I was very glad the Star Tribune recognized the very solid qualities of Tracy Nordstrom as a candidate for the 6th District seat on the Parks and Recreation Board. Tracy would bring a wealth of common sense and experience to a Board in desperate need of new leadership.
I wish the Strib had been a little more inquisitive about the serious problems with the current Board. The group has been plagued with infighting and apparently the Commissioners chose not to highlight those issues during their endorsing interviews. I attended several Park Board meetings this year and was astonished by the disrespectful behavior among Commissioners, flagrant abuse of procedural rules, and disinterested Commissioners chatting with each other during public comment periods. It�s a shame the meetings aren�t televised. Under the direction of Chair Ed Soloman and Vice-Chair Bob Fine, the Board has done a poor job of utilizing citizen input. Public meetings are laborious and poorly managed. And Commissioners still don�t have a Park Board email addresses for constituent communications. (Kudos to the handful who have made their private email available: Annie Young, Vivian Mason and Dean Zimmerman.) The Board has had also trouble finding a balance between recreational and environmental interests. The reliable 5-4 majority on the side of recreation above all else includes Bob Fine, Ed Solomon, Scott Nieman, Ernie Belton and Walt Dziedzic. (No wonder Tracy Nordstrom received the Sierra Club endorsement.) To top it all off, this year the Board's leadership gave the new superintendent a significant raise, increased vacation time and increased benefits, without ever having conducted a performance review. That�s not to say the superintendent didn�t deserve it, she may have. But the failure to evaluate their own Chief of Staff is indefensible and completely irresponsible from a taxpayer and a management standpoint. The Park Board has failed in the some very basic responsibilities and its leaders, both Ed Soloman and Bob Fine, should have been taken to task and held accountable, not rewarded with an endorsement. Niel Ritchie East Harriet Farmstead Ward 10 __________________________________________________ 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
