[Mpls] Park Board and the Press
List, The real bummer about the general lack of coverage the Park issues get is this: the park system is an amenity at least as important to Minneapolitans (and the visitors to our city) as garbage pick up, roads, entertainment, and other government concerns. Our green spaces, walking paths, lakes, river, park centers and playing fields are integral to the identity of the city. The MPRB has a budget of something like 65 million dollars a year. It employs hundreds (thousands?) of people (union folk, part timers, teenagers), and is basically a REALLY GOOD thing. There are interesting, positive things that happen every day in our parks and I think, in general, those working to protect it - not just commissioners, but Park Board staff, planners, environmentalists, recreationalists, historians, and, oh yeah, USERS - provide vital stories that may even rise above human interest stuff that newspapers relegate to the 6th page of the metro or neighborhood sections. Very little ever gets covered about the park board (except by the SW Journal and Scott Russell), and when it receives some mention, it's usually over controversy. The current uproar is justified, and I wish the press (and not just the STrib and SW Journal, but the City Pages, and local TV stations) were covering even more angles and citizens' responses to the whole flap. But I wish that the park board, the parks, the entirety of the system, received more press all the time, especially covering really great things like water quality efforts, native plantings, rec center success stories, the legacy of our parks, its history and future, odd trivia or noteworthy features. Call me provincial, but I have as much, if not more, need to know what's happening in the parks as I do regarding City Hall and beyond. Because of the media's lack of concerted and sustained attention to our parks, and our public's general satisfaction of an amenity most use or look at daily, the park board and it's dealings tend to operate under the radar. And that's a shame. Tracy Nordstrom East Calhoun REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Park Board and the Press
Under the radar and unanswering... Open Time should be converted to Q A time. The Park Board should answer to direct public inquiries. Jason Stone Nokomis --- Tracy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: in part the park board and it's dealings tend to operate under the radar. __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Park Board and the Press
1. David Brauer commented that I was wrong about no reporters being at the meeting, and that Scott Russell of the Skyway News / Southwest Journal was there. My apologies. I don't know Scott Russell and am not sure I will recognize him in person even after viewing the snapshot of him on the SWJ website. My comment was based upon looking around the room several times and not seeing anyone else but myself taking notes. Despite my being a technology kind of guy, I assumed perhaps incorrectly that reporters still took written notes. I'm glad at least one reporter was there. The MPRB does not get enough press coverage, having operated as a stealth fiefdom for years. 2. Scott Vreeland asks for my take, I think, on the Paddleford Packet Boat company fiasco. It's a strange thing. Asst. Super. Don Siggelkow stated he was surprised to read the article in the newspaper, implying he had no idea that Paddleford was about to give up on the MPRB. There were staff statements to the effect that while it was unfortunate, they thought they could get other vendors in to provide a similar service, because the venue (Boom Island Park and the river) was so good. They thought the market was up for such a service. I personally think those were mostly just statements of appeasement and CYA. Surely they have been in contact with Paddleford since last August. Jim Kosmo, Paddleford VP, says they (Paddleford) need an answer sooner than MPRB was willing to give it, and didn't like the jacked-up fees. On the face, it looks like MPRB just screwed up by being too slow and too demanding, and not maintaining good enough communication. But that's suspect. Commissioner Walt Dziedzic made a long statement about how he called Star Tribune writer Joe Kimball up and chewed him out for writing a one-sided piece without consulting the MPRB. (Mind you that Kimball's beat is St. Paul, and the story was more a forgone conclusion than a he-said / she-said topic.) Dziedzic also tried and failed to reach someone in St. Paul (missed the name), and was long-winded about the fees which are charged to groups who want to use Boom Island Park versus how little they charged Paddleford. Exactly what his point was, I'm not sure. The strange thing about Dziedzic's comments is the lack of criticism of MPRB staff, and lack of defense of keeping the Paddleford there. Boom Island and the Paddleford dock was in his district. One might even say it was a crown jewel of sorts. If anybody would be pulling out all the stops to keep it there, one would think Dziedzic would be doing it. It's certainly in his nature, from what I hear. Yet his attitude seemed to be one of so-long, bye-bye. Maybe the MPRB was just going through the motions for the public's benefit, knowing all along that their real plan is to drop a marina in that location or up river. Chris Johnson Fulton REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Park Board and the Press
Wait a minute! Blaming the media's lack of concerted and sustained attention to our parks for allowing the park board and it's dealings to operate under the radar is terribly unfair! Most weeks in this city (and that other one across the river) there are government or public agency regular meetings - all open to the public - that go uncovered by the press and largely unnoticed by the public. That's because they are mostly routine, doing important and necessary business, but not especially interesting or newsworthy stuff. There are oftentimes a handful or citizens who make a point to attend certain meetings because they are particularly interested in the affairs of that agency or in a particular item on the agenda. But the truth is, that most of what goes on at Park Board (or other public agency) meetings isn't very interesting and just isn't newsworthy except to just a handful of people! There is occasional coverage by one or more media outlets if there is something happening of note but the fact is, that for most of us, most of the time, we trust the people who are involved to do the right thing, to use their best judgment. We can hardly expect the press to cover the routine, the day-to-day, the mundane workings of public bodies when the public clearly chooses to let them go about their business without paying much attention. Many of the people who are on the Issues List are active with or interested in specific policy issues but I doubt that any of us can or do pay equal attention to every issue on the public plate. I suspect that we would all like more press coverage of our favorite issues, especially if it is favorable coverage! I contend that it is unrealistic and unfair to expect the media to provide coverage of these public agency meetings unless there is something of great interest to the public that is happening - or not happening! People will read/watch/listen to coverage of events when there is something happening that needs to be reported. We seem to hate it though, when the media manufactures or goes overboard on coverage. In my experience, the press radar is permanently switched to the ON position, but most of the time the traffic is routine and there aren't any very many newsworthy blips on the screen. But when they see one . . . off they go! Much of what goes on in the Minneapolis parks is good and beneficial and people seem to be generally pretty pleased with the system. That's good, but hardly the sort of thing that merits ongoing press coverage. In fact, I think that the lack of press coverage suggests that for the most part, the Park Recreation Board is doing what it is supposed to do. Recently, we saw an exception to that and it did generate a pretty fair amount of coverage! Jim Bernstein Fulton Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tracy Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 10:35 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Park Board and the Press List, The real bummer about the general lack of coverage the Park issues get is this: the park system is an amenity at least as important to Minneapolitans (and the visitors to our city) as garbage pick up, roads, entertainment, and other government concerns. Our green spaces, walking paths, lakes, river, park centers and playing fields are integral to the identity of the city. The MPRB has a budget of something like 65 million dollars a year. It employs hundreds (thousands?) of people (union folk, part timers, teenagers), and is basically a REALLY GOOD thing. There are interesting, positive things that happen every day in our parks and I think, in general, those working to protect it - not just commissioners, but Park Board staff, planners, environmentalists, recreationalists, historians, and, oh yeah, USERS - provide vital stories that may even rise above human interest stuff that newspapers relegate to the 6th page of the metro or neighborhood sections. Very little ever gets covered about the park board (except by the SW Journal and Scott Russell), and when it receives some mention, it's usually over controversy. The current uproar is justified, and I wish the press (and not just the STrib and SW Journal, but the City Pages, and local TV stations) were covering even more angles and citizens' responses to the whole flap. But I wish that the park board, the parks, the entirety of the system, received more press all the time, especially covering really great things like water quality efforts, native plantings, rec center success stories, the legacy of our parks, its history and future, odd trivia or noteworthy features. Call me provincial, but I have as much, if not more, need to know what's happening in the parks as I do regarding City Hall and beyond. Because of the media's lack of concerted and sustained attention to our parks, and our public's general satisfaction of an amenity most use or look at daily, the park board and it's
Re: [Mpls] Park Board and the Press
On Jan 23, 2004, at 2:45 PM, Chris Johnson wrote: 1. David Brauer commented that I was wrong about no reporters being at the meeting, and that Scott Russell of the Skyway News / Southwest Journal was there. My apologies. I don't know Scott Russell and am not sure I will recognize him in person even after viewing the snapshot of him on the SWJ website. My comment was based upon looking around the room several times and not seeing anyone else but myself taking notes. Despite my being a technology kind of guy, I assumed perhaps incorrectly that reporters still took written notes. They still do. Scott - though possessed of a prodigious intellect - unfortunately cannot recount quotes from memory. So he takes notes. Including at this meeting. These scattershot observations tend to undermine the worth of the apology. David Brauer Kingfield Editor, Southwest Journal and Skyway News REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
