This is in haste but I want to let the members know that I try to read the postings, if sometimes a day or two late, and to offer at least brief comments on a couple of points that have been bouncing around the list, before my campaign manager or other people similarly smarter than I & with my best interests at heart (mostly trying to preserve my time for the doorknocking that I unapologetically do)head me off: 1. I am enormously proud of the Star Tribune endorsement. When I interviewed with them I told them exactly the same things about the issues that I've told anyone else who asks, publicly or privately. I can only assume that they made their choice for the reasons they stated. 2. I am also very proud to have such eloquent support on this list from an "experienced politician" (some posters phrase) such as Phyllis Kahn and the president of the University of Minnesota Democrats, Andy Pomroy. With this range of support, even with the Star Tribune's endorsement, I can't be all bad. 3. I am the luckiest candidate I know to have Betts as my campaign manager and she did absolutely the right thing in giving Jordan Kushner the public information he requested of her. He chose to use it in a way that I did not. Those were decisions he & I made. If pointing that out to a questioner who seemed to me to be criticizing me for running a rigorous campaign against the incumbent, but a campaign I tried to keep strictly on the issues as I saw them, makes me a hypocrite in Jordan's, or any other member's eyes, I'm sorry but there's not much else I can say about it within the limits of the forum. 4. I do care deeply about the University, the students and the other neighborhoods, including also the businesses and employees of those businesses in the neighborhoods. One of the most intense, ongoing concerns in this ward is that of trying to find the common grounds and mediate the conflicts among these interests. Views can differ on how best to do this. I believe it is appropriate for each of these groups to have organizations to represent their own interests as they see fit within the boundaries of acceptable standards. For example, there are clear conflicts about parking around the U: commuter students would rather park on the street than pay a lot for parking, neighborhood residents want spots to be there when they return from work, small businesses want spots to be available for their customers; all are legitimate concerns deserving of advocacy. I have said repeatedly that I would seek to foster, continued, regularized fora for the discussion and efforts to resolve these (and many other) issues by revitalizing an interneighborhood group such as used to exist under the acronym SEPAC (& don't ask me what the initials stand for, Southeast something) with members from the student community, the other neighbors & the business associations. But I don't think it is my, or any councilmembers, business to force a merger of these groups. 5. As to the use of NRP funds, that program is governed by its own guidelines (evolving from time to time as per the conflict of interest policies) which require not just the neighborhood organization but neighborhood wide participation. For example, when Prospect Park recently made minor amendments to its phase one plan we were careful to post and flier the whole neighborhood (though there was some controversy you'll undoubtedly hear about from other members about how successful or not that effort was.
There are no doubt some issues and points that I'm forgetting and I do have some more proposals that I hope to explore with the University, its students, the other neighbors, and the city, but this really is all the time that I can spend on this now. As some of my friends from the Green Party are fond of saying--in peace and cooperation Paul Zerby an unrepentant DFLer for change ===== Paul Zerby A DFLer for Change on City Council Ward 2 www.zerby.com/paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
