Annie Young wrote, "And don't forget Tony Scallon and Scott Neiman
from the Park Board. I see we have a real balance in gender and color and
lots of people from the wards and districts where there is likely to be the
most change. Seems very skewed to me - but what do I know?"
[BRM] I agree with Annie, and I'll go a step further: The Charter
Commission's appointments are shockingly unbalanced, and the City Council's
and the Park Board's appointments do not improve the picture. Let's look at
the appointments in context (party and ward in parentheses):
Appointments by the City Council: Fred Markus (Green, 10), Rick
Stafford (DFL, 9).
Appointments by the Park Board: Scott Neiman (DFL, 11), Tony Scallon
(DFL, 9).
Appointments by the Charter Commission: Steve Claypatch (DFL, 4),
Everett Pettiford (DFL, 4), Karen Collier (Independence, 13), Todd Ferrara
(Independence, 13), Michael Finch (Republican, 13), Lyle Schwartzkopf
(Republican, 11).
Now consider:
1. Out of ten members appointed by three public boards, only
one woman. (I gather from Annie's message that there is a similar concern
about racial diversity, but I don't know all the members' racial
backgrounds. Perhaps someone else can furnish that information.)
2. Both DFLers appointed by the Charter Commission are packed
into Ward 4, the City's most northwestern ward.
3. Both Republicans appointed by the Charter Commission come
from adjacent wards, 11 and 13, packed into the City's southwestern corner.
Both Independence Party members appointed by the Charter Commission are
packed into Ward 13, basically the same southwestern corner as the
Republicans.
4. The Charter Commission appointed no Greens. (Why not?)
5. The one Green appointed comes from Ward 10, so every
non-DFLer on the Redistricting Commission is packed into the City's
southwestern corner. There are no non-DFLers from Wards 2, 5, or 6, where
the Greens made their strongest showings in the last election (and in fact
elected the only two non-DFLers in the City other than Annie herself, who
was elected at large).
6. In fact, not only are there no Greens from those wards,
there is nobody at all! The Redistricting Commission will not include a
single representative from north or east of the River--Wards 1, 2, and 3 are
totally excluded. Except for Ward 4, the Redistricting Commission will not
include a single representative from north of Lake Calhoun--Wards 5, 6, 7,
and 8 are likewise totally excluded. So is Ward 12. Yet the Charter
Commission appointed three of its six appointees from Ward 13, and two from
Ward 4--two wards getting five out of six appointments. Factoring in the
other appointments, Wards 9 and 11 are also double-represented. The City
has thirteen wards but, on a ten-member Redistricting Commission, only five
wards are represented.
One further issue: The major political parties each nominated six
to ten members for appointment by the Charter Commission, which must appoint
two members from each party, at least one from the party's list. The DFL
Party dutifully nominated ten members, taking great care for diversity--the
list included members from eight wards, five women and five men, three
members of racial minorities, and three openly gay or lesbian members. And
while the Charter Commission did appoint one member from this list as
required, they bypassed the rest of the list and instead appointed a second
DFLer from the same ward as the first member. I am interested in hearing
from the other parties whether their experience was equally bizarre. (And I
am still curious why the Charter Commission appointed no Greens.)
BRM
Brian Melendez
St. Anthony West (Ward 3)
Chair, Minneapolis DFL Party
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