I was quoted recently in the Twin Cities Daily Planet in an article about the “new normal” for neighborhood funding and vitality in Minneapolis and St. Paul. With municipal budget shortfalls, my neighborhood and others are facing cutbacks in funding and are struggling to find new sources of revenue to fit our mission.

My takeaway message is that, regardless of what happens to our neighborhood association and its revenue stream, my neighborhood – Standish-Ericsson – is well positioned in the world. We have relatively inexpensive homes with tremendous opportunity to remodel, add on, or even tear down and build new, as well as a range of other housing options, like rental and senior. Within our boundaries, we have our own lake and golf course (Hiawatha), parks, good elementary school, two light rail stations, attractive retail corners with local businesses, and all of it in a pleasant, walkable scale. We are near (by bike, car, bus or train) to downtown, the airport, Uptown, and Highland in St. Paul. Whatever the new normal, we have a very sustainable neighborhood and are better off for it.