Every once in a while you read something in the paper, and you can just see it coming. I wonder how much the bill to the taxpayers is going to be this time. Will this be another Broadway/Simpson or Allied Drive scenario where we dump millions of dollars into an area to displace the people who live there and create another low income neighborhood somewhere else and then get told we need to spend millions more? And how many more times are we going to do this before we get it right?
Lines in the article that sound like they are going to cost us are:
Ald. Tim Bruer, 14th District, who represents the area, also vowed a comprehensive housing strategy involving improvements to rental units, more homeownership and new senior housing.
The housing strategy “has to happen in the next 90 days, ” Bruer said, adding that the plan will dovetail with other moves, such as the city ‘s redevelopment of the nearby, worn Villager Mall on South Park Street.
and
The city is beginning drug abatement actions on those buildings, which can lead to city takeover of those properties, he said.
and
What ‘s also needed, he said, is more police presence on the streets, a reduction of old housing stock and a new approach by social-service agencies that support continuous dependency.
The city ‘s most successful efforts to attack crime in neighborhoods have always involved residents and responsible landlords working closely with police, Wray said. But a reduction in density has helped in the Allied Drive and Lake Point Drive areas, he said.
The city can use a redevelopment approach similar to the one that has revitalized the Lake Point Drive area, but on a smaller scale, Bruer said.
Here we go again, get out the checkbook. And, did you ever notice, we shove density downtown, complain about how many drinkers are concentrated in that area and how many police resources it takes and then simultaneously reduce density in other areas of the City as a solution to policing problems. What are we doing? Can’t we start learning from our mistakes?
