13 reasons Minneapolis needs to move beyond Intentional Communities

In the videos below, City Council Members Lisa Bender and Jacob Frey make some compelling arguments for why we should ease occupancy restrictions for all people living in Minneapolis, and for why we shouldn’t limit housing opportunities to a select few who live in strictly defined “intentional communities.”

[For a detailed discussion of problems with the intentional communities ordinance, read my earlier post]

Thread of short clips for why this ordinance is terrible. First, the rule against against “transients” (my favorite euphemism for renter) pic.twitter.com/2vTM55IVtb

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

The requirement that ID match your home address which I can only guess is meant to target students for exclusion. pic.twitter.com/Dm6vfwjH9Z

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

The requirement that your household is a democracy with a constitution of some kind. That’s dumb. pic.twitter.com/Ww5kD8h0wX

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

Sharing costs for food and other expenses. pic.twitter.com/azosXciKcU

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

Here’s a good argument: why are we getting into people’s private business to dictate who can legally live with who. pic.twitter.com/K0fsfsD8UL

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

The racial implications of requiring people to comply with these rules and all the notarized paperwork. pic.twitter.com/gORUL38mNQ

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

We should acknowledge the racist history of zoning. pic.twitter.com/YBUEuPZkxh

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

Good neighbors can live in all kinds of different housing types. pic.twitter.com/WH7HLIamJ4

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

There are already regulations related to nuisance properties. Enforce those. pic.twitter.com/VXBV3ik9p9

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

We shouldn’t force people to “notarize their situation” because 4 unrelated people want to live together. That’s obvious. pic.twitter.com/UJEQ2JKert

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

Big old beautiful homes. Stop making assumptions about which kinds of people get to live in them. pic.twitter.com/pZTFCWsXwy

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

The city can’t enforce rules about these incredibly personal parts of people’s lives. pic.twitter.com/6VPJjWIog3

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016

Most important thing that’s wrong with this ordinance: it’s forcing Jacob Frey into showing how bad he is at coming up with fake names. pic.twitter.com/6gRgdgXSq1

— Wedge LIVE! (@WedgeLIVE) December 8, 2016