[Mpls] fiefdoms

[James E Jacobsen]

I have never been close to 'neighborhood' organizations, I get the local talk and media reports.  The idea of 'neighborhoods' to facilitate and promote neighborhoods and  'neighborey' activities is positive and inevitably there are some people involved that are a positive effect and influence, but overall the whole thing stunk from the start about 27 years ago.         I attended a city wide meeting in basement of Government Center about that long ago at which a few people mainly from West Bank, -Jack Kahn was biggey- announced and discussed this whole thing of dividing the city into 'neighborhood' areas, each of which would have offices and be staffed and deal with neighborhood 'issues' of crime and housing etc.  All seemingly positive directions.  As history student, I lived in McKnight Tower of West Bank in 70s and knew most of the activist crowd there.             The West Bank of the University of Minnesota was -upon 1980 censes, DFL firmly in controll-redistricted so that 4 City Wards cornered in the West Bank area, giving maximum political connect.  About that time also it was the start of the Mayoralty of the 'wonderful' Don frazer, very DFL machine politician.  Jack Kahn got some city job when Frazer became Mayor.         Of course the 'neighborhood'  thing worked wonderfully with a monolithic political machine.  campaign helpers, after successful campaigns could be rewarded with staff jobs in neighborhood offices, and from where they could maintain the connect with the succussful candidate and organization, -the city funding the neighborhood offices- and then the neighborhood can do a lot in the 'neighborhood' to build political interests of the machine, the DFL.         Political direction was always to the 'left'.  The West Bankers, as joined with the city DFL interests were hard core socialists at heart, and wanting to implement a more socialist community, promoted public housing, 'non profit' organizations etc., -which of course have been a locked in campaign financial support- and expressly sought to make property owners "extinct".        And if you are positive on such 'movement', you should watch out for card cheats, peddlers of the Brooklyn Bridge, and other such con men and their schemes.  There is no such thing -and never was- of a for real socialist/communist.  They want to socialize everyone else.  It would be something to their credit for intent if they fantacized themselves as some kind of 'Leader' type but mostly they don't.          They want money.       Even in the Soviet Union, from earliest times, the neighborhood 'commisars', boss types, who levied and collected 'neighborhood' taxes, were said to have often spent the money personally.        The 'neighborhood' groups and offices have been sink hole for millions of dollars of taxpayer moneys as through the years 'People of Phillips' and Whittier Alliance, for example, have gone through series of firings, people running out of the office, always occasioned with a looting of the funds.         The NRP, again a seeming positive effort to support the communities/neighborhoods just makes lots of millions of dollars available for staff types to use in covering up their dumb mistakes as amateurs dealing in property, to maintain their payroll packages, or to just take and run,  --and with numerous audits bringing up six figure moneys unaccounted for.       And they have gone tooth and nail after private property owners to get their properties so as to boost their housing 'operations' and so as to boost revenues and justify larger salaries.         I was told once by someone on the inside (Earl Netwall) that "these new organizations are trouble at the start but after a few years they smooth out and become a positive influence.       I will remain uninvolved with the 'fiefdoms'.        James E Jacobsen      'Whittier'