The most troubling aspect of Boston's employment with
the city, is that his check is drawn from contributing
corporations who volunteer to make his salary a
reality!
It is bad enough that a position is created and no
application process is opened. It is also rightfully
concerning that Boston will have oversight of
essentially the same thing he had oversight of at the
U. I am not blaming him for what happened, and I do
not know if he had any knowledge of what was going on,
and I assume that he did not. That said, it still
makes no sense that he is handpicked for this role
when there is more than a little uncertainty
surrounding his ethics.
To the main point, I do not think the city should have
the authority to hire an employee without an open
application process. I do not think that any employee
should be payed with non-public dollars, and
especially not corporate dollars - what kind of
accountability will McKinley have and will he feel
beholden to the corporations that pay his check - I
assume so!
I would love to hear from Councilmembers, or anyone
who knows, if this is a legal process and the Mayor
has the power to create positions for city employees
and have them paid by outsiders. It is just another
move that our government is making away from its
citizens, and just another position of no
accountability created.
Jon Kelland
Bryant
--- Alan Shilepsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I just saw this item on StarTribune online:
>
> "The Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board
> unanimously approved a
> $120,000, one-year contract Wednesday for former
> University of Minnesota
> administrator McKinley Boston to serve as a
> consultant coordinating
> programs."
>
> And read in the Minnesota Daily yesterday that his
> job will be to
> develop a city-wide athletic strategic plan, working
> with the University
> and the city of Minneapolis.
>
> All I can say is wow, that seems like a lot of
> money--assuming it is all
> to him and doesn't include other staff or resources.
>
>
> And what exactly does an athletic strategic plan
> look like, and how does
> it differ from the planning that currently goes on
> at the park board and
> school board. And is the lack of a athletic
> strategic plan one of the
> major problems of our fair city? Is there an
> athletic strategic plan
> GAP that I missed, that needs to be filled before
> the mayoral elections
> next year. (I remember that Kennedy rode a supposed
> Eisenhower
> Administration missile gap into the Presidency in
> 1960.)
>
> Obviously I doubt that Boston's retention by the
> city was based on a
> pressing city need. I also question whether it
> sends the right message,
> given where Boston is coming from.
>
> I know there is plenty of blame to go around in the
> UM cheating
> scandel. And hypocrisy too.
>
> (I was shocked, shocked to learn there was special
> treatment of
> athletics at the U, and especially shocked, shocked
> to learn that
> Haskins knewn more about it than he originally let
> on! And the federal
> prosecutors--wanting to make the whistle-blower a
> felon--give me a
> break. Will the cheating students then be indicted
> on felony charges
> for defrauding the US Govt by getting scholarship
> money on false
> pretenses--that's what the feds said Gangelhoff's
> (sp?) felony was
> abetting. The players benefited more than she did
> by the, ah, crime.)
> (NB--I despise academic cheating--but selective
> enforcement is unfair.)
>
> Anyway, what example does retaining Boston set,
> given that he left the U
> in the wake of the scandel. (Without reference to
> his actual role.)
> For most of us who never were or never will be
> professional athletics,
> athletics is about building values we should carry
> into the rest of our
> lives--persistence, teamwork, sportsmanship,
> integrity. Youth athletics
> should be as much about character-building as
> building physical prowess
> or skill.
>
> Boston may have gotten a raw deal in the scandal--I
> don't know, I didn't
> follow the details closely enough. But is it the
> city of Minneapolis'
> responsibility to make things right and take care of
> his transition.
> (It is just the transition, right. I assume this
> really is just a one
> year project. How long does it take to do a
> strategic athletic
> plan--and does that include the public participation
> aspects.)
>
> Alan Shilepsky
> Downtown. A Minneapolis taxpayer.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos - 35mm Quality Prints, Now Get 15 Free!
http://photos.yahoo.com/
