Is it considered insider information if I answer Fred Markus' spot quiz
question?
Paul Farmer may have been a "visionary" to some, but to those of us who had
to get work product out of the department (new zoning code) and decisions
made on planning (overlays, study areas and master plans) he couldn't see
past his nose. Farmer liked to make speeches. Back on the ranch...he had
a divided department...Professionals who were pre-Farmer versus Farmer's
protege's. Not a pretty sight. Constant redirection of resources and
constant delays in delivering results. Chuck Ballentine may not have the
sixty different letters of designation after his name, but he is an
extremely talented administrator who can move the departments' agenda and
execute on a strategic plan.
BTW...history answer...The Executive Committee refused to advance the
Mayor's nomination of Farmer, as prescribed by charter. On a 3-2 vote,
Cherryhomes, Campbell and Minn voted against Farmer. Now, if an alliance of
those three council members can agree on his faults...kind of makes you
think there was definitely something wrong.
--
Steve Minn
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 15:43:59 -0600
From: "Fredric Markus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "mpls-issues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [Mpls] Access to Planning Department Files
We lost a visionary Planning Director When Paul Farmer was discharged over
Sharon's and Jim Niland's objections. Spot quiz: who were the three votes
that gave Farmer Das Boot?
Now we have testimony about the curmudgeon approach to citizen service -
reminds me of the bad old days of the 1970s when the city's bureaucracy had
to be pummeled repeatedly before they would let citizens affected have a say
in what happened to their lives and their neighborhoods. The story content
has changed but the possessive planning bureaucracy has an all too familiar
ring.
Managing digital assets is yet another playing field in the planning
profession and you may notice the emergence of resources and initiatives in
21st-century Minneapolis that leave an increasingly marginalized planning
department leadership grasping at vestiges of power.
Get rid of the old wood, say I, or get rid of the department itself if the
dinosaurs won't go quietly into the good night.
Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward 10
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