Well, what a week in beautiful Minneapolis as people of color, the poor, the disenfranchised and the Greens got trashed! About two weeks ago I thought I was going to lose my council member and my block would be only a slice of the pie going into Ward 9. But NO we all got sliced over to Chicago Ave. and yet the Indians still got split up if you look at their real demographic lines which are much broader that Little Earth Village. And those who are now in Ward 9 are split from where all of their social services and safety net are in Ward 6.
And I still may lose my favorite council member if he decides to move and run again in the 6th. Sooner or later that decision will have to be made. The best part about getting Gary is his commitment to clean up and transform Lake Street. I just hope he doesn't sell out Phillips heart and soul while doing it. What I find quite interesting is the wards we haven't talked about much and what else could be interesting on the political landscape. Paul Ostrow picked up the Riverside Coal Plant and that contentious, rebel rousing, pissed off citizenery who want to do something "rash" about the environmental injustices being put upon them with a solution - close down the plant. How will they all get along on this battle. I keep hearing Joe Biernat is not running again which opens up the seat not only to Greens but then a run against Carrie Dziedzic who has been in training since the day she was born. She has quitely watched this whole circus the past few weeks as chair of the Charter Commission which appointed our beloved Redistricting Commission. And Marcy-Holmes is known to raise its head and get out there and defend their wants and needs when needed. There are a few other so far quiet council members who will get some of the rinse water from this bath we all just took. I happen to be so depressed about so much of this that I feel like we just had a Minneapolis version of "ethnic cleansing". With so many people in our country operating out of the "fear" mode because of the War in the Middle East and since 9/11 it feels a little like the "fear" came to Minneapolis. The fear of change that has been brought about by the rapid growth and change in the diversity here in the big city got the best of the "old guard and gatekeepers." And isn't the Mayor in a new Ward himself? As is Tony Scallon after all his years in the 9th. But for better or worse we now must move forward and look at the silver linings that are possible. If we give up all our hope and determination to fear we may as well all not get up tomorrow morning. And with the strong work ethic that exists here I doubt that will happen. So our work continues - it will be in new and different ways. Some new coalitions and opportunities have come together already due to this process. More will surely happen. Now we have to wait to see when we vote next and how we deal with what exists now and not let what doesn't happen until 2005 get in the way of the work we all are doing in our neighborhoods. There is lots to be done no matter who is in the big Red building we know as City Hall and we just have to all make lots of new friends. The issues haven't changed - we're just opening a new show and how it is performed. As many of you on this list might guess, I don't like the almighty, powerful and rich 7th Ward. IMHO, it does leave it ripe for the Republicans and the Downtown Council to do some planning and picking or some other types of big changes that may come back to haunt Miss Lisa. I too want to give the highest marks to Fred Markus who used his late in life college education to help all the rest of us follow along in the process as best we could. Communication for the masses is not an easy thing and because he was open he got more calls and more people trying to talk to him because he listened and we all knew he was working for us. He got tired and cranky at the end - but who wouldn't - it was a very rough job. And to sit there on Thursday night was not easy for any of the folks sitting up there - tired, arrogant, ignorant, not caring is irrelevant - they were in the frying pan on the stove with hot bubbling oil and then had to go back to the drawing board. Not easy for anyone. Thank you, Fred. And it's always fun to watch Rick play his obvious games, get caught in a jam and then watch how he works his way out of it so he still looks like the good guy. I don't know if his last ditch vote can help save his reputation but it was a brilliant vote and at that point he knew the votes for the plan and had nothing to lose. He got what he wanted - protected those he needed to and to some might appear that he came out "smelling like a rose". Amazing! I was very impressed by the organizing efforts of the NAACP and 5th Ward folks - it is always a beautiful sight to watch people fight for their rights - share their history and remind everyone how screwed they have been all of their lives. Seeing the Somali women who never said a word but I'm sure could figure out what was going on and my Native American neighbors speak up and out was awe inspiring. All in all my guess is we will all keep on working to make Minneapolis a wonderful place to live, work and play. And speaking of playing... ICE OUT... I have not been called yet about the ice. And on an ending note, if we put an object out on the Lake to determine when the Ice melts - what keeps it from vandals, and/or who will get it out when it sinks to the bottom - or are we going to let the "object" just sink to the bottom every year forming a new "trash dump" - a hopefully artsy trash dump at the bottom of Lake Calhoun. Our very own time capsule. I don't think you all want to have your taxpaying dollars spent on this issue. I'll try to stay on top of my duties in reporting the ICE OUT timing, Annie Young 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
