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REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION <br />Department Approval: <br />DJW/DPW <br />DATE: 03/29/04 <br />ITEM NO: '�•P <br />���3�� ��8� �RR���al Agenda Section: <br />, CONSENT <br />Item Description: Adopt a resolution to authorize City participation in joint application <br />for a��� Technical Opportunities Program (TOP) grant for <br />community development and economic developmentprojects <br />1.0 <br />1.1 <br />2.0 <br />3.0 <br />�FF���Q�. <br />STAFF RECOMIV�NDATION: <br />Staff recommends that Council supports a Technical Opportunities Program grant <br />application of which the City is a stakeholder. <br />SUGGESTED COUNCIL ACTION: <br />By resolution, to support a Technical Opportunities Progra9n grant application of <br />which the City has involvement by virtue of its membership with the Ramsey <br />County �I� Users Group (a letter of support on behalf of tde City will be included <br />in the grant application). <br />BACKGROUND: <br />Census 2000 data on population and economic decentralizationheightened concerns over <br />metropolitan development patterns and their implicationsfor the majority of families to <br />live out the American dream. The opportunitiesfor middle and working class people in <br />urban and suburban communities in the Twin Cities region are being circumscribed by <br />the disorderly mix of housing and jobs. <br />For instance, a majority of a11 commutes in the region now begin and end in the suburbs, <br />with more workers driving alone. At the same time, while job growth is faster in the <br />suburbs, central city minorities are more likely than their suburban counterparts not to <br />have access to a vehicle to take them to those j obs. Indeed, the lack of growth in the <br />cities' middle class during the 1990s may highlight a shortage of minority families <br />moving up the income ladder. <br />The data available to neighborhoods and local and state governments to guide <br />development decisions around housing, employment and transportation i s uneven and <br />disconnected. For example, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency accounts only for <br />access to bus lines when evaluating multi-family affordable housing proj ects, which <br />concentrates housing initiatives in the central cities. At the same time, 93% of <br />transportationfunds are being invested outside of the suburban expressway ring, therefore <br />the links of opportunity are further stretched out. <br />PF3520 — RCA 032904 - Page 1 of 2 <br />