Michael Atherton Monday Morning Tirade: > If you would like to talk about something that is "plain absurd," why don't we >discuss > why the DFL controlled city council has never passed ordinances allowing for the >recall of > councilmembers?
[TB] Probably one good reason not to discuss that is that such an "ordinance" would be an amendment to the City Charter. Charter amendments are voted on in an election. The two (2) most common ways to bring a proposed charter amendment to a vote are that it be proposed by petition signed by the required number of people (i.e. the limit on city funding of sports facilities) or brought forward by the City Charter Commission. The members of the Charter Commission, by the way, are appointed by the Chief Judge of Hennepin County District Court. I can rather quickly come up with the names of 3 parties that had Governors who appointed members that are sitting on that court. Its probably best not to blame the Council for things that are beyond their scope. Back to the Atherton Tirade: > Or we might also discuss the fact that the individuals posting in support of early >elections, > you, Ms. Khan, Mr. Brauer, and Mr. Melendez are stanch DFL supporters. I believe >that your > party is more interested in holding on to power than in helping the people it >professes to > represent. [TB] The general consensus is that the purpose of a political party is to elect candidates. That probably explains why the DFL likes to have DFL office holders, the Republicans like to have Republican office holders and the Independence Party wants to hold on the office holders they have and perhaps elect a few more. I fail to see anything sinister in that, its all on top of the table. Now based on some conversations that I have had, I do not agree that everyone who supports the proposal is a "stanch DFL supporter". I haven't seen the roll call of the House committee that approved Rep. Kahn's bill last week, but based on the makeup of the MN House, I feel rather confident in saying that it had support from outside the DFL. The committee chair who scheduled the hearing is Rep. Jim Rhodes who last I checked does not identify as DFL. Tirade again: > Why is it that my overwhelmingly DFL neighborhood can set up a fund to move >affordable housing > elsewhere, rather than promote it in their own neighborhood? What are the ethics > of that action? [TB] That, sir, is NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). Again is really isn't a partisan thing (although I suspect that a person could find some affordable housing in Prospect Park), it pops up everywhere (see Lydia House thread, also some past threads about Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport) Terrell Brown Loring Park terrell@terrellbrown .org _______________________________________ 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
