I supported the obelisk proposal for Fair Oaks Park. I was impressed by the participation of Whittier's schools in the run-up to that proposal. The obelisk was in the grand tradition of the 1917 Beaux Artes plan for Minneapolis that brought the Art Institute into the Whittier Historic District and would have complimented the continuing presence of several mansions, the Hennepin County Historical Society, the College of Art and Design, and the Avenue of the Arts proposal for 3rd Avenue. There were mixed reviews about the obelisk - Bill Morrish, for example, thought it was out of scale, and Dean Zimmermann and I speculated at the time about possible placement down by the river. I don't recall seeing or hearing anything from Dean Kallenbach at the time, although I certainly could have missed his activities. I do know that Barb Lickness was quite reserved about the proposal and I remember her telling me that she wanted to hear more from all sides in the matter. I also participated in the Whittier Park Task Force that worked so assiduously on reinvigorating the park and planning for a new community school and I was frankly quite taken by the intense and consistent performance of the chair of that Task Force, you guessed it - Barb Lickness. No sign of any of the other aspirants to the Sixth Ward council seat throughout that critical period in Whittier's evolution. Great credit is due to the Mayor for pushing for the Whittier School - we locals don't get to decide big ticket items, we look to our collective preferences, express them with vigor, and hope the larger units of government will smile on us - but we do know who does the work in our immediate vicinity and I gotta tell you, it wasn't the Johnny-come-lately crowd who ramrodded the Sixth Ward DFL convention. That park and school initiative took a couple years of meetings and there are literally scores of Whittier denizens who will remember Barb's unmistakeable presence in and guidance of that project. Barb in fact received one of the annual good citizen awards for her work and despite our fractious differences at the time, I was there at the municipal banquet to see her rightly recognized. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward 10 _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
