Many list members were there (including myself). The mood was generally receptive, though people were quick to ask questions and offer constructive criticism. While the group was probably not representative of the city as a whole, I think most folks did their best to ask fair questions about the viability and the benefits of changing Minneapolis' community planning structure.
Personally, I support the majority of changes proposed by the McKenzie report. Still, I do have a pair of concerns I'd like to share. One is that whatever mechanism is used to give neighborhoods more of a say in city planning, that voting mechanism should be carefully designed to balance local and citywide interests. I do not have a clear proposal in mind on this point, but I am concerned that better organized neighborhoods could manipulate the planning outcomes to the disadvantage of less organized neighborhoods. These things will always happen to some extent, but that doesn't mean we have to make it worse through negligent planning. I would also like to know more about how we set our jobs and affordable housing target numbers. Do we know exactly what we should expect to gain for an increase of x housing units or y jobs? Do we know what it will take to achieve these gains? Especially for affordable housing, many of the factors leading to its production cannot be easily controlled by the city. It's important to have goals and ideals, but if we throw a number on the wall without an idea of what it implies, we could be doing ourselves a serious planning disservice. - Dana Bacon Page neighborhood --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi list members..A few nights ago I went to the > Mayor's meeting with > community people to discuss the McKenzie report, > some of you were there, but > it's been very quiet on the list..any I missing > something??? I for one > support the change and urge the City Council members > & Mayor to do so also.. > Our Mayor seems to want it too..What about all of > you??? > Becky Olson > Whittier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com _______________________________________ 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
