Plan Meets Skepticism with Older Crowd in SW Minneapolis

I made my way to Southwest High in Linden Hills yesterday for a "Palmisano Presents" community forum on the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan (👈 leave your feedback!). This is a lightly edited tweet transcript from last night's live coverage. Don't miss the Hitchcockian "Palmisano Presents" opening credits video.

Ward 13 Council Member Linea Palmisano begins by saying she has received "numerous calls, emails, and handwritten letters."

Palmisano more than once referring to Heather Worthington, who is the City's director of Long Range Planning, as the "owner" of this comprehensive plan. Palmisano says, "I don't endorse this draft in its current form. This is not my work. I have a lot of concerns." Palmisano says the plan has the "right goals."

Minneapolis 2040: Tree Edition

Minneapolis residents may be wondering who is digging holes in their neighborhoods and dropping little trees in them. It's the Forestry Division of the Minneapolis Park Board.

This Week: Minneapolis 2040 Open Houses

I've been to quite a few neighborhood association meetings recently. I can tell you a lot of them will be functioning as city-funded advocacy organizations defending exclusionary zoning. They're mobilizing against the draft comprehensive plan right now.

That's why it's important for you to make your voice heard at one of these upcoming comprehensive plan open houses. Slap a few post-it notes up on a board. Jabber at a city planner. Write a long-winded note. Together we can defeat single-family zoning. And keep commenting on the minneapolis2040.com website.

Lisa Goodman, Leader of the Opposition

Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman is rallying opposition to the Minneapolis 2040 draft comprehensive plan (you can comment here!). Goodman wants to defend single-family neighborhoods from fourplexes. She wants to protect drivers from bike lanes. As the most prominent and outspoken critic of the plan, here's a collection of her recent comments on the topic.

Lisa Goodman: Arbitrary and Capricious

Here's an interesting thing I noticed. Last week, Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman rejected the idea of a variance for the reduction of a front yard setback for a proposed four-story building. It's not a remarkable argument. She's just a stickler on variances, and won't grant them just because someone wants to "build a bigger building."

Live Coverage: All Along the Witch's Tower

This is my third neighborhood meeting in as many days (read the Tuesday and Wednesday editions). Nothing this impressive has been attempted since Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov became the first men to successfully die in space back in 1971.

Below is a lightly edited tweet transcript from an almost three hour meeting of the Prospect Park Association (the local neighborhood organization). The object of concern is a proposed 17-story building, which many fear will obscure the beloved Witch's Hat Tower.

Live Coverage: Concern at 36th and Bryant

Here's a lightly edited tweet transcript from last night's meeting of the East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association. Residents were presented with plans for a 41-unit apartment building adjacent to the famous pit at 36th and Bryant.

Live Coverage: Lowry Hill, the Comprehensive Plan, and Affordable Housing

Here's a lightly edited tweet transcript from last night's meeting of the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association. Towards the end of the meeting the organization voted to send a letter of support for a 41-unit building at 1930 Hennepin Ave with a combination of supportive housing for young people leaving foster care, and affordable rental apartments.