Re: Park Board.
This is as good a subject as any to make a first posting to the list. It has
always been a mystery to me why there needs to be a separate park board (and
park police, and park public works, and .....). It appears to entail a
significant waste of money and energy. The MPRB does not have a role in my
perfect local government universe. However, I would not want to scrap the
Park Board without first placing park lands into some kind of trust. Give
the Parks DEPARTMENT enough flexibility to respond to changing circumstances
but not the City Council enough to even start thinking about hawking
lakefront property to the highest bidder one little piece at a time if/when
city government next finds itself in tough financial straights. It would be
a pity to have saved so much shorefront for over a century only to leave it
exposed to even the remote possibility of depredations by desperate
politicos.
Geoff Batzel
Ward 10
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 9:05 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Park Board-- who needs 'em?
In a message dated 10/18/2000 8:42:23 PM Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< This is legitimate recreation and I guarantee you, with 90M dogs
(compared
with 45M school aged kids) this has tremendouse public support.
If the Park Board can't get its act together to implement this project
(which is already approved and funded) this year I'm betting it will become
a significant issue in the 2001 elections.
>>
Just another log on the fire burning under the Park Board... evidently they
still don't feel the heat, which isn't at all surprising. They have got to
be the most unresponsive, unaccountable and non-productive unit of local
government in Minneapolis-- the top management/administrative folks anyway.
I expect nearly every neighborhood in Minneapolis that has tried to work
with
them in recent years has experienced major frustration, but I don't want to
beat a lame horse... you know what's done with lame horses!
>From a budgetary perspective, how much saving is possible by eliminating
the
MPRB and rolling the functions into Public Works? Eliminate all the
administrative overhead and management layers, and use the annual savings to
reduce current deficits. Keep the needed functions, and get rid of the
rest.
Eliminate the duplication of roadway and police overhead, etc. Just
curious... a priority evaluation, if you will... Any astute city budget
hawks aware of the savings potential? Vote YES to dogs and a more efficient
local government!
M. Hohmann
13th Ward
