Barbara Lickness wrote: > > I think if I had to simplify this election and what it > was about in a short story, I would say that by and > large it was about a disconnect between neighborhood > activists (mostly emerging from NRP) and the "old > guard" DFL party activists.
The day the city council voted in the "20 Year Plan" (renamed NRP at later date) during the debate Tony Scallon, then 9th ward councilmember, said about 10 times, "If you pass this motion you will lose power." There was little acknowledgement of what Tony was saying, but it seems to me that the last 10 years of council action has had a lot to do with members trying to get around the NRP to keep power. > Although some neighborhood activists were also > involved in the DFL party, the DFL "old guard" by and > large were not involved in the new politics emerging > from neighborhood work and had no idea that we had all > become a conglomerate force to be reckoned with. The > day of reckoning was November 6th. It would be a mistake, in my estimation, not to take into account the regular every day people working for the city. There were more than many instances of city staff groaning and moaning about NRP and how it was supposed to change the way they related to their work and to the citizenry. Department heads have only so much power and rely on staff to go about their work and accomplish goals. If staff chooses, they can tie up or speed up or "lose" paperwork necessary to accomplish X desired end. Suffice it to say all of them were not "on board" with sharing power since it lengthened the time it took them to accomplish a task. While the new council members may have worked in the NRP process to earn their stripes to become council members, some of them have a poor relationship to staff--not department heads. That will cost them in the long run. And staff can cite 947 legal reasons why they cannot do what the council member wants to have done in the way he/she wants it done. Remember that council members and heads of staff come and go, but staff stay on--and on, and on. > If we don't merge these political forces together > within the DFL party, people will continue to run away > like rats off a sinking ship. I think the DFL has > strong competant leadership in both Mike Erlandson and > Brian Melendez. I think we all need to support these > two in the task ahead of them. In some ways the DFL is regrouping. When there is a de facto one party town, the party itself will split into, loosely, conservative, moderate, liberal wings. Hence the onset of the Green Party and the Progressive Party, many, if not most, of whose members are former DFLers. Wizard Marks, Central > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Find a job, post your resume. > http://careers.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 _______________________________________ 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
