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A quick post this morning to relay the news that the city council appointed Paul Ament as the interim alder to serve until next spring's election. The vote was 4-1. Alder Kugle voted for Jeff Wiswell, Sr.
It was far quieter than I expected. No one appeared on the appointment although several of Jeff's supporters were in attendance. Larry Miller attended as did Paul Ament.
The council also had a first reading of the Strategic Housing Plan prepared by MSA working with the CDA and the Family Attraction Committee. The plan is on the city's web site: Strategic Housing Plan and contains a lot of interesting data. One thing that surprised me is that about 8.5% of the single-family homes in Monona are rental properties which is not a relatively high percentage. Cottage Grove has a whopping 14.6% such properties. It was also related that some 25% of Monona residents have lived in the city for 40 years - amazing. People just don't want to leave once they get here (in Monona that is, not the Internets).
Another insight suggested last night was that Monona is attractive to people looking to live with a smaller 'footprint' while enjoying life with all our amenities. Are we suburban? Urban/suburban? Uber suburban? I kid slightly, but Monona is not really a classic suburb with sprawling space for humongous faux mansions, but we aren't really urban either. I think we are never going to attract the folks who want the five-bedroom, three-bath, three-car garage, but we can attract people looking for that mix of quiet suburban life with immediate urban access, like people incorporating sustainability into their way of living.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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Congratulations on your city working on a housing plan. Going through it, I find very little attention to the issue of housing affordability. I know there are poor people who live in Monona. Is there any real discussion as to how to better provide housing opportunities for poor residents? I see mention of a desire for more diverse housing in Monona. Was Inclusionary Zoning discussed as a tool to achieve this?
ReplyDeleteThe report is focused on attracting new residents and esp. new families to Monona. Many, if not most of these folks will be young - and likely more moderate income. Monona has an aging hosung stock, so another focus is keeping that in good shape.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the number in front of me, but Monona already has one of the highest proportions of low-income people in Dane County.
More to the point, Monona has few new housing developments. We have added some moderate-priced condos on Monona Drive and some higher-end condos on Lake Monona. But the bggest residential development was senior housing at Frostwoods Commons that has an income mix. We will likely have another senior hosuing proposal for Garden Circle that will also have an income mix.
Was inclusionary zoning discussed? As just noted, we just don't have a lot of new residential growth, being landlocked. My more smart-alecky answer is that proposing IZ would be a good way to become an ex-alder! It has the taint of Madison and worse, PD on it! Shudder.
World population growth is the real sustainability crisis. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, stop breathing.
ReplyDeleteThe last post was supposed to go under the sustainability post, anonymous apologies.
ReplyDelete"If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, stop breathing."
ReplyDeleteComment: Anony, your remeedy seems extreme; suggest you try it and report back.
Oh - inclusionary zoning. SIGH. Ask anyone who has had to put IZ into action in the real world how successful it has been. And then you will have your answer. It makes about as much sense for Monona as a water park would.......................
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