Would you agree that wherewe live makes a big difference in the quality of our lives? Or what would youthink if I said that some people live in neighborhoods that provide them withall sorts of advantages; while others live in neighborhoods that impose on themnumerous disadvantages?

I would argue that place hasa very powerful effect on people's lives.

Where you live matters.

It matters when you'retalking about housing stock or the quality of the local schools. It matters ifyou're talking about the environmental issues of a place or the amenities andservices that exist within its boundaries. It matters when you talk aboutcrime, when you talk about safety, when you talk about health.

In areas (only to name afew) like jobs and income, health, access to goods and services, crime andtransportation, place matters.

And while it might be truethat for some the choices of where to live are more wide open then they onceused to be, I would argue that for many others the constraints of place are asstrong today as they were decades ago.

The reality is that we donot have a strong history of creating equity in the creation of our places,specifically within the context of our central cities. From how Highway 94 tore throughhistorically strong African American neighborhoods like the Rondo neighborhoodin St. Paul, to the disproportionate concentration of public housing sited innorth Minneapolis.

We have over the pastcentury created different places and spaces in our cities for different people.

Places for the wealthy andplaces for the poor.

Places for the majority andplaces for the minority.

Places for the powerful andplaces for the weak.

What it would take to createplaces of equity in our city?

What would it take to make itso that the quality of housing, education or health in our neighborhoods didn'tchange so dramatically by zip code or address?

Don't we all deserve strong,safe, stable neighborhoods?

Or do only some of us?