Kingfield Neighborhood Association Board Meeting, June 12, 7 PM, MLK Park
*****
Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Council, June 13, 6:30 PM, MLK Park
Crime Prevention and Safety Committee: May 21,6:30 Social & Meet KFNA's new project organizer, 7 PM, Neighborhood Clean-up, meet at MLK Park
Youth & Schools Committee, no meetings planned at this time.
Green Committee, Solarize Kingfield happening now contact info@kingfield.org for more information!
Redevelopment Committee, May 22, 7 PM, MLK Park
Please consider donating to support your totally local non-profit and the work we do to address community issues and implement community solutions.
Apr
19
Summer Soccer Camp for Little Kids
Filed Under Minneapolis Park and Rec, mlk park, nrp, youth | Leave a Comment
Celebrate the 10th Year of Fundamental soccer at MLK Park–started in 2002 with NRP funding from the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, this program has introduced 100′s of neighborhood children to the sport!
ML King Park
4055 Nicollet Ave S 55409
612-370-4908
$20.00 (resdient)
$30.00 (non-resident)
What: Fundamental Soccer Program
Who: Boys and Girls 4 -12 years
When: Saturdays, June 18th – August 20th
10:00 –11:15am
Where: King Park – Diamond #1 (42nd Ave)
Register online at: www.minneapolisparks.org and follow the link to ActiveNet Program Registration (under the “Quick Links” column)
Mar
15
KFNA Board Recommends NRP Phase I Plan Modification
Filed Under board, nrp, redevelopment | Leave a Comment
Recommended Modification presented to the community for vote at the:
KFNA Annual Meeting
April 18, 7 PM
MLK Park, 4055 Nicollet Avenue South
The KFNA Board of Directors has discussed and approved the following Plan Modification to the NRP Phase I Plan. The committee asks that the community approve this Plan Modifications, as is required by NRP Policy.
NRP Plan Phase I Modification:
Move all Phase I dollars remaining (approximately $145,000) for “redevelopment projects” on Strategies 2.3.1.3 and 2.1.2.2 to Phase II Housing Staff Strategy 1.4.11. At this time it is deemed prudent to move all Phase I NRP dollars into active Phase II contracts. The intent of moving these dollars to this strategy is to contract them on the Non-personnel line so they can be accessed easily for future, not-yet-identified, redevelopment projects.
Questions? Please contact:
Sarah Linnes-Robinson,
Executive Director
Kingfield Neighborhood Association
sarah@kingfield.org / 612.823.5980
Mar
11
Legislation to Un-Freeze NRP Funds Being Drafted Now
Filed Under community engagement, nrp | 2 Comments
There is a proposed legislative action to restore Minneapolis neighborhood’s full NRP funding. Bills are being proposed in the State House and Senate but, representatives and senators will want to know if neighborhood residents really support the action requested. If you are interested in learning the actual language of this legislation and potentially supporting this action, please contact your representatives and senators. Contact information is attached. MN Legislature Minneapolis Delegation House & Senate 2011. Committees will be reviewing the bill as soon as Monday 3/14/11.
The City’s seizure of already allocated NRP funds does not fix the problem of the city’s budget problems, nor is it fair to property owners. This action disproportionately penalizes neighborhoods most in need of their NRP funds, while providing the greatest tax relief in neighborhoods with the highest incomes. See the maps that show this here.
– Sarah Linnes-Robinson, Executive Director,
Kingfield Neighborhood Association
info@kingfield.org
Feb
8
Neighborhoods Skeptical of City Council Working Group on Neighborhood Funding
Filed Under board, City Council, nrp | Leave a Comment
The working group, which met in private Friday, is developing a framework for how the city will make decisions about the uncertain future of neighborhood organizations.
Ward 6 councilman Robert Lilligren said his resolution to create a working group on neighborhood funding adds transparency to City Council decision-making. But neighborhood advocates, unable to attend the group’s non-public meetings, said they’re apprehensive about the working group following the council’s December decision to cut neighborhood funds without much neighborhood input.
“I’m not sure whether this working group will see itself as an advocate for neighborhoods or not,” said Chris Sur, president of the Kingfield Neighborhood Association.
Neighborhoods said they weren’t consulted when the City Council voted in December to cut neighborhood funding to pay down property taxes. For two decades, the program, which is closing at the end of the year, has approved and funded projects such as playgrounds, street renovations or home-improvements. Because of that decision, Kingfield stands to lose $185,100 in Phase II Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) money this year. Read the rest.
Dec
14
Minneapolis passes tax hike
Filed Under City Council, nrp | Leave a Comment
The City Council approved the budget on a 10-3 vote to end a marathon session after midnight Tuesday. It boosts the city’s property tax collection by 4.7 percent but wallops many taxpayers by greater amounts.
By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune
They admonished, they pleaded, they chided for four hours, but dozens of property taxpayers who testified at Minneapolis City Hall Monday night still got a 2011 city budget that imposes much higher property taxes and trims services.
The budget also means 32 fewer firefighters, 24 fewer cops, less money for affordable housing, and restricts the budgets of city neighborhoods.
Read the rest here.
Dec
13
Lawmakers say “No” to Neighborhood cuts proposed by Mayor, City Council
Filed Under City Council, nrp | Leave a Comment
Emergency meeting draws 65 including 9 lawmakers, 2 City Council members
65 people including neighborhood leaders, 9 state lawmakers, and 2 City Council members from Minneapolis turned out to a meeting at Corcoran Park on Sunday, Dec. 12, despite a weekend snowstorm that buried cars, crippled transit, and collapsed the Metrodome.
The meeting was called to discuss a recent proposal by Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City Council to re-purpose Neighborhood Revitalization funds as “tax relief,” a move that would require approval by the Legislature. The City Council plans to vote on the proposal on Monday, Dec. 13 at a 6:05 p.m. public hearing at City Hall, less than one week after the proposal was first made known to the public by an article in the Star Tribune.
Senator Ken Kelash, Chair of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) Policy Board, explained that while past mayors and city councils have tried to take control of Neighborhood funding, “this is the first time we’ve been ambushed, and that’s what this is–it’s an ambush.” Representative Joe Mullery called the City’s proposal “improper and illegal,” adding, “it’s amazing they took an action like this without working with us at all.” Representative Karen Clark said she was “appalled” by the City’s proposal, and by its “disproportionate impact on low-income communities and people of color.” Sen. Scott Dibble, Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, Sen. Linda Higgens, Rep. Jeff Hayden, Rep. Phyllis Kahn, and incoming Representative-Elect Marion Greene were also on hand, as were Council Members Elizabeth Glidden and Cam Gordon. (Find video of the lawmakers’ comments further below.)
When asked if they would consider carrying the proposal in the 2011 Legislative session, none of state lawmakers said they would be willing to carry the City’s current proposal. Council Member Gordon published an opinion piece in the Twin Cities Daily Planet explaining his opposition.
“There are clear winners and losers” in the City’s proposal to re-purpose Neighborhood funds as “tax relief,” explained Maren McDonnell, president of the Harrison Neighborhood Association. “Neighborhoods with the most poor, people of color, and foreclosures lose, and the affluent neighborhoods win. North Minneapolis is going to lose over $3 million, but the average Northside household will save $14. That’s not enough for cab fair.” The cuts in Harrison, explained McDonnell, include “first homebuying programs, rehab programs, and money for foreclosures.” Residents from struggling Southside neighborhoods shared how their neighborhood would lose, too. Find University of Minnesota data and maps showing the impact of the cuts.
In its recent deliberations on the future of neighborhood funding, City leaders asserted that “the capacity to organize at the neighborhood level is a basic city service for which the City will provide funding of approximately $3,000,000 per year to neighborhood organizations.” But critics view the latest City proposal as evidence of the intention to transfer dollars and capacity to the City’s new Neighborhood and Community Relations Department. “The Mayor and the City Council clearly and finally publicly have expressed their desire to eliminate NRP and transfer its resources to the City,” wrote NRP Director Bob Miller in a Dec. 9 letter to neighborhood leaders. Sen. Kelash noted that the new City department has 12 staff, an overlap of administration representing “a huge amount of inefficiency.”
At the Dec. 12 meeting, Miller explained that the Neighborhood cuts “would have no impact on (lowering) 2011 property taxes.” Rep. Clark clarified, saying, “it would have a delayed impact on property taxes but an immediate impact on neighborhoods.”
JoAnne Kelty from the Hawthorne neighborhood explained how Neighborhood funds have leveraged additional resources. “We worked for ten years, fighting crime, calling 9-1-1, and working with housing developers. Neighbors were ready leave but because of NRP we were able to commit time and resources. We have made a difference. Jimmy Carter (representing Habitat for Humanity) even came out to build houses with us. And all the elected officials came out to claim credit and get their picture taken with the President. Now they are cutting the funding we need to keep the work going.”
“I think one thing our legislators made really clear today, is how important they think the work neighborhoods do across Minneapolis and that the City should be looking at all of the options for property tax relief, not just neighborhoods,” said Lyndale Neighborhood Association Executive Director Mark Hinds. At the meeting, Hinds presented a recent history of neighborhood funding that showed how neighborhood organizations have already shared in the City’s budget cuts.
“Under the Mayor’s 2009 City Budget plan,” Hinds explained, “the Mayor had recommended $8 million in funding for neighborhood programs, and this amount was reduced to $5.1 million for the 2011 budget. Under the proposal released last week,” Hinds continued, “new funding for neighborhoods would be cut to $0 for 2012 and 2013.”
The Dec. 12 meeting was organized by the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization on behalf of leaders from the Beltrami, Cedar-Isles-Dean, Central, Como, Cooper, Corcoran, Diamond Lake, Downtown East, Downtown West, Elliot Park, Ericsson, Field, Folwell, Hale, Harrison, Hiawatha, Holland, Howe, Jordan, Keewaydin, Kenny, King Field, Lind-Bohanon, Linden Hills, Longfellow, Loring Park, Lowry Hill East, Lyndale, Lynnhurst, McKinley, Minnehaha, Marcy-Holmes, Marshall Terrace, Morris Park, Near North, Northeast Park, Northrop, Page, Phillips East, Phillips Midtown, Phillips West, Powderhorn Park, Prospect Park, Regina, St. Anthony West, Seward, Shingle Creek, Standish, Stevens Square-Loring Heights, Tangletown, Waite Park, Webber-Camden, Wenonah, Whittier, Willard Hay, and Windom Park neighborhoods.
Find University of Minnesota data and maps showing the impact of the cuts.
CONTACT: Amy Arcand, Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, 612-724-7457, amy@corcoranneighborhood.org
Dec
13
CURA Crunches Numbers Regarding the Proposed Cuts to Neighborhood Funding and the Resulting Savings to Homeowners
Filed Under City Council, nrp | 1 Comment
Determined to get the information out no matter what the cost, yesterday Jeff Matson [of CURA, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the U of M, as well as a Kingfield Resident] spent all day typing on his laptop with one hand, while shoveling with the other. Jeff was last seen buried under a snowdrift, with only his hand poking out the top, clutching the laptop. A muffled voice said “don’t worry about me, just get the spreadsheets out to everyone!” Jeff Matson’s last words were “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my neighborhood”.
Kingfield Neighborhood is poised to lose about $380,000 and property taxes across the neighborhood will be offset by $155,000-$190,000 or between $45 and $65 per single family household.
To see all the maps on one page, click here:
http://www.mcno.umn.edu/InformationandResourcesAboutProposedChangestoNRP.html
To see spreadsheets with the information behind the maps, click here:
http://www.mcno.umn.edu/documents/Allocationsbyneighborhood.pdf
http://www.mcno.umn.edu/documents/PropertyTaxSFresidentialtable.pdf
http://www.mcno.umn.edu/documents/PropertyTaxAllresidentialtable.pdf