In the latest Pulse “Sign Latest in Lake St. Tiff,” Brian Kaller appropriately begins his article with the disclaimer, “Any article tells only a piece of the story.”
The rest of the story includes the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, which adopted a land use plan in 2002 that calls for mixed use, higher density, transit-oriented-development along Lake Street. The Planning Commission and the City Council approved the plan in 2002. CNO is leading the way in embracing our city’s future of more livable communities.

The applications by Mr. Sabri that were denied by the neighborhood organization, the Planning Commission and the City Council, called for reopening an abandoned gas station. The city has never denied applications for housing on Mr. Sabri’s property.

In two instances, Pulse follows the Star Tribune’s previous inaccurate reporting on Cedar/Lake development.

In the first, Pulse fails to clarify that public dollars proposed for a new development at Cedar and Lake would create affordable housing. Housing advocates fought for decades to make sure housing dollars ensure long-term affordability. Referring to these dollars as “corporate welfare” undermines the city’s moral responsibility to house working people.

In the second instance, Pulse says developers only had 25 days to respond to the request for proposal issued by the city for Cedar/Lake. To the contrary, the proposal for redevelopment at Cedar and Lake followed a five-month process that included twice-monthly meetings with neighborhood representatives, a corridor tour for developers and a seminar for developers at the Green Institute. The city and neighborhood aggressively advertised the redevelopment opportunities at Cedar and Lake.

In fact, Mr. Sabri was the only developer to send a staff person to all of the meetings. Contrary to being excluded, Mr. Sabri had the inside scoop on the language of the RFP before any other developers, and chose not to submit a proposal.

The stretch of Lake Street from Cedar to Hiawatha has the highest rate of prostitution arrests in the city. We cannot arrest our way out of this problem. Reinvestment in our city is the only way to heal neighborhoods from the drugs and crime that has flourished for decades.

The Corcoran Neighborhood Organization has endorsed a proposal from Lupe Development that calls for below ground parking, neighborhood retail, and housing that meets the city’s affordable housing goals. This is the best kind of development: revitalization without gentrification. Lupe should be thanked, not vilified.

Gary Schiff
Ward 9 City Council Member,
Minneapolis