Prospect Park will likely see more development, and neighborhood leaders need community input to enhance the coming changes.
The Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association and the planning group Prospect Park 2020 are holding open meetings next year to discuss their goals for the community with residents.
With the new light-rail line opening soon, the University District neighborhood should keep our community members’ interests in mind as development comes.
We urge University of Minnesota students, faculty and staff living in Prospect Park to add their voices to the discussion.
A University Ambulatory Care Center development created some controversy last month with Prospect Park residents. Some residents feared the University would attempt to buy them out. However, PPERIA master planning chair Tamara Johnson told the Minnesota Daily that the larger issue was the uncertainty.
Though Prospect Park will likely see non-University development with the Green Line, the controversy surrounding the ambulatory center highlights the usefulness of open neighborhood discussion about development.
Prospect Park’s future should be of University community interest because of its distinct student and long-term resident communities — as well as its proximity to campus housing.
Residents should look for PPERIA and Prospect Park 2020 meetings next year.
