This is an interesting subject, complete with an interesting statement by Ms. Sether.
Can someone articulate why we need the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department? When it was first created, as I understand it, the City of Minneapolis had sexual orientation as a protected class in its civil rights ordinance, but the State civil rights statute did not. Now, to the best of my knowledge, the protected classes are the same in both statute and ordinance. So, what does the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department do that the Minnesota Department of Human Rights doesn't do? What is the benefit to us from having this group there? To Ms. Sether, on what basis do you claim that "the Civil Rights Commission has a negligible (if any) budget impact?" Is the department a money maker? If not, then it has a budget impact, and I would think that it's not negligible. It's hard to believe that cutting an entire department wouldn't save some money. I'm not questioning the work that the department does. However, if this work is also being done by the Minnesota Dept. of Human Rights, then why should we pay for this department? I'm paying state taxes to maintain the state department. Why should I support a city department that appears to be superfluous? I'd like to hear some justification for this. Jon Lewis Lyndale _______________________________________ 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
