As you know, I have not yet received a copy of the flyer that everyone is talking
about. I know of this impending meeting only because you all have sent out these
emails. I intend to be at this meeting, though I believe the outcome may be a
forgone conclusion. You only announce that a neighborhood meeting is going to
take 5 hours if you don't want anyone to come to it. People who know the agenda
can send in their supporters at the right time to vote, and then leave. The lack
of notice to me is especially vexing because a couple of months ago I went to a
CNIA board meeting and hand delivered a letter to the ED demanding to be put back
on the mailing list. How is it that the people who go to that degree of effort to
be on the mailing list are still not on the list ? My letter will now be
forwarded to NRP and MCDA as a grievance. Copies of it will also be going to
every funding agency that I can think of in the twin cities. Funders need to know
that CNIA is not doing even the absolute minimum of what is required of them.
You need to know that Zack is proposing to the board that the CDC he wants to form
is intended to take the comp block program from SouthSide NHS and allow CNIA to
run the program from the board level. When Zack first made the proposal, it was
rejected by both the business committee and by the board. I have heard (take with
a grain of salt) that this month it was brought up again and was not met with as
much opposition. If you can't even handle a mailing list, how can you imagine
being able to do a good job working a multi million dollar housing project ? Zack
also went to the quad neighborhood collaborative, representing CNIA as the board
president and suggested that the collaborative needed to form a CDC in order to
take the Sears site project away from Ray Harris. Whatever you may think of Ray,
having a brand new CDC take over the largest development project in the metro area
since the Mall of America is mind boggling. The other neighborhoods did not take
the idea seriously.
HOWEVER !!! I have good news as well !
Last Saturday was the 10th anniversary of NRP and there was a large conference and
celebration at the convention center. The end of the day's activities was an
award ceremony for the best of the NRP programs over the first 10 years. Of all
the neighborhoods in the city, and all the projects they came up with; 40 projects
were nominated for awards. Of those 40, 7 were chosen and CNIA won 3 of the 7.
The HOMS initiative was co founded and funded, by CNIA and our former Executive
Director, Jana Metge remains a board member. The first manager of the program is
Jim Buessing, a volunteer with our housing committee. Hosmer Library won an award
as well because NRP money was used in the technology center. Wizard Marks was at
the ceremony to accept the award because of the part she played in planning and
supporting the preservation and expansion of the library. The third winning
project was Artist Housing on Chicago. CNIA spent years working on this project
with Powderhorn neighborhood, and it is being presented city wide as an example of
how to be creative in the creation of affordable housing. We live in a
neighborhood filled with hard working people and people with good ideas and
dedication. No matter how we may feel about where CNIA is today, we need to be
proud of the hard work and successful projects we were able to complete over these
last few years.
Walt Gutzmer
Kim Goodman wrote:
> Central Friends and Concerned Folks--
>
> I continue to have concerns: mostly that I'm going out of town and can't
> stay to have my voice heard at this 5 hour "meeting" March 10th--the agenda,
> format, and purpose yet to be determined.... (Where's the upcoming February
> issue of Community Word which is supposed to reveal the "proposal"?) I
> called CNIA office Monday morning to inquire, but only heard from the
> voicemailbox that it was full and not accepting messages at this time.
>
> Okay,
>
> -How do you have a vote when the only notification has been to discuss a
> proposal?
>
> -How do you have a legal vote concerning $120,000 of NRP money in the
> context of a housing fair with a ton of people, spread out throughout an
> afternoon, and no notification that there is a decision being made at the
> housing fair "meeting"?
>
> -Notice did not come out in 30 days prior (though close) and it did not
> disclose any of this. I'm learning about it through the resident/NRP/MCDA
> grapevine, no one from CNIA has contacted me to inform me of anything.
> Again, how do you have a neighborhood controlled decision when the
> neighborhood has been kept in the dark?
>
> -This sounds like a proposal to take money from affordable housing and
> neighborhood programs and "redistribute" it into CNIA/Board administrative
> pockets. I think the media needs to be alerted, encouraged to come cover it
> as Central is against accomplishing "affordable housing" in favor of
> "administration" of affordable housing.
>
> I hope I am alarmed for no reason. However, I fear that a few will gain at
> great cost to our neighborhood. Again I say to CNIA: accomplish something
> for the neighborhood with what you have (practice stewardship) so you can be
> trusted with more. As of yet, I've seen nothing that merits increased
> funding, trust, nor fosters the belief that the Central Neighborhood
> residents is where CNIA's heart & work is. It looks like greed, sliding
> "proposals" through the back door in the dark, and lining pockets in secret.
>
> -I oppose any reallocation of funds at this time. Please speak for me at
> this meeting. Let's stand up for justice: do what's right!
>
> -- Kim
>
> "Seek to be the change you desire in the world."
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> Rev. Kimberly Goodman Phone: 612-823-4488
> 3700 Park Avenue Fax: 612-823-3194
> Minneapolis, MN 55407 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ____________________________________________________________
> >> Others in the neighborhood received this flyer by snail mail a few weeks
> > back.
> >>
> >> FAMILY FESTIVAL/NRP PLAN MODIFICATION
> >>
> >> March 10, 2001
> >> 12-5
> >> Place: Richard Green Central Gym
> >> 3400 4th Ave. S.
> >>
> >> Purpose: The Central Neighborhood will be conducting a NRP Plan
> >> modification meeting to discuss and review the proposed reallocation of
> >> $120,000 from remaining NRP funds for general administrative purposes.**
> >>
> >> <italics>
> >> **Watch for upcoming Community Word for further infomration and
> > specifics**.
> >>
> >> for further information concerning organizational activities and committee
> >> meetings feel free to contact us at 612-822-3302.</italics>
>
> >
> > I have two concerns about this upcoming meeting. The first is that I have
> > heard that the intention of the current board is to take monies that I
> > believe could and should be going to housing issues and put it in their
> > pockets to form a CDC that is supposed to address housing. The meeting I
> > suppose is to get the neighborhoods blessing on their intentions. This
> > concerns me because if this is true their plan would go against what the
> > neighborhood wanted the NRP funds to go to. It sounds that they want the
> > funds to go more to individuals and not to help in overall housing
> > improvements. One of the directives of the neighborhood was a Comp Block
> > Plan which would distribute $200,000 to each district in Central
> > Neighborhood to be used as each district sees fit to improve housing
> > quality. I worry that the new board wants to take away from programs like
> > this. I haven't heard anything about the continuation of this since they
> > were elected.
> >
> > My overall second concern is that this current board has had nearly a year
> > to show the neighbors that they can actually accomplish the business of the
> > Central Neighborhood. From my perspective they have not accomplished even
> > the simplest of tasks. For example getting out notices and monthly minutes
> > of the various committees has stopped since they fired the Jana Metge, the
> > previous executive director. The latest Comunity Word that they refer to in
> > the above flyer used to be delivered in the mail on a regular two month
> > basis. I have received only one since the new board has taken over and that
> > was delivered to our household on a snowbank in the front of our house. I
> > also understand that the board had to pay for a mailing list to mail the
> > above flyer. If they had not refused to receive help form the previous
> > board they couldhave taken the current data base off the computer. If they
> > can not handle the basic tasks they have no business making changes.
> >
> > A third concern I have is how they appparently are handing the finances of
> > CNIA. I understand they have laid off staff, yet they are paying their
> > current executive director $12,000 MORE than the previous executive director
> > was being paid. I also heard that the new director also receives as a perk
> > a car so he can drive from the Northside to the Southside.
> >
> > Many of us plan to attend this "Family Festival" and vote on what we feel
> > will be best for our neighborhood. Of course I worry that the meeting will
> > be "stacked" as it has in the past and the voting will not be fair.
> >
> > Karen Forbes
> > Central Neighborhood
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