I am not sure there is a right or wrong answer to the question about
restructuring the council until it is actually tried. HIstorically, there
were days when there were 26 councilmembers and other configurations which
I am not sure about.
My issue with citywide members (for any of the Boards) is about Equity and
balance. I believe the weak mayor system in Minneapolis leaves the Mayor
out there all alone trying to balance the needs of the entire city. When
working within the Council member fiefdom as it operates today it is
extremely difficult for the Mayor to portray and bully pulpit for the large
city wide vision including the wants and needs of the entire city.
On both the city council and the Park Board, members generally follow the
wishes and position of the ward/district member and everyone else stays out
of the fray. The advantage of the city wide member is that they can also
be part of that district/ward dialogue and weigh in with support, choice of
thinking and assessment of the needs in that particular district/ward.
When attending National League of Cities and visting with councilpeople
from all over the country... many, many, many of them are elected at large.
IMHO it really does even the playing field in thinking about the overal
needs of the city.
Yes, it is more expensive and harder to run city-wide but it does give the
citizen some options in garnering support for their projects and
activities. And I stated earlier the at large city wide perspective helps
to insure equity and balance on issues for the entire city.
However, it doesn't sound like anyone has a grand scheme to take some
wording and the concept before the charter commission in the next couple of
months.
At 09:56 AM 2/14/01 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Having at-large Council Members will not necessarily make "your" designated
> Those who are going to work at the job are going to work
> What it really
>comes down to is people making the commitment to public service and not
just
> Those who are truly committed are most likely to be the
> Having at-large, in my opinion, will not solve any
> In fact, I think it's a mistake for the Park Board to have
>
>
> With the population of
>Mpls being what it is, it would seem to me the number could be reduced -
> In the "old" days, CMs
> That position didn't evolve until the late 70s,
> Most of the Assistants do the majority of the constituent service and
> The balance of the CM
> The whole
>structure needs to be re-examined.
>
>Karen Collier
>Linden Hills
Annie Young
Ward 6 - East Phillips in Minneapolis
Citywide at-large Park Board Commissioner
Working to build a sustainable community
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