The Jordan Neighborhood's new board got right down to business in its first "normal" meeting for a few months, with no power struggles, no ejections of disruptive individuals, no fist fights, etc. It wasn't a very exciting meeting, and I said so during public comment. A member of the board replied something like...
...they were glad to have disappointed me.
So here are the details on that homebuyer incentive program. First of all, it should be noted this program has been in the works for a while. Chair Kip Browne said something to the effect he'd advocated for a program like this, previously, but the program could never get approval from the previous executive board. Under the new board--with all members of the "Old Majority" absent in an apparent de facto boycott of the meeting--the "Jordan Advantage" program sailed through on a unanimous vote. It was a watershed moment in the history of Jordan.
So here's what's in the program: It will provide FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS in down payment, entry and closing costs for individuals who purchase vacant, boarded or foreclosed properties in the Jordan neighborhood FOR USE AS A HOME. Fifty thousand dollars has been set aside for this purpose. The program will be administered through Neighborhood Housing Services of Minneapolis. The program will follow the same guidelines as the Minneapolis Advantage Program, except for the income guidelines. There will be no restriction on income to access these funds. The funds can be used with or without accessing the Minneapolis Advantage Program.
In other motions, the "exterior improvements program" was expanded to include all three of Jordan's redevelopment "cluster projects," that being Cottage Park, (right near the JACC office) the 27th and Penn cluster and the James and 25th cluster. Again, this will be administered through NHS.
Also, the Housing Committee has now been renamed. It will now be the "Housing and Development Committee" to be more reflective of the work this committee is doing and will continue to do.
The committee also approved a letter of support for business owner Daryl Weivoda, who is trying to get a variance or other waiver of Sewer Access Charges.
In a minor, tangential note, this business owner's name is pronounced like Why-voe-dah. Back in the late 1980s, when I went to college in Moorhead, Minnesota, there were constant television and radio commercials featuring the "Weivoda Carpet Girl" with a distinctive, high-pitched, energetic voice. My roommate, A.J. Anderson The Third, was romantically obsessed with the "Weivoda Carpet Girl" and received a lot of razzing from me and my other roommate, Norm.
How can you forget a name like that? And whatever happened to the "Weivoda Carpet Girl?" Anyway...
The Jordan Neighborhood is moving ahead, and the new "Jordan Advantage" program is big news. It may take a few weeks or months for the program to be up and running, based on what I've observed with "Hawthorne Advantage," but this step represents major progress by the "New Majority."
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