The Redevelopment Project

On January 5 the Roosevelt Development Group (RDG) and their PR firm hosted another planning/disclosure meeting for the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association and several concerned citizens from adjacent Ravenna.

This is the second meeting I've been to and I plan to attend as many future meeting as possible. Here is my take on the process.

Hugh Sisley has acquired approximately 4.84 acres of property over the years. From appearances, he has chosen not to ever do any extensive repairs on his buildings, and for the most part they have deteriorated to "land value only" status.

Most of the properties are along NE 65^th Street between 12^th Ave NE and 16^th Ave NE, or on 15^th Ave NE between NE 63^rd St and NE 68^th St. As his owned properties' condition deteriorated neighboring properties suffered in value, to the point that the only buyer for them would be Mr. Sisley.

Now, it seems that this man would like to hold the neighborhood he's ruined hostage for another 99 years, by leasing these locations to a development company whose desire is to build apartment buildings. We've been told that the lease agreement includes the provision that if the city does not grant zoning changes sufficient enough to increase height and density in a way that will satisfy Sisley, he has the right to terminate the current agreement. In other words, he's telling the neighborhood that he doesn't care what happens to Roosevelt-Ravenna. He wants to extract income for the next 99 years and he could care less what happens here.

By leasing the land to RDG he has found someone interested in presenting to the public what a wonderful thing the building of hundreds of apartments would be for us and for the city.     

Some have said that anything would be better than the slum-like appearance the Sisley properties now present. And while I agree that anything would be better, why should the neighborhood accept just anything. The RNA has spent years developing a recommendation for the city to consider when up-zoning this area because of the transportation hub currently on the table. It is a well considered plan studied by many residents of the Roosevelt area over a long period of time, in hopes of developing the neighborhood in a way that keeps it's character but allows for increased density.

The RDG's stated plan is push the city for the highest, densest zoning possible in hopes that Sisley approves the end result. They are spending a ton of money to get to that point. Their byline is how much they care about building beautiful buildings in the neighborhood. If they don't get the zoning Sisley requires, they will lose their considerable investment.

Although there is nothing we can do about the owner's right to market his property in the way he's choosing, he should be held accountable for the blight he's perpetrated. One dilapidated building was recently torn down because it was in such bad condition. I think that he should be required to remove the entire block of buildings known as the "fruit stand" block, with the exception of the fruit stand itself. And the same should happen to any other unoccupied, unusable buildings this man owns.

We don't owe him anything.