Longfellow Community Council, 6/19 meeting
POST-LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM NEIGHBORS4NRP: Board Treasurer Marcea Mariani reported that at a June 19 meeting of the Committee of the Whole at the City Council, council members talked exclusively of the Framework for the Future. Mariani indicated that there was no mention of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) as it exists today. The city council meeting follows a defeat of the bills Senator Patricia Torres Ray and Representative Karen Clark introduced to the Minnesota House and Senate, which, in part, supported the continuation of the tax increment funding (TIF) districts in Minneapolis as a means of paying for the NRP.
The neighborhoods represented by Neighbors4NRP object to the Framework for the Future in large part because it would shift control of funding and project priorities from the neighborhoods to the city.
Mariani asked Ward 6 Council Member Robert Lilligren when neighborhood organizations could expect to find out what funding they might receive going forward. According to Mariani, Lilligren was unable to give a firm timeline.
MURAL PROJECT FUNDING APPROVED: The board approved allocating $505 to cover some administrative costs associated with the Longfellow Mural Project. The project will involve neighborhood youth in creating three murals in areas of Longfellow that have been plagued with graffiti. The Longfellow program is based on a similar effort in Corcoran that was considered very successful.
BOARD APPROVES MOVING NRP FUNDS: The board approved moving $14,000 from Phase 1 Neighborhood Safety 1.6, Community Lighting to Neighborhood Safety 1.5, Home Security. The request will be backdated to July 2007 to cover invoices that LCC paid during 2007.
This move will correct an administrative error. The board undertook it at NRP’s recommendation.
NEXT: Board meeting, July 17, 2008
MEETINGS: 3rd Thursday monthly, 6:30 p.m., check www.longfellow.org or call 612-722-4529 for meeting location
CONTACT: 722-4529, www.longfellow.org
BORDERS: Mississippi River to Hiawatha Ave., Minnehaha Park to 27th St. railroad tracks
last revised: June 20, 2008