Grinnell Coursework Promotes Zoning Policy Change
Christian Cardenas ’26 woke up early on a recent Monday morning and immediately checked the Minnesota Reformer website. The online publication had promised to publish Cardenas’ op-ed titled, “Land of 10,000 Lawsuits.”
At first, he couldn’t find the story. “I got scared because I didn’t see it,” Cardenas says. “I was like, well, did they change their mind or something?” As he sat at the breakfast table, he kept refreshing the website every now and then.
Suddenly, the story appeared. Cardenas jumped up and bounded around the table in celebration.
“Thankfully, no one else was there,” he adds. “Usually, you wouldn’t feel this ecstatic on a Monday.”
Cardenas’ article was his final project for The Sociology of Law, a course taught last fall by Lara Janson, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. Janson explains that the course encourages students to engage with social issues and make a difference by thinking critically and imaginatively about society and social problems.
Cardenas wrote about how residential zoning laws in Minneapolis contribute to inequality. “I’ve been very into urban sociology, urban planning — just all along those lines for a while,” Cardenas says. “[For the project,] we were supposed to look at just any sort of legal societal issue, anywhere. It was specifically supposed to be something timely, something very current.”
The full title of Cardenas’ op-ed is “Land of 10,000 Lawsuits: Legal roadblocks serve as NIMBYism’s new ally.” (NIMBY stands for “not in my backyard.”) The article explores the impacts of Minneapolis’ 2040 plan, which ended zoning restrictions that barred anything but single-family homes in most of the city. The 2040 plan allowed the construction of duplexes and triplexes, providing much-needed housing options.
However, two environmental groups filed lawsuits against the 2040 plan, citing potential environmental issues, and a judge upheld their suit. For now, the laws banning anything other than single-family homes remain in effect.
The lawsuits are misleading, Cardenas says. “Despite what many people like these so-called environmental activists say, multi-family homes are actually better for the environment in the long run.”
Cardenas says that the more than 100 units of affordable housing authorized under the 2040 plan are in jeopardy, making his op-ed very timely. “It could go either way, and we have to act now,” he says. “It’s still possible to save them.”
A Minnesota legislator is preparing to reintroduce a 2023 bill that would prevent legal loopholes such as the ones that have stalled the 2040 plan. “Once this bill gets reintroduced, I plan on writing an article tracking its progress and advocating for the reasons we should give our support to it,” Cardenas says. “It will be a good follow-up to my story.”
Cardenas is very grateful to his professor for her help on the project. “Obviously, I couldn’t have done this without her,” he says.
For her part, Janson is proud of his work and his many hours of research. “It’s a great example of how Grinnell coursework can result in community-engaged activism and thinking imaginatively about how to promote policy change,” she says.