I don't know about anyone else, but the emotion I feel most deeply over the recent events at City Hall is one of sadness. As a person who has spent her entire adult life in the political arena, I find the current "Sillyapolis" as bad as "Murderapolis".
Let's face it, people will disagree about many things and City Council Members and Mayors are no different from anyone else. Add to that, the current penchant for the media to focus on the trivial (can you say O. J. Simpson or Gary Conditt?) instead of probing for substance about the issues. That leaves us with the newspapers falling over themselves to make the policy makers look bad and in the process, add to the poison in the well over at the Legislature. Does anyone really think this next session will be kind to Minneapolis? I hate it when people only state the problem or constantly work at restating the problem and never advance a solution, so here is my two cents worth. Forget the facilitator. I worked as a policy aide at the City Council for ten years and participated in numerous "feel good" sessions. And you know what? Behaviors didn't change. People were unwilling to reveal their true feelings for fear that a revealed weakness would be used against them in the future. These people are adults - if they sense a need to get help, individual help paid for by insurance or out of their own pocket, not by taxpayers is the way to go. What is needed is leadership. We need someone - anyone, I don't care what party or faction - to rise up and rally the troops to "become the best damn City leadership this City has ever seen." It can be done one on one, in the whole group, whatever. But someone has to break out of this pack and focus, not on what chair they get, but what the City needs. What is needed is a clear vision of why the people sitting around that City Council table wanted to be there in the first place. If all the person wanted was a $60,000 a year job, fine acknowledge that, sit in a corner, do the minimum, collect your check, but don't impede everyone else from doing their jobs. I find it unbelievable, given all the campaign rhetoric, that some Council Members (and I've worked with some) had no clue as to why they were there or how to accomplish any goals. I believe in government. I believe it can improve peoples' lives. I want my leaders to share those simple beliefs. Lord knows, those people that run for office simply because they want to dismantle government are, in my mind, a real threat to the system. I want the media to quit the National Inquirer bit. Give us hard hitting stories based on facts - is there or is there not a housing crisis, how many units have or have not been torn down or built in the last decade, how much of the NRP money went for Administration in the past ten years? Acknowledge that people disagree and that is how solutions are worked out. If the only focus is on the disagreement, that is where the discussion ends. And I want our Legislative delegation to get together and fight for the City. We have seen the spectacle of certain Minneapolis legislators undermining the work of the City in the past. Of course, you can disagree, but, just like in a family, keep the fights at home, and present a unified front to the outside world. Jan Del Calzo Lynnhurst _______________________________________ 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
