I thought Doug Grow had a very interesting and provocative Minneapolis
column on Wednesday, and was surprised to see no discussion...perhaps
Thanksgiving planning got in the way.
http://www.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=82984553
The gist is that the Northside Economic Development Council, the economic
development arm of the Near-North and Willard-Hay neighborhoods, allegedly
misspent $727,000, of which $240,000 was unaccounted for (including lots of
checks made out to cash).
Working off a state auditor's report, Grow attacks NRP exec director Bob
Miller for not catching the malfeasance; Miller argues it's an isolated
instance, Grow reminds him of People of Phillips. Miller says NEDC got away
with it because they were actively cheating the public -- unlike POP, which
was incompetent. Grow asks why public oversight agencies aren't set up to
catch cheating. Essentially, Grow says no Minneapolis official is taking
responsibility for what is a significant misuse of public funds.
Most importantly, Grow uses the NEDC fiasco to tar the NRP concept - that by
pushing decisions to the local level, the Keystone Kops multiply, decisions
become more foolish, and we need to get those silly neighborhood people out
of the spending game.
Some criticism is clearly deserved in this case, but I'd hate to throw the
NRP baby out with the bathwater. As a journalist I was pretty skeptical of
NRP, but as a neighborhood board president overseeing the work of our NRP
Steering Committee, I've become a big believer. Our staff expenses are low
and I've seen real benefits in neighborhood folks being able to direct some
portion of discretionary city spending.
Here's the thing: I'm still somewhat baffled by the story. I am not a
front-line NRP person (by design), but it seems like our neighborhood has
several hoops to jump through any time we want to spend a significant chunk
of cash. That's good (except when contracts for our home-improvement program
sit on a city lawyer's desk for three months, but that's a different story).
My sense, here in King Field, is that NRP oversight is pretty tough - so I'm
left wondering...just how did NEDC get away with it, and how much
responsibility does NRP bear for the fiasco?
I think Grow raises important issues of public trust, so I'm hoping to have
a fuller discussion of what happened. Can knowledgeable folks provide
specific insights?
My apologies if I missed an earlier discussion of this.
David Brauer
King Field - Ward 10
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
