense. The reality is that poor folks will remain poor, and more than likely their children will be poor, so why not make it easier to be poor? The poor deserve good service too!!!
Oh Ya Anon. 10:39!
Let's perpetuate poverty by concentrating it and making it easier for long term dependence.
So, are these poor people going to start buying homes around the service center so that their grandchildren will have the same convenience to services as they have?
Or maybe what we need to do is tear down all the homes and create a huge Cabrini Green establishment (we all know how well that turned out).
You sound to me like one of those poverty pimp slumlords who feed off public funds to warehouse degenerates who perpetuate ignorance to their offspring rather than providing opportunities.
It seems like when social services are in sattelite offices, there is bitching because everything isn't convenient and in one place.
When it's consolidated in one place, there's bitching because some folks have to travel so far to that one place.
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