>Message: 9
>Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 08:14:38 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Terrell Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: [Mpls] New Minneapolis ward boundaries
>. . .
>[TB] I would disagree with the "nobody has blown it yet". The charter
>amendment which established 4 year terms for councilmembers blew it
>when it allowed councilmembers to be elected to terms that extend 3
>plus years past the redrawing of ward lines nor did it provide for
>staggered council terms (half elected every 2 years).
So you think the voters "blew it" when they overwhelmingly
approved this charter amendment, which you don't like. Well, that's their
privilege -- the voters are the final deciders.
>. . .
>The state restriction that Brian refers to prevents the city from
>drawing new ward lines until after the legislature redistricts. The
>state has no reasonable basis for this restriction, except to perhaps,
>prevent embarrassment to the legislature when it becomes obvious that
>it takes them longer to redistrict than it does any other body.
I've always understood that this restriction is to allow the ward
boundaries to be drawn as much as possible to match the legislative
district boundaries. Having them match is much less confusing to voters,
and encourages closer ties between legislators & council members. That
seems to me like a pretty "reasonable basis for this restriction".
>Not electing councilmembers from wards drawn based on the 2000 census
>until 2005 is a crime.
Oh, really? Please cite the specific section of statutes that
makes this a CRIMINAL act. And just who do you say it the criminal
here? The City Clerk, who is scheduling elections in accordance with both
the Mpls Charter and the State Statutes, but not the way you think they
should be done?
I think discussions on Mpls-issues would be more productive if people
avoided making hasty accusations of criminal actions, and instead said
something like "I think it's wrong that..."
Tim Bonham, Ward 12
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