Timothy Smith
Rehoboth Beach, DE

Important decision on development Thursday

An Oct. 28 meeting of the Minneapolis Zoning Committee will send a signal about the city’s enforcement of height restrictions for buildings near the shoreline of city lakes and other protected waters. It will give people an idea of how strict or compromising or lenient the city will be in negotiating with real estate developers.

The Zoning Committee will consider an appeal from residents concerned about the height of a proposed condominium project on the east side of Lake Calhoun. Developer Financial Freedom wants to remove a four-story 28-unit apartment building, the “The Edgewater,” about 40 feet tall, built in 1923 and sinking into the ground. The developer wants to build a new six-story 28-unit condominium complex, 82 feet high at that location (1805 West Lake Street and 3008 Knox Avenue South). The East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO), in whose neighborhood the site is located, disagrees with a height of 82 feet. The city planning staff recommended allowing a new four-story 28-unit condo complex, limited to a height of 56 feet. The city staff arrived at its conclusion given the city’s shoreline height ordinance and Shoreland Overlay District (restricting buildings to 35 feet within 1,000 feet of the lake’s high water mark), and other considerations (the site’s old or underlying zoning, preserving the character and scale of the site, the city’s comprehensive plan, etc.). In September, the city Planning Commission supported the developer’s preference for an 82-foot-high project, rejecting the city staff recommendation of 56 feet. On Oct. 6, the Park Board passed a resolution rejecting the action taken by the Planning Commission, reiterating the Park Board’s longstanding opposition to high-rise development around the city’s lakes, park lands and rivers, and strongly urging the City Council to uphold its Shoreland Overlay District Ordinances.

The appeal of the residents lists what they believe are possible detrimental effects if the condos are built to a height of 82 feet. Some mentioned in the appeal are reduced natural lighting, personal safety issues, shadows affecting other properties, snow and ice not melting as quickly, impeded lake views, traffic and parking congestion, changes in wind patterns, air pollution, etc. Some arguments on behalf of the 82-foot high proposed condos are that developers have a right to develop their property, the designs are attractive, green features will be incorporated into the project, the new condos will be an improvement over what is there now, and disagreement over effects.

If you want to express your views on how firm or flexible the city should be in exercising its power to restrict development adjacent to city lakes, or want further information, contact your city council member before Oct. 28.

Linda Schutz
Minneapolis

VOTE FOR YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS ON NOVEMBER 2ND

Guns, gays and God, with all the discussion that these topics get today one would think that the American people were pretty well situated when it comes to jobs, retirement, health care and other important matters. Why are these so called “wedge issues” getting so much attention when so many other seemingly important matters remain unresolved?

Lets put things in perspective. The Second Amendment does not guarantee anyone the right to own a gun per se. It does allow gun ownership for the purpose of participating in an organized militia. That said, no one is proposing that people give up their firearms. The issue is regulating the access to handguns and military assault weapons and their use in committing a crime. The vast majority of law enforcement professionals are in favor of such regulation.

That marriage between men and women has been on the decline for the past thirty years has nothing to do with homosexuality. Outlawing gay marriage will not lead homosexuals to seek sex heterosexual partners, they will simply continue to cohabitate outside of a legally recognized status. Mandatory jail time for adultery would do more to support traditional marriage but that seems a bit too drastic. I’ve never met God but due to certain life experiences I am quite certain of his existence. At the same time I can’t bother him with mundane issues like having a job, paying doctor bills or meeting my mortgage. The separation of church and state has served us well for over two hundred years. Anyone favoring a change in that practice should take a good hard look at the Iranian theocracy or the disruptive influence of religious political parties in Israel.

The Real Issues

JOBS: Thirty-two states have fewer jobs and forty-six have higher unemployment than at the start of the recession in 2001. Average income in expanding industries is $8,532.00 lower than where jobs are declining. Average family incomes have declined by $1,511.00 in 2004 while median household income has fallen for three straight years. Eighty percent of the new jobs are classified as low paying. This is the first administration since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss in employment and that is not a myth.

TAX EQUITY AND GOVERNMENT SPENDING: The tax burden has shifted from wealth to work. Wages and salaries are taxed at twice the rate of capital gains and dividends. The bulk of the tax breaks have gone to the top two percent of taxpayers resulting in the greatest tax disparity since the 1920s. Next year the average tax savings to those in the bottom tax bracket will be $91.00, for the middle bracket: $863.00, and for the top one percent: $59,292.00. Government spending is twice as high as it was during LBJ’s Great Society and one and a half times higher than during the Clinton years. According to the General Accounting Office taxes would have to be doubled or government programs cut by fifty percent to get back to a zero deficit.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Alan Greenspan had suggested that the budget surplus of the 1990s be used to secure the Social Security Program but instead it has been squandered. Eighty percent of those over the age of forty favor some type of governmental guarantee of old age retirement. The Administration’s plan to privatize a portion of Social Security could result in a windfall of billions in fees to Wall Street and a reduction of benefits to retirees.

HEALTH CARE: The reform of Medicare is 150 billion dollars over the projected cost with the cost to the recipient having risen seventeen percent this year alone. Americans pay more for health care yet receive less than do the citizens of any other advanced nation. Employers are shifting a greater percentage of health care costs to employees or eliminating coverage altogether. Seventy percent of the uninsured now have full time jobs. Prescription drugs are higher by sixty six percent compared to Canada and double the price paid in Europe. The Administration’s Medicare reform expressly prohibits the government from negotiating lower purchase prices.

IRAQ: That the rush to war was characterized by a lack of logic; faulty intelligence; a questionable list of “imminent threats; an unsubstantiated link to Al Qadea; a lack of a strategy of managing the peace or exiting the region; and the alienation of important allies and world opinion is now an established fact. Claims of victory or being on the road to that end are self-delusion and political spin. The war has turned out to be a costly distraction from what should have been a well thought out program of insuring domestic security while fashioning an effective strategy for eradicating terrorist cells throughout the Muslim world. Too much time, money and manpower has been tied up in Iraq. The net result has been a further radicalization of the Muslim world and an increase in recruitment into Al Qadea and like-minded organizations. In all honesty, in it’s strategic planning; Al Qadea doesn’t care which party controls the White House.

Think About Your Vote

On the morning of November 2nd leave the television and the radios turned off and think about where the country is heading and what kind of society you want to live in. Ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago and to what extent you have let “wedge issues” and fear mongering get in the way of voting for what is ultimately in your own best interest.

Steven J. Gulitti
New York City