,
30 tweets,
4 min read
Read on Twitter
after the embarrassing showing from my neighborhood’s NIMBYs at the last city council meeting, i am sitting in a small church about to bear witness to a neighborhood association meeting
i’m participating. the association president said there’s still an open survey about the scooters, but i happen to know the results of that survey were presented as item 7 at the june 17 city council meeting.
update: i hate it here
everyone is excited to learn about the mycville app that allows you to report your neighbors to the city for various minor infractions (it’s more than that, but this crowd is super hype about becoming digital permit patties)
at least one woman spoke up to advocate for talking to your neighbors instead of reporting them. lotta hostility in the room. people are really on favor of brutal rule enforcement.
one of these ladies is furious that the house across the street from me has a fence that is falling down in some places. in what way does this affect her at all? what happened to these people’s brains?
the lady who advocating talking to neighbors instead of narcing just suggested an event where neighbors help each other with maintenance projects. hell yeah let’s do some mutual aid, comrade.
now getting around to talking about the rachel’s haven project, a proposed 15 unit project by a local church intended to provide housing for adults with developmental disabilities. the neighborhood association showed up on force to oppose it at the last council meeting.
folks at the neighborhood association are concerned about the public perception of their opposition to the zoning change that would make the project possible.
one woman thinks the city could arrange for a third party mediator for a meeting between the neighborhood association and the church to discuss the project.
oh the meeting would also involve the city manager. the board president said she’s actually already requested this. another person says they can’t do this because it would set a precedent.
these people have as little knowledge of zoning as i do, but they’ve done some googling and like to pretend they sound wise when they say things like “we could do a modified R3!”
“we actually all agree - we all want the project,” says the board president, saying the problem is just the neighborhood commercial corridor zoning designation.
recall from that council meeting that this is the only existing zoning designation that would work for the project as proposed & the proffers made would prohibit them from actually engaging in any commercial activity.
the church can’t apply for funding for the project without an approved zoning change. neighbors are worried what happens if the zoning change is made but the project falls through.
the church has assured the city that the land will remain church property no matter what.
one man says councilors heather hill and kathy galvin shared concern with him that planning commission chair lisa green missed a planning commission meeting where this project was discussed.
aha, several members of the neighborhood association believe the city secretly wants to rezone whole swaths of the city to neighborhood commercial corridor with some kind of dark ulterior motive.
uh oh one person says he actually thinks NCC zoning is a good and necessary thing & he wants to see greater density. i think these old ladies are gonna attack him.
yeah the guy saying R1 zoning can and should be abolished is getting shouted down by the association president. he’s not wrong but i’m not surprised.
the woman who wants a mediated meeting with the church & the neighborhood association is formally moving that the association lobby council for “a facilitated public meeting,” but her motion isn’t going over well.
there is so much fear about being labeled NIMBYs, like they feel like it’s a slur and one that definitely doesn’t apply to them 🤷♀️
the lady who made the motion literally said “we are being victimized” by the process of rezoning a piece of land.
someone asks if the city can legally do the thing this motion is asking (halt the process of approving this project), and he’s told by the president “it doesn’t matter, we’re gonna ask!”
look, i’m no parliamentarian, but there is a goddamn motion on the floor and we’ve gotten LOST
she’s been asked repeatedly what kinds of possible outcomes she envisions for this meeting she keeps asking for and it sounds like she just wants to talk about her feelings until everyone capitulates and the project gets canceled.
another member says she has plans to meet with councilor kathy galvin in her home to discuss the project.
the motion to request a facilitated meeting with the BCNA, NDS, and the church is technically still on the floor, but there will be no vote - the association president says, as president, she’s killing the motion.
absolutely nothing concrete was discussed or accomplished but at least it’s over.
this is an accurate summary of 75% of meetings.
this is an accurate summary of 75% of meetings.
