RE: [Mpls] Full time Park Board

[craig larson]

I would refer anyone who thinks the elimination of the park board to a US News article dated June 8, 1998.  In this article, Minneapolis is credited with being one of  ten cities in the world that work and our success is credited to an independent elected park board.  It is hard to believe that parks would be our City Council's first priority when they would have to compete with crime, housing and infrastructure.  Our parks deserve an elected body with their preservation as their only priority.  Our independent park board has made good on its 100 + year pledge to "add many millions to the real-estate value of our city."  This in turn helps our tax base so the council can fund vital services.  Our parks, and city, deserve a long-term vision.   Our current City Council has shown little respect for our environmental resources, unless of course it is associated with downtown developments. The Council recently issued public bonds to a private school (Minnehaha Academy) to tear down oak trees along the river and place a storm water impoundment receiving parking lot run-off next to the river gorge.   The council is a little too cozy with bond sales houses, developers and other building interests for my tastes; these groups have no interest in our parks.  They only have interests in short-term financial gain in large developments (Target Store, Block E, et. al.) with dubious claims of financial benefits to the citizens of Minneapolis who shoulder the long-term debt.  How could our parks compete and would they be safe?  We have already seen the power of LRT development dollars when approximately 1/3 of Minnehaha Park was lost forever.   The post cites the duplication of functions.  Of course the City Council and Park Board should work together to maximize efficiencies where possible.  Elected bodies can be independent and still work together for the good of the city.  Lets not throw out the baby with the bath water.   Craig Larson Longfellow Neighborhood Ward 12      -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Carol Becker Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 8:49 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Full time Park Board I think that an alternative solution to making the Park Board full time would be to substantially reduce its duties or eliminate it completely and have the City oversee the parks   The Park Board was borne out of a desire to create a board that would set different policy from the City Council and we still live with that today.  In many ways, we have two cities with two sets of departments.   We have two sets of police departments.  Two street planning departments.  Two garbage collection departments.  Two information technology departments.  Two benefits offices.  The list goes on.  And this duplication is costly.  And we live with even more subtle consequences like parkways that have fallen apart because the Park Board staff chose to build them to lower standards than other city streets and confusion at crime scenes because you have two sets of police officers reporting up two different chains of command.    Minneapolis loves its parks.  But I think the need for an independent Park Board with a host of duplicative functions is something that bears questioning.    Carol Becker Longfellow