2014-04-15_HRA_Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Page 8 1 Member Etten suggested further enhancing efforts to impact the neighborhood, such as using 2 the BR & E to find qualified workers and connect them with businesses, specifically through 3 targeted job training and using language and cultural liaisons to address some of that poverty 4 situation, ultimately improving the quality of housing and jobs to make connections. 5 6 Member Lee noted that, based on the BR & E survey, the businesses in that area were older 7 and few and far between, with many of them located on the Little Canada or Maplewood sides. 8 Member Lee questioned how best to get those businesses interested in reinvesting or 9 redeveloping their properties. Member Lee opined that she considered it more than an obvious 10 housing issue. 11 12 Chair Maschka agreed with the comments of Member Lee, and while recognizing that housing 13 was part of it, he liked the idea expressed by Member Etten, and suggested more consideration 14 was needed to bring training and other things into the picture. Chair Maschka opined that it 15 was a significant issue, but how to deal with it and fund it was another issue entirely. 16 17 At the request of Chair Maschka, Ms. Kelsey advised that there were some active federal 18 programs available for multi-family areas, but that all were income restricted. Ms. Kelsey 19 advised that she would not recommend that the HRA’s pursuit of that funding, since there was 20 already a higher level of low-income residents in this area. Ms. Kelsey advised that the federal 21 government still targeted economic diversity in integrating affordable housing, but had yet to 22 do anything to desegregate how they provide that funding. 23 24 Having built a new home in this neighborhood, Member Masche opined that the proximity to 25 Rice Street had a tremendous influence for this neighborhood; and while former Community 26 Development Director Trudgeon had initiated discussions about the Rice Street corridor, there 27 was little willingness to tackle the issues due to too many municipalities along that corridor. 28 Member Masche opined that, whether a business was stable or not, they were unable to 29 reinvest much money. Member Masche noted similar issues along the Larpenteur Avenue 30 corridor connecting with Rice Street. 31 32 Member Lee concurred, noting that many of the shopping center along that corridor were aged 33 and boarded up. 34 35 After further discussion, HRA members were of the consensus that this provided a great 36 opportunity to get a multi-community consortium together for those communities to work 37 together on solutions for this corridor. 38 39 Member Majerus opined that a bigger problem needed to be addressed in providing 40 stabilization moving forward, and suggested that it may serve as a catalyst to get the BR & E 41 started for that whole area. Member Majerus opined that, while pockets of improvement were 42 occurring, they may not be real evident, but could serve as a starting point for discussions with 43 the Cities of St. Paul and Maplewood to determine their level of interest. 44 45 Member Lee noted the huge hole left by the closing of the Linder’s business. 46 47 Chair Maschka suggested further consideration be given to this issue by the HRA, and while 48 no action was taken at this point or direction given to staff, he thanked staff for their research 49 and for pointing these economic and demographic characteristics out. 50 51 d.Living Smarter Fair Survey Information 52 As detailed in the staff report dated April 15, 2014, and related attachments, Ms. Kelsey briefly 53 reviewed survey information provided by vendors, sponsors and those attending this latest 54 Fair. 55