However, the area’s large Hmong, Somali, and African American communities worry that the spike in rent rates along the CCLRT could force many families to relocate. History warrants their suspicion: The Corridor’s African American Rondo neighborhood was devastated when I-94 literally divided the community. One example to the damage transportation projects around the country wreak every year on resident minorities who lack access to the planning process.
When again faced with a City Council rezoning plan that focused solely on transit-oriented development while ignoring health and equity implications, PolicyLink teamed up with TakeAction Minnesota and ISAIAH to begin the Healthy Corridor for All Health Impact Assessment (HIA). The HIA built relationships between technical advisors and the Corridor’s many ethnic groups while encouraging community leadership in science-based policy proposals for equitable land-use decisions.
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