Let me jump on the bandwagon behind Jan.
Communication in and amongst jurisdictions out to the constiuents and masses.
My situation is a little different but the same message never-the-less. I
have served on the Board of Directors of statewide organizations and I have
been honored by past Governors Perpich and Carlson to receive appointments
to Commissions. In that statewide work I have often found difference of
opinions and stereotypes that run rampant (especially about the urban
core). In both situations what happens is that you have a topic where you
are to come up with some recommendations and possible action steps. The
Commission starts out with an assortment of appointees and usually have
been 20-30 strong. Divided amongst Republicans and Democrats and divided
again by rural, suburban and urban and other special interests. Like most
Commissions, people apply to be appointed. I thought the Burnsville
response to this list was brillant and how I see it too. Other abusers of
TIF are getting by "with murder" out in those suburban hinterlands and
maybe as much to blame as the many guffaws made by Minneapolitans.
Anyway the point is whether it's for a month, six months or two years the
fact is you all have to get to know each other, each other's position,
figure out what is the common ground, where are the differences and how can
you work toward compromise (and oftentimes consensus) for a Final Report
and recommendations.
I would submit this is true at the Capitol or any of these other Board and
Commissions.
In Jan's case about the airport commission - who is organizing residents
to speak with those commissioners and get that money for the insulation???
Mistake # 272: Having "Pogie's" shoulders hold up the whole program and
our masses of accomplishments really doesn't seem fair.
Mistake #101: But what I have been hearing all day from many people is
that we have had a failure to communicate. Communication broke down all
over the place. The fact that Bob Miller spent hours and hours and hours
at the Capitol along with a few others that helped him but there weren't
20-30 neighborhood folks with him every day telling our stories of the
great work in the neighborhoods - our stories should have been told to the
201 legislators! What happened to basic old organizing? We are the troops
and we should have been brought in to fight for our neighborhoods and why
we need to have continued funding.
Reminds me of Al Gore not bringing in Bill Clinton to roundup the troops
last October & November - I digress!
Now the neighborhoods are organizing and getting ready to shake a few cages
both in terms of a referendum and "throwing the bums out" in the fall
elections.
Let's see how well the first 10 years of NRP trained us. They taught us to
organize and plan in our neigh- borhoods. Now we will putthose efforts
into educating the citizens of those 81 neighborhoods and take all of our
plans to the people and ask them for about $86.00 a year so we can keep
improving our neighborhoods. Is that too much to ask as a solution to our
dilemma?
I wonder what the address is again for everyone to just send that rebate
check right down to the NRP office? - then we wouldn't even need the
referendum.
Grains of sand for thought...
Annie Young
www.annieyoung.org
Ward 6 - East Phillips in Minneapolis
Citywide at-large Park Board Commissioner
Green Party endorsed for re-election in 2001
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