Michael Atherton wrote: >Encouraging broad neighborhood support and receiving it are two >different things, as McKenzie pointed out. > This is always a problem for organizers. Some people will never show up. My own brother would never show up at such a series of meetings as the NRP was/is.
> Government by those >who show up is not representative democracy. > But we do have government by those who show up--those who show up to vote as well as those who show up for the neighborhood/community/city meeting. > I want tax dollar >decisions made by the people I elect, not a group civil servant >wantabes who think they are God's gift to volunteerism (Just >speaking from local experience. > This is another sticky wicket. In terms of the NRP or the neighborhood organization, it is not enough to show up for the vote, but one has to stay there for quite some time in order to see through to the end of whatever projects are conceived and voted on. The drawbacks are that those who do stick around take ownership of the project, sometimes to the exclusion of all other voices. At the same time, I get really tired of folks who show up at the seventh hour and want to change everything that was voted on, approved, signed, sealed, and delivered four years earlier. That places folks in the position of forever going back to redo the process and never getting anything done. > I am sure there were some >well informed, well meaning, ethical, and intelligent individuals >involved in the NRP, I just haven't meet them yet.) > Among those who showed up in my neighborhood, all the qualities listed above were present. So were the qualities that make people want to pull out their hair like classism, racism, sexism, and all the other careless, heartless, anti-social behavior that flesh is heir to. I have developed a theorem in addition to that which says that each neighborhood is assigned by cosmic forces (choose the one you're most accustomed to here) to contend with two genuine nut cases who are there to act out their personal pain and suffering at public functions. So the guy the neighborhood has nicknamed "the weasel" will be there, and the narcissist will be there expecting everyone to kow-tow to his/her personal notions, the hippy-dippy wonder bunny who has fried a few too many brain cells will be there, as will the one with the permanent kink in his/her colon, the burr under his/her saddle, the dumber than a bucket of hair person, etc. If you leave it to your public officials whom the few who vote elected, you get the same mix. Life, what a pain in the butt. WizardMarks, Central > > >Michael Atherton >Prospect Park > >_______________________________________ >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 > _______________________________________ 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
