Theater Garage Marquee Apartments - (Franklin & Lyndale)

[aeisenberg]

Many props to our own spdcheetah for the "Long time listener, first time caller" joke during his testimony.

Oh. My. God. These meetings are always so insanely serious, like any of this is life-or-death. And the protestors often so ripe for parody. It drives me nuts.

[twincitizen]

Always with the jokes. Even my gf laughed at that and she doesn't give a rip about any of this.

[mattaudio]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7LN66o ... 6n&index=1

"spaces that are small become habitats for vagrant activities including defecation and drug dealing"

[mplser]

Exactly. Like in between cars in a dark parking lot

[twincitizen]

Per MRRDC, the two heroes who voted against were Park Board rep. Meg Forney, who has now solidified her reputation as being against all development, and Ben Gisselman, Hennepin County's rep. My question for him is, was that his personal opinion towards the project, or is he actually representing the county? Lord knows Dan Cohen, his predecessor, was a pure cronyism appointment, and didn't remotely espouse the viewpoint of the county. One would imagine Hennepin County is supportive of development for all the same reasons the city is. If they had serious concerns regarding the ingress/egress onto Lyndale (County Road), that would have been expressed in the staff report.

I'm going to re-post this rant in the Planning Commission thread, and probably follow up with CM Bender and city staff about it. I really don't think it's right that the Park Board and Hennepin County's reps are up there representing their own personal viewpoints. The whole point of them being there is to represent the bodies they were appointed by. If they're not going to do that, then what's the point of having them on the Planning Commission? Perhaps these appointees should have to be confirmed by the City Council rather than direct appointments by these separate political bodies. These decisions affect the city first and foremost. Look, I'm not mad that someone voted against this particular project. That's fine. It's the reasoning behind it, and generally just how wrong it all feels. If Meg Forney wants to vote against some development, I need to hear exactly how it negatively affects the parks. Same goes for Ben Gisselman and the county and Rebecca Gagnon and the schools.

[mattaudio]

Truth. Did we ever figure out the "reason" for his appointment?

[mullen]

meg forney has run for office in so many city elections she finally broke through and got this park board seat.

guess it's moot as it passed thankfully.

[Archiapolis]

Per MRRDC, the two heroes who voted against were Park Board rep. Meg Forney, who has now solidified her reputation as being against all development, and Ben Gisselman, Hennepin County's rep. My question for him is, was that his personal opinion towards the project, or is he actually representing the county? Lord knows Dan Cohen, his predecessor, was a pure cronyism appointment, and didn't remotely espouse the viewpoint of the county. One would imagine Hennepin County is supportive of development for all the same reasons the city is. If they had serious concerns regarding the ingress/egress onto Lyndale (County Road), that would have been expressed in the staff report.

I'm going to re-post this rant in the Planning Commission thread, and probably follow up with CM Bender and city staff about it. I really don't think it's right that the Park Board and Hennepin County's reps are up there representing their own personal viewpoints. The whole point of them being there is to represent the bodies they were appointed by. If they're not going to do that, then what's the point of having them on the Planning Commission? Perhaps these appointees should have to be confirmed by the City Council rather than direct appointments by these separate political bodies. These decisions affect the city first and foremost. Look, I'm not mad that someone voted against this particular project. That's fine. It's the reasoning behind it, and generally just how wrong it all feels. If Meg Forney wants to vote against some development, I need to hear exactly how it negatively affects the parks. Same goes for Ben Gisselman and the county and Rebecca Gagnon and the schools.

Well said. Cheers.

[MNdible]

Somewhat related to this project, Don Gerberding is failing to impress City Hall.

[TommyT]

How long until they realize they are wasting their money and have lost already?

This ---> http://www.gofundme.com/d67p9c

[Silophant]

I'm guessing about a year after completion.

[grant1simons2]

10 people just raised $575 in 22 hours. That's so NIMBY

[TommyT]

10 people just raised $575 in 22 hours. That's so NIMBY

Too bad it's a waste. I am so torn because I know, like, and actually work on the same floor as Deanna... but at the same time, it's just like, why continue wasting time and money fighting a losing battle?

[aeisenberg]

How long until they realize they are wasting their money and have lost already?

This ---> http://www.gofundme.com/d67p9c

Part of me just wants to give Deanna a hug. I mean.... wow. Yes, this effort is beyond parody. I disagree with her on pretty much everything here. But it's hard to deny how genuinely difficult this seems to be for her to accept. This is hard to watch.

[EOst]

It is too bad that her condo's windows are going to be looking into a parking garage now. Not a reason to stop the development, but I feel bad for her.

[mattaudio]

I do feel bad for her. But when you buy property, you usually think about neighboring properties, viewsheds, etc. If I was going to buy a property with a sweet view of downtown, and I was across the alley from a surface parking lot, I'd probably look at zoning and think about what the possibilities are for development in a hot neighborhood.

[seanrichardryan]

There is no alley, and that's part of the trouble.

[TroyGBiv]

I live in Whittier and I want this kind development. She has a right to push back on it but we all want diversity in our neighborhoods, we want good transit, we want people on our sidewalks to help ensure safety night and day. So many people want development to stop for them, but we have to choose wether we want a stagnant city or a dynamic place to live that can support online improvements to our infrastructure and to our social environment. I am sorry that she is losing some view out her back windows but cities are populated and we all just have to be realists. I was really hoping that the SWLRT would come through whittier - I live a block from the proposed route and I think we lost a huge opportunity when the Whittier community meeting was full of people against the plan... that NIMBY mind set will bite each of us in the end. I hear those same neighbors say that we don't have quality transit in our neighborhood... yet they are now complaining about a street car on Nicollet... I find this extremely frustrating.

[EOst]

I do feel bad for her. But when you buy property, you usually think about neighboring properties, viewsheds, etc. If I was going to buy a property with a sweet view of downtown, and I was across the alley from a surface parking lot, I'd probably look at zoning and think about what the possibilities are for development in a hot neighborhood.

It's probably not realistic to expect everyone who purchases a condo to know the ins-and-outs of neighborhood zoning, zoning laws, and development demand. After all, this space spent a very, very long time as it is; I think there are a lot of people who--not entirely unreasonably--expected it to stay low-demand for a while to come.

[grant1simons2]

Well it is part of living in the city though. The chance that if you live on a busy street like Lyndale that someday there will be someone who wants to put apartments there due to demand.