Garrison recap before tonight’s vote

11 and 15 West Garrison St., Neighborhoods, Northside 2 Minutes

(7th in a series of posts about 11 and 15 W. Garrison St.)

Tonight City Council will vote on the first reading of a proposal to re-zone 11 and 15 W. Garrison St. from residential to commercial. See videos of these houses and the neighborhood in the previous post in this series.

Garrison St.

The developer seeks rezoning of two residences on Garrison St. as part of a proposal for a 5-floor mixed use building with first-floor commercial + 70-some apartments along New St. between Garrison and North.

Quotes to think about from the previous testimony:

  • Something special is happening on Garrison St. It’s just the beginning of something beautiful.
  • The community on Garrison St. is a family community. It’s a place where we have time to sit on our front porches and see how our neighbors are doing. That is something worth preserving. That is something worth caring about.
  • Great things are happening in this neighborhood, and bringing forth more housing to overpopulate this neighborhood will change the culture completely.
  • Building a huge apartment complex on this corner will completely change what this community is about.
  • My question for this City is what matters most to them? Does the community and the people that reside here matter, or does ‘economical prosperity’ matter more?
  • You’re looking at 120ft. as opposed to regular 2-story houses.
  • [The building is] not going to fit in that neighborhood. It’s going to look out of place.
  • My house is my heart, my home.
  • I come from New York. I left New York to get away from high-rises and buildings. I left New York city to be in a calm, beautiful environment, and I love my neighbors, and I know everyone’s name.
  • We have community there. We’re not going to feel safe there. [Now] all the kids are outside playing, and we feel safe there.
  • This is commercial intrusion into residential neighborhoods. It’s plain and simple.
  • I think this is a great project. I’m not here not supporting a great project for the City. Just put the project in the district where the project belongs which is the Commercial Business district, and leave these neighbors alone, and leave their businesses alone.
  • This is about integrity. The whole thing is about integrity. It’s the integrity of our zoning code, which [the City administrator] won’t stand up to defend . . . It’s the integrity of our neighborhoods, and it’s about integrity of government.
  • You’re buying a pig in a poke. You’re going to change the zoning . . . and you don’t even know that you’re going to get this project.
  • We know that the majority of Council believes that economic development outweighs neighborhoods.
  • So the question is, whose will are you going to serve? The will of the people or a private individual.
  • My sympathy for these people who spoke, because they represent the core of the City, decent people who love the City, and enjoy living in the City. And what you can be doing here is depriving them of their way of life, uprooting them, forcing maybe some to move out of the City because they came here for that simple reason.

What are the factors to weigh in this decision?

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2 thoughts on “Garrison recap before tonight’s vote”

  2. Gentrification, Displacement, and the Law

    The Planning and Law Division of the American Planning Association is pleased to host the upcoming webcast Gentrification, Displacement, and the Law on Thursday, October 10, 2019 from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. CT. Registration for individuals is $20 for PLD members and $45 for nonmembers. Registration for two or more people at one computer is $140.

    Gentrification is one of the complex planning challenges of our times, but the legal limits on how local communities can respond to these pressures are often unclear. While there is no shortage of well-meaning ideas about how to slow the gentrification process or mitigate its impacts, some of those ideas may not be legal, and others could have significant unintended consequences. This webinar will review those laws that impose obligations to protect America’s citizens against some forms of pressure and discrimination, as well as those that prohibit certain local government actions. This review will include the Community Reinvestment Act, the Fair Housing Amendments Act, the American’s With Disabilities Act, and constitutional limits on interference with contracts or the fundamental right to buy and sell property. However, the real action on gentrification is at the local level, so panelists will also review selected municipal laws and policies. Speakers are Don Elliott, FAICP, with Clarion Associates, LLC, Bill Anderson, FAICP, with City Economics + Planning Leader, Bijal Patel, Esq., with the Office of City Attorney for Oakland, CA, and Chris Schildt with PolicyLink.

    For more information or to register visit: https://www.planning.org/divisions/planningandlaw/news.htm

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