It was earnestness and good fellowship yesterday at the Housing Summit. R.T., David Fey, CMs Ostrow, Zerby, Johnson, Lee, Lilligren, Schiff, Benson, and Colvin Roy and another 350 well-meaning people all just "got along", not even squabbling over the handsome spread of continental breakfast goodies provided by a gracious host, Christ the King Catholic Church at 51st and Zenith Ave. S.
There was an understandable difference between this large assemblage and that which characterized a previous event at Wesley Methodist off Loring Park in the spring of 1998. CM Jim Niland brought out the Community Development Committee to that church to hear from the vox populi about the need for affordable housing and it was pretty feisty. I submit the difference is not just in the new elected faces as such but also in their willingness to get out and smooze with the public informally. When Sharon got a big meeting together at the NE armory to look at repackaging NRP dollars, scripts were set well in advance and were heavy with formal documentation. There were staff-led community meetings later meant to discuss the policy options available and some serious choices got made about targeting affordable housing in Phase II. This was a good thing, but the limitations of NRP's outreach meant that these decisions were reached without a lot of input from the kinds of people who presumably would benefit from an infusion of new money into housing production. We didn't have a tent meeting with a live band in the parking lot at Lake Street's Kmart. If there were such an event in our new future, lots of folks who ordinarily avoid the government like the plague might well stop by. Or take the fences down at Sears, now that MCDA owns the property, and use that great big open space for something special. Or have an ice cream social over at Lake Nokomis or down on Boom Island. Plenty of possible venues. I like the idea of having floating meetings - Ventura does it; legislators do it; CM Niland did it. Not often, it'd drive the support system crazy, but once in a while and placed with an eye to outreach every time. I like the party scene even better, but we can't have inaugural balls all the time and maybe some lesser mixtures of business and pleasure will come to mind. Fred Markus Horn Terrace Ward Ten _______________________________________ 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
