This issue came up in Seattle, where I read that they are also going to do some rezoning making it possible to replace houses with small multi-family dwellings. I'm sure it will be controversial in the same way there.
There is a book, a mapping project, and a museum exhibit all linked in the first couple paragraphs of TFA. I encourage you to look at them as a jumping-off point into the 40 or 50 years of accumulated historical scholarship on the subject.
An amazing and radical new direction for housing. Maybe now people will find room to build tiny homes and cottages because they don't feel a need to wallow in excess from (disappearing) box stores.
As a native of Minneapolis, I support the gist of this policy.
But I also have knowledge of the zoning history of the city, and the narrative in this story seems incredibly wrong. Minneapolis actually had "Manhattan" zoning in many areas up until the late 1980s. There had been very little new development in the prior 20 years, so the code became completely unrealistic. Local community groups pushed for zoning reform to preserve the as-built environment and communities.
Now those well-meaning progressive 1980s folks are being portrayed as "segregationists", despite the fact of who they actually were. They were trying to save their neighborhoods, but I guess every hero becomes a villain.
And, without even getting into it, Minneapolis was built up when the state was 97.5% white people. You could maybe find a class angle to this, but come on.
For most of the 20th century, parts of Minneapolis and surrounding areas had racially restrictive deed covenants which prevented the sale or rental of property to people of color. So, those neighborhoods they were trying to save may have a legacy of structural racism.
17 comments
[ 14.2 ms ] story [ 210 ms ] threadI don't follow this, what are you saying?
> abolish parking minimums for all new construction, and allow high-density buildings along transit corridors
"Minimum parking requirements on their way out in SF" http://www.sfexaminer.com/minimum-parking-requirements-way-s...
"The basic plan: upzoning near transit and jobs" https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/7/18125644/s...
Minneapolis is a farming transit hub that expanded organically. I don’t understand the underlying claims of racism here.
But I also have knowledge of the zoning history of the city, and the narrative in this story seems incredibly wrong. Minneapolis actually had "Manhattan" zoning in many areas up until the late 1980s. There had been very little new development in the prior 20 years, so the code became completely unrealistic. Local community groups pushed for zoning reform to preserve the as-built environment and communities.
Now those well-meaning progressive 1980s folks are being portrayed as "segregationists", despite the fact of who they actually were. They were trying to save their neighborhoods, but I guess every hero becomes a villain.
And, without even getting into it, Minneapolis was built up when the state was 97.5% white people. You could maybe find a class angle to this, but come on.
Examples and interactive map here: https://www.mappingprejudice.org/
http://www.bostonfairhousing.org/timeline/1948-Shelley-v-Kra...