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HRA RESOLUTION NO. 856
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MESSAGE FROM THE RICHFIELD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY TO THE RICHFIELD CITY COUNCIL
JUNE 17,2002
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSING AND
REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY IN AND FOR THE CITY OF RICHFIELD that
Richfield is a great community because of its citizens and its sense of
community. It is also a great community because we have had the vision and the
will to move forward in the face of challenges what would have crippled other
communities our size.
We are small, we are landlocked, we are near a noisy airport and we face
the problems of a community that is aging both in its population and its
infrastructure.
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Yet in every neighborhood and in every business area of our City, you see
signs not of decay but of growth and vitality. The willingness of our citizens to
reinvest in their homes is not an accident. It is because they believe that
Richfield is heading upwards, not decaying. This perception and this reality are
due in no small part to redevelopment efforts aimed at removing substandard
homes and promoting programs for housing redevelopment.
In our business areas, we also see investment and growth that will bring
jobs and taxes, but more importantly, long-term stability to our community. That
will benefit every citizen of Richfield.
This vision of growth and reinvestment in ourselves was conceived in the
1970s and has been nurtured by every HRA and City Council since. But it is a
vision that is no less important today than it was 30 years ago. The one thing
that has changed is that our City-wide vision has been attacked by a well
financed few who have created much confusion and called for a halt to future
redevelopment efforts.
Tax increment financing is not the issue in reviewing the City's goals.
That financing approach is one of the limited means which Richfield and any
other city has to promote and nurture development and redevelopment of homes
and businesses in our community. This issue is: Do we, as a community,
continue to follow the vision of actively promoting improvements in our homes
and businesses or do we abandon that effort and trust our future solely to the
private market and the hope that Richfield now has sufficient momentum to avoid
future residential and commercial deterioration?
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The members of the HRA support the ongoing commitment to actively
promoting efforts to assure the continued vitality of our homes and businesses.
We understand the need for public review and discussion of the costs and
benefits of each new project under consideration but we reject the notion that
these revitalization efforts should stop and that tools such as tax increment
financing should simply be abandoned in all cases. We call upon the City
Council to join us in this commitment.
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Adopted by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority in and for the City
of Richfield, Minnesota this 17th day of June, 2~ L-
Thomas E. Harms, Chair
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