If what you say is true, then Mr. Johnson should be terminated from this project. Any staff person who would "encourage" a resident to resign is not working in the interest of either the community or of the Phillips Partnership. Phillips Partnership can ill afford to have the bad public relations this could cause given the suspicions of their motives that already prevails in the community
The Phillips Partnership is in fact a partnership of Old Honeywell, (now Wells Fargo) and Allina. There has been an attempt to legitimize the process by including some residents, but make no mistake that input is only welcome in so far as it supports this business partnership. The purpose of the partnership was to stabilize the blocks between the two main entities and to bring access to these businesses from I-35W. If this contributes to the community good, it is good PR, but this is secondary to interests of the corporations. We had to fight to get community representatives on this 35W committee, perhaps it is time we withdrew any legitimization of it by the communities and started actual community planning of the accesses for neighborhood benefit. Remember Tom Johnson and the other staff is there to represent the interests of their employer, not the residents of South Minneapolis. Apparently Dave Harstad should have thought of this and demanded the removal of the troublesome employee rather than resigning. Remember Dave who works for whom. I believe Dave Harstad was correct earlier when he stated that we had elected Linda Berglin and Karen Clark to represent us, not Allina and Wells Fargo. If the Corporations wish to partner with the neighborhood to accomplish mutual benefits good, but come on lets be honest about your interests. The Joe Savaggio project, Portland Place and other developments in that area were looked at as a means of stabilizing the area around these corporations and were driven for that purpose. If you look at where these projects are it is apparent. It supposedly was because of the drug crime and blight five years ago, but did you see any of it going to the area north of 24th Street around Franklin where the real crime was occurring? No, it was in the blocks around these businesses. Now I don't mind the work this "Partnership" has done. In fact I appreciate and am jealous about it. The Phillips "partner" PPL is involved in that work while at the same time trying to put more "Supportive" housing in my neighborhood even though there is open land for it by Wells Fargo along the Greenway. I guess the Corporate Partners are only interested in the "Corporate Interests" south of 24th Street and be damned to the rest. But remember the majority of the funds for these projects were public funds, not just Corporate funds. The Corporations are doing good work but with tax payer dollars paying the way. Sure they use their political power to drive it but it is still public dollars supporting Corporate interests. I do not mind a little hypocrisy, but there should be some bounds to the depths of it. The Phillips Partnership should just be up front with their interests. If they are truly a partnership with the community I would suggest an apology to Mr. Harstad and the communities by the Phillips Partnership, and the removal of their employee, Mr. Johnson, from this sensitive position. I feel certain the consulting company paying his salary can find other worth while work for him to do and a person more sensitive to the nature of the "Partnership" can be so employed. If Mr.Piehl and Mr. Harstad so desire I would be happy to attend the next meeting to personally witness how this problem is resolved. It is just my cup of tea, I rather enjoy such a game. Please contact me if so. Jim Graham, Ventura Village (also suppose to be one of the partners) ----- Original Message ----- From: Dave Piehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 9:46 AM Subject: [Mpls] No "dogs" Allowed? Exclusivity of I35W Access Project > > As attention has been drawn to the problems associated > with the I35W / Lake Street Access Project sponsored > by Phillips Partnership and the taxpayer, there seems > to be increasing pressure by staff of the Access > Project to conform, presumably to the opinions of the > Phillips Partnership leadership. > > Yesterday, Tom Johnson, Access Project Staff > (political lobyist too, I believe) harassed dissenting > member Dave Harstad to the point that Dave, a resident > representative for the Whittier neighborhood, resigned > from the PAC. This was in response to Dave's > well-founded concern about Phillips Partnership > getting MNDoT funding WITHOUT the approval or review > of our elected state legislators. > > This is not the first time such harassment has > occurred, I was the subject of the same treatment at > the beginning of the process four years ago, and I am > aware of other PAC members (still on board) who have > undergone the same treatment. > > How can the process be considered a "citizen > participatory" process when those with different > opinions (and brave enough to speak their mind) are so > strongly "encouraged" to resign? > > In summary, I believe that the "Input Process" is > filtering out dissent, rather than addressing it > constructively. > > David Piehl > Central > > > __________________________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________ 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
