A few general comments/questions on the mayor's plan (thanks for posting it here, by the way)... The good ideas will stick here without needing my help. The rest I offer as constructive criticism/worries.
In general, I'm concerned about the light hand of leadership the mayor is displaying. It's true, he's setting broad parameters for sweeping-sounding ideas, but without much traction for this citizen to appreciate. For example, organizational reform. I have little problem with hiring a consultant to assess complexity. I do have a problem with the mayor not identifying development goals and principles up-front. Isn't this why he ran, and why he was elected? Why the enigmatic talk now? Is this strategic to include the council, or just namby-pamby after all the election talk about leadership? I suppose time will tell but I believe leaders should set principles up-front. > Housing Finance > Release the $4 million in 2001 NRP funds reserved for affordable housing, > and allocate these funds to eligible projects. Establish a work group to > recommended a structure and dedicated funding sources for an Affordable > Housing Trust Fund. Establish a work group to explore creative use of > existing Minneapolis Public Housing Authority assets to increase the > availability of affordable rental property in the city. Maintain the > priority of affordable housing preservation and production in short- and > long-term financial decisions made by the city. I think the devil is in the details here. The bottom line is no $16 million release, as talked about in the campaign. I am still willing to buy the notion that all those funds shouldn't be released until there's a realignment of development structure. But I'm still skeptical this will be delayed to death. This brings to mind a broader Minneapolis-Issues thread: how would YOU pare $20 million from the city's budget? I suspect that's a driving force behind the $4-not-$16-million release. > Restore Trust in City Hall > > Strengthen City Ethical Standards > Create an ethics task force with representatives from the City Council, city > departments, labor unions, and the public to revise the current Code of > Ethics to be to be a more comprehensive statement of the current ethical > requirements for city employees and elected officials and to include higher > ethical standards. I echo the Strib's observation that there are no specifics here after the Mayor promised an off-year fundraising ban. We may need a task force to advise on other elements of an ethical city hall - key question, "what percentage of the task force is "the public" versus councilliers, unions, and city employees?" However, the off-year ban and lower contribution limits seem a pretty straight-up proposal to make....so why not make it, Mr. Mayor? Again, this might be strategy because the council has to pass this stuff, but it looks like a step back from election pledges. > Open the Doors of City Hall > Host a "Mayor's Night Out" in different part of the city each month to meet > citizens to get ideas for improving the city. Establish regular office hours > for the Mayor to meet with the public, first come, first-served, at City > Hall. As a neighborhood board president who was only contacted once in three years by the mayor's office, this is somewhat attractive. However I don't know if such a rigid set-up is the most efficient (first-come, first-served sounds like a recipe for the most-motivated and possibly most wacko, not necessarily the most representative or important. There's a reason you have trusted staff - a simple instruction to have them sift for significance, not political butt-covering, would probably do the job better and do more to boost public trust). In general, though, more citizen meetings are a good thing in principle - the real trick is to make them relevant, interesting, and a reason for people to take an hour or two out of their busy (or tired) nights. As one who has now chaired a few dozen of these meetings, I can tell you people seem to be most motivated by fear of an immediate harm - not often a desire to plan ahead positively. Will these just be gab sessions for the same old crowd? > City Boards and Commissions > Reinvigorate the 56 volunteer Boards and Commissions of the city of > Minneapolis. How 'bout getting rid or, or consolidating the dopey/outdated/ineffective ones? > Focus on Diversity >Launch the > Office of New Arrivals with the appointment of a permanent Director. Speaking as a board president who has unsuccessfully tried to reach out to new arrivals in his neighborhood, this is a great idea - if the person/people are really good and can really help knuckleheads like me. > Improve Fiscal Management and Basic City Services > > Address Impacts on 2002 Budget > Work with the Ways and Means Chair and City Council leadership to address > the changes that need to be made to the current 2002 budget. The plan will > include the following components: > > . An assessment of spending reductions that need to be made in the 2002 > budget. > . An assessment of potential impacts of LGA reductions or other legislative > decisions. > . An accelerated strategic planning process to establish broad goals and > criteria to guide spending reductions and avoid across-the-board spending > cuts. Sounds eminently sane. Do what you can to educate/involve the public. > Develop "Fiscal Discipline" Plan > Appoint a long-term fiscal planning task force to develop a fiscal > discipline plan to address the following components: > > . Create a ten-year resource and demand outlook based on complete > understanding of financial situation as it stands today and the parameters > for future issues. Good idea. After all the cuts, can we afford the staff time to do anything long-term? > . Consider spending and debt policies for the Mayor and Council. Great idea. Pass legislation making everyone stick to them, too. > . Establish priority goals for the 2003 budget. By beginning the budget > process earlier, we hope to reduce last-minute budget maneuvering and > promote a meaningful public discussion about what the city does and how we > should be doing it. Must-do. A budget process wrapping up on December 23 is insane. > 24-Hour Snow Plowing > Take the first steps toward implementing this service for the winter of > 2002-2003. <snip> Reach out to neighborhoods and > businesses to discuss the potential impacts of 24-hour snow plowing on > parking and circulation. Work with City Council to hold neighborhood focus > groups. Hasn't the first part of this (analysis) been done? I like the goal of involvement, and making it happen next winter. Tip to the mayor and councilfolk: work with each of the neighborhood groups to hold a neighborhood-level meeting on the possible effects - there's plenty of notice for all of us. Those of us who have had street repavings or parking controversies understand this stuff much better now, and we know where to find the neighborhood folk who are obsessed with such effects. The rest I'll leave to the more-regulated, and also greener folks on the list. Again, R.T., thanks for asking. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.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
