Just a follow up to a request I had last week to release the project proposals that are vying for the $4 million Affordable Housing Reserve Funds from the NRP. Mayor Rybak responded right away to me and said he thought it would be a good idea to release the proposals for public review and would see if it could be done. I was impressed by such an immediate and positive response.
Others off list have also responded to say they have had difficulty obtaining copies of the proposals, not only from the NRP (the proposals are sealed on that end) but also from the very neighborhood groups that made the proposals. That's actually the situation with Ventura Village, which has a proposal in for Carriage Houses, but refuses to release the proposal to neighborhood members like myself. While I have a beef with that and have just let it go for the time, I'm wondering if there's other situations out there where neighbors/members have not been provided a copy of the proposal upon request. I'm told--though have not verified this-- that the proposals may be part of a "bidding" process on a "contract" and that such bids are not released publicly. If that's the case, there's a real flaw in such a system, as it excludes neighborhood-wide proposals (presumably approved by the neighborhood) from adequate public scrutiny. Given the fact that Ventura Village's community-wide meeting to approve the projects was a mere six minutes long (I arrived at the seventh minute and was told the meeting started promptly, votes were there and taken and then it was over), my only way to have some questions answered at this point is to obtain a copy of what was actually proposed. Just wondering, Gregory Luce North Phillips (work) _______________________________________ 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
