I appreciate Earl's comments below - really - and shudder to think that we have grown so in three years as to now be partially responsible for the city's budget troubles! I suspect a few of them were around before Minneapolis-Issues came on the scene, and perhaps newer factors, such as the governor's dislike of local government aid, might not be a result of monitoring this list.
I as much as anyone wonder if this thing is a worthwhile time-suck; however, I find it telling that after Earl's fair point, he comes to the conclusion that he likes it here. I suspect that he is speculating about the taxpayer-paid hours spent monitoring this list. It's true, we are a coffeeklastch of roughly 200 posters (when last I counted) and as of this evening, a grand total of 800 subscribed addresses...right on the dot, this evening, honest! Pop the champagne corks! We are not perfectly representative and never claimed to be. I suspect most intelligent souls on the list - and by that I mean most souls here - are all too aware of our limitations. I do need to reassure the public against the charge of dissipating the public treasury. I have a policy not to divulge specific subscriber names (members get to "out" themselves by posting), a quick check reveals 52 subscribed addresses from the city domain (ci.minneapolis.mn.us). Of those, about 20 are council members and their staffs - elected officials who are responsible to the voters, so they're already accountable. Another ten or so are public-information officials. I'd argue they, more than most, should be monitoring this list...and I'm grateful they use it more and more to get the word out. That leaves about 20 city employees out of the city payroll (I'm not counting the MCDA) who are possibly obsessing where they shouldn't. However, since I know a few of these hardy souls, I know them to be hard-working and deeply concerned about the city. For every employee who is possibly using this to avoid work (hey, why do you think I started it?), I speculate that many draw some kind of important sustenance from it....who like that city information - however occasionally infuriating - has another way of getting to the public, and is reasonably self-correcting right here on this very forum. They even contribute, or do so by informing people such as myself. I don't know if the dragged-down city employee of Earl's speculation is a myth; I hope the atta-boy city employee is more prevalent, and that we are a positive and not excessive lightning rod. Back to the time-suck: I encourage all members - not just the ones drawing income from my property taxes - to use the delete key liberally...no need to be an obsessive completist on a list with democratic access. Perhaps there's a happy medium - stay plugged in, but tune out when the infuriating stuff gets infuriating. If only I could take my own advice!! Best, David Brauer List manager > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Earl > Netwal > Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 8:34 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Mpls] TO RT: Budget saving consideration. > > I think it was wise of the mayor to ask city staff to suggest ways to reduce > city expenses. While not specifically asked as a citizen to suggest ways, I > humbly suggest the following. It is my guess that upwards of fifty to > several hundreds of city staff persons are spending thousands of hours a > month monitoring this "chat" line. While the concept of democratic access > is laudable, it has some very real costs. _________________________________________________________ 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
