You learn something new every day! Casting aspersions aside, my presumption that Dan Wascoe of the Strib ate a free lunch at a recent meeting of Ways and Means/Budget committee of the Minneapolis City Council, was an error. Not the first and certainly not the last time I will be wrong. Dan dined at Arby's on a sumptuous feast of chicken fillet sandwich, potato cake, and milk. Sounds like a good scout meal to me though a bit heavy in saturated fats. I am a suspicious sort by nature and since I have been called to task by Dan for my presumption, I think it only fair that I reserve judgements I made about the GMCVA as well. That is not to say I don't have questions and reservations about their proposed budget. My problems are the classic problems of the outsider. Those problems also can prove to be an asset as I am not bound by a narrow vision. Here's a question that someone might be able to answer: What percentage of the GMCVA's total budget is borne by its members relative to the city's contribution? This is a matter of corporate responsibility and needs to be answered. We must take into account the percentage of property taxes paid by corporations relative to those paid by residents and realize that much of what GMCVA asks for is money they have paid into the city's coffers. Perhaps what they ask for is not exorbitant? Frankly I don't know. Certainly it makes sense for our city to foster tourism and convention business but everything we do as a city must face a cost/benefit analysis and must not place the benefits to one party above another. My visceral reaction to Monday's meeting was seeing box lunches and assuming I was going to be presented with a snow job. That suspicion is not without foundation and god knows I am not above the cynicism that pervades our society like a viral infection. I attended a meeting of the NRP Governing Board on Monday evening and there was a spirited discussion on issues of ethics and conflict of interest. I had hoped to see Steve Brandt report on the meeting in the Strib. Since he has not as of yet, I'll take a stab at it. Basically, the board created a special committee to take their proposed guidelines and come up with a improved policy to address the issues. The complexity of the issues and the composition of the board make this procedure difficult and to create the committee was a good idea. There was a lot of dancing around the five thousand pound elephant in the room until Ken Kelash finally mentioned Jackie Cherryhomes and the article that had appeared in the StarTribune regarding the purchase of her home. TIM Connolly Ward 7 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Messenger - Talk while you surf! It's FREE. http://im.yahoo.com/
