Re: Help! My historic neighborhood is in trouble!
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:07 pm
There's two competing projects because they're both going to be built with state grants. But only one grant per county every three years can be chosen, and if one is chosen it's likely that during the next three year cycle the other one will still not get chosen.
We had the neighborhood meeting and that's when the landowner and the developer said that we need to pick a spokesperson to write down and present what we want as a neighborhood. But I feel like everyone was still in shock and that the land owner and developer were preying upon that shock.
They made us feel like this is happening no matter what you better put down what you want and that's the end of that. They made it seem like there was no fighting it.
In last night's meeting I really felt like she used that meeting against us. She would say things like, "well the people of Boulevard agreed to speed bumps", " the people of Boulevard were fine that there was going to be no fire gate"
The "neighborhood rep" got up and spoke last night and I couldn't understand what he was saying because of the Acoustics in the room but I can't tell if it helped or hurt us.
So...
First project got approved with flying colors, no problems no glitches no nothing everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic about it.
The project that is going in behind us kept getting snagged.
Many of the residents got up and spoke mostly about the traffic the connecting road would create.
The lady who owns the house that will sit opposite of where the road would join our road got up to speak and was very (understandably) upset. She started yelling at the landowner, "you don't know what this is going to do to our street!" The commissioner had to redirect her comments towards the panel.
A few noire neighbors got up and spoke...
I got up, ugh I was so nervous, my voice was shaky, I was blacking out...
ugh, I am not a, public speaker..
But I got up and stood up for my neighborhood.
I introduced myself, walked over to her board that had her plans on it and I showed them where my house was and began by explaining it just felt very invasive haunt a parking lot in your back yard.
I told them that we've lived in Monroe for ten years and my dream was to live in downtown Monroe and a few months ago I got that dream so at that meeting the other night amongst neighbors I just felt like my breath was taken away.
I told him that my children stay home sometimes and having that parking lot back there behind buildings and having such close access to my home, the police on bikes won't be back there patrolling all the time, I could never be at ease knowing that someone could park right at my back door, break in my home, and be gone and no one would ever see anything..
Then I addressed the street and how my children love to play outside, how I was tossing a baseball with my son right before this meeting and how that will all get taken away if they introduce this road into our street.
I thanked them for their time and allowing me to speak and went back to my seat with every once of dignity I could scrape up.
I was so panicky up there.
So the discussion continued..
It went back and forth about the road..
They went to take a vote and one was very vocally against the rezone with his loud, "NO", so the head Honcho went back and said all right let's figure it out.. The land owner was up there begging what she could do to make this work.. it went back and forth again, took another vote, still came back no, so they went back and forth again and again and again...
2 voted no, 2 voted yes
The head honcho said he will be the tie-breaker and that he votes yes and that the repropsal with all the stipulations for the will be sent to be decided by the city on April 11.
Ugh.
I was just glad we had no votes because when I understand these things usually go very quickly and everything gets passed with ease in zoning.
It makes me feel like we have a good fighting chance..
We had the neighborhood meeting and that's when the landowner and the developer said that we need to pick a spokesperson to write down and present what we want as a neighborhood. But I feel like everyone was still in shock and that the land owner and developer were preying upon that shock.
They made us feel like this is happening no matter what you better put down what you want and that's the end of that. They made it seem like there was no fighting it.
In last night's meeting I really felt like she used that meeting against us. She would say things like, "well the people of Boulevard agreed to speed bumps", " the people of Boulevard were fine that there was going to be no fire gate"
The "neighborhood rep" got up and spoke last night and I couldn't understand what he was saying because of the Acoustics in the room but I can't tell if it helped or hurt us.
So...
First project got approved with flying colors, no problems no glitches no nothing everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic about it.
The project that is going in behind us kept getting snagged.
Many of the residents got up and spoke mostly about the traffic the connecting road would create.
The lady who owns the house that will sit opposite of where the road would join our road got up to speak and was very (understandably) upset. She started yelling at the landowner, "you don't know what this is going to do to our street!" The commissioner had to redirect her comments towards the panel.
A few noire neighbors got up and spoke...
I got up, ugh I was so nervous, my voice was shaky, I was blacking out...
ugh, I am not a, public speaker..
But I got up and stood up for my neighborhood.
I introduced myself, walked over to her board that had her plans on it and I showed them where my house was and began by explaining it just felt very invasive haunt a parking lot in your back yard.
I told them that we've lived in Monroe for ten years and my dream was to live in downtown Monroe and a few months ago I got that dream so at that meeting the other night amongst neighbors I just felt like my breath was taken away.
I told him that my children stay home sometimes and having that parking lot back there behind buildings and having such close access to my home, the police on bikes won't be back there patrolling all the time, I could never be at ease knowing that someone could park right at my back door, break in my home, and be gone and no one would ever see anything..
Then I addressed the street and how my children love to play outside, how I was tossing a baseball with my son right before this meeting and how that will all get taken away if they introduce this road into our street.
I thanked them for their time and allowing me to speak and went back to my seat with every once of dignity I could scrape up.
I was so panicky up there.
So the discussion continued..
It went back and forth about the road..
They went to take a vote and one was very vocally against the rezone with his loud, "NO", so the head Honcho went back and said all right let's figure it out.. The land owner was up there begging what she could do to make this work.. it went back and forth again, took another vote, still came back no, so they went back and forth again and again and again...
2 voted no, 2 voted yes
The head honcho said he will be the tie-breaker and that he votes yes and that the repropsal with all the stipulations for the will be sent to be decided by the city on April 11.
Ugh.
I was just glad we had no votes because when I understand these things usually go very quickly and everything gets passed with ease in zoning.
It makes me feel like we have a good fighting chance..