Roberta Englund writes: AMEN Mr. Parra! In one fell swoop Mr.Ostrow and company has vetoed citizen opinion, now and in the future. So what if the people voted, just sign on the dotted line and we will all be back to business as usual just absent a few players, but with others to take their place! What's next, perhaps a sign on the line deal for a new stadium? This smacks of an RT orchestrated "I can do business better then you so get out of the way if you don't agree" strategy. If this stupidity prevails, at least it is nice to know early on that a manipulative and self effacing mayor is at the helm of an easily controlled (abet elected) city council. Roberta Englund, Folwell Neighborhood ========================================= Some of this was pretty evident during the campaign -- RT got the public support of most of the council members who signed his pledge before the election. The plan was going to be that it would be a contest between Ostrow and Cherryhomes. When Cherryhomes lost, then the idea of so called "consensus" came up. We get all types of nonsense from politicians regarding a publically funded stadium. What bothers me is RT seems to be spending much more of his time and energy on the Twins stadium that he has on the issues he ran on -- namely affordable housing. CM Johnson threw a wrench in this by running herself -- and forcing Ostrow to compete for the job.
To his credit CM Lilligren showed his independence and didn't sign Comrade Ostrow's pledge. Eduardo Parra writes: BLECH, PHEW, ACK to Ostrow! Kudos to Barb Johnson for having the balls to stand up to Ostrow's intimidating techniques to gain the Council Presidency. C'mon Paul, what planet are you on? Didn't you pay attention to the results of the city election? Seems most folks sent a clear message to downtown that the Cherryhomes/Belton/Campbell-esque way of doing business would not be tolerated. Barb's idea of handshakes seems the most gallant way of deciding the presidency. ====================================== I agree -- Kudos to Barb Johnson for forcing a competition on the Council Presidency. So far it seems that the sentiment on this list is more for Johnson than Ostrow. Eduardo continues: Who appointed you our fearless Council President - God? RT? As a supporter of RT and his bid to win the Mayoral election, I was under the assumption that good and fair government would rule the day. WRONG! Ostrow, we deserve a better explanation than "well, we've got lotsa work to do" - DUH! Either I'm on Planet X, or I thought Minneapolis was moving into a new era - but then again.... Watching suspiciously!!! ========================================= Minneapolis City Government has always seemed to be on another planet -- as does the Minneapolis legislative delegation. Mayor Elect Rybak writes: <<I'm staying out of this but so should other groups. For example, I don't think it's helpful to have labor folks making calls to strongarm people about who is chair of what committee. I didn't get elected to decide who runs the council, and they certainly did not either. This style failed in the election and it should fail now. >> Mayor Elect Rybak -- I'm glad you are following the list and participating. I do think that what you said on this list about your feelings about public support for the stadium in Minneapolis do contradict what the transcripts say about what you said at the Stadium hearings. That was one of the criticisms I've heard about you during the campaign -- that you say different things to different audiences. You aren't the only politician who does this. Several weeks back, I wrote you with a question regarding the stadium -- and you haven't responded. What bothers me about that is that you were always very responsive to email before the election. I'll agree with Mayor Elect Rybak about Labor trying to strongarm council members. Labor lost big time in this election. I think that sent a message. Eva Eva Young Central _______________________________________ 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
