My personal observations... I got there late and have no idea what was done in the first hour of the gathering but what I observed after I arrived was quite unbelievable. Accusations seemed to be going back and forth as to a misunderstanding about why the meeting was happening. Many thought it was to hear the Redistricting Commission present their plans in order to get feedback from the community. The community felt it couldn't give feedback without information, statistics and seeing the maps.
I came to the event with Council member Zimmermann and lo and behold he had copies quickly made of a plan he has been working on for a few days. Then within a few more minutes a Markus Plan appeared and the DFL Plan was handed out. There was no copy of the IR/Ind map even though it does exist. Yes, these are all proposed plans and are still being worked on for further refinement and administrative details of making sure all the numbers were right. There are three or four more meetings before they have a final plan. The audience probably would have appreciated seeing those maps much earlier on in the evening as food for discussion. The Commission apologized for maps not being up on the city website although most plans are only 3 to 4 days old. Staff said they had a "glitch" today but hoped they'd be up tomorrow (meaning Thurs/Fri) What I found most interesting though was the audience not really understanding the full grasp of the timeline, the statutes, the purpose and why we go through this every ten years. Being told that they weren't taught about gerrymandering and drawing lines in their civics 101 class - one person even said to me - what civics 101 class??? For some I think it was the first time they realized this is at the core of how democracy and the political system works. Where one lives does make a difference in who their representatives are or could be. A 20-30 minute introductory education presentation may have gone a long way to building trust and understanding of this cumbersome process and would have been very appropriate. The change I referred to in the StarTribune article didn't make much sense because the change was not defined. The change is - what is really different now - is that there are four major parties at the table and the commission actually came out to the public for a meeting. This is new, it is cumbersome and negotiating process and is much more difficult for the commission than the past when this was a one-party town and that party just kind of it did it their way (with help from council members who were doing the incumbent protectionism method) and everybody else (the Republicans) just kind of came along on the coattails. Those days are over and the public knows it. It wants some accountability for why things happen the way they do and classes and races of people get looked over when its time to dole out the money and the projects. So it may have been frustrating to some but it was educational and informational just the same. And, IMHO, the food was absolutely the best I have ever had a community meeting discussing the why's and wherefore's of politics. An interesting point of diversion was asked of the Commission - what do you mean by minority opportunity wards - what minority - do you mean African Americans, hispanics, somlias??? I never really heard an answer to that other than the generic use of all people of color. And last, but not least, I have been astounded at the new city council members deep interest in making the final plan fair and equitable and they are not trying to out politic each other - I seen a real interest in doing it right. As right as is possible in this short time frame. Thanks to the NAACP for hosting the event and thanks to the four Redistricting Commissioners who showed up without a presentation about "what is redistricting or the maps" :-) As a first in the new millennium it can only get better the next time around in 2011/12. I just hope somebody keeps notes so we all know how to do it better the next time around and where they got the food from. My observations, Annie Young one who loves numbers and maps and thought the new center is just beautiful, dance floor and all, East Phillips _______________________________________ 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
