I agree with only one thing Mark Snyder wrote in his post.  It was as 
follows:

>John Erwin was one of the more vocal supporters of the
>purchase in this Forum and quite frankly gave some very compelling reasons
>to support it.  I sure hope he'll be able to post an explanation as to why
>he changed his mind.

I, too, am interested in why Mr. Erwin flip flopped on this issue.  Don't 
get me wrong...I'm glad he did vote along with his courageous colleague, 
Vivian Mason, to sustain Mayor Rybak's veto.  However, I wonder whether Mr. 
Erwin, who is a list member, may have seen the future electoral handwriting 
on the wall via the list's postings yesterday, or whether he finally 
realized that in the accounting world 2 + 2 does actually equal 4.  In other 
words, maybe this freshman park board member has discovered that you can't 
spend more than you have, and what little you do have should be allocated to 
necessities (i.e., neglected playgrounds and parks) before being spent on 
luxuries.

Having lived in Detroit, Seattle and Chicago, I have been amused at the 
concept that the Parks and Recreation board is elected in Minnepolis.  These 
other cities, all with excellent parks and recreation systems, have boards 
appointed by their mayors and councils.  Officials in Seattle and Chicago 
told me their systems were designed as such to avoid turning the boards into 
political stepping stones.  Politicos with their eyes on higher office who 
would use the park system as a political pawn.

Please understand me...I am not in the least claiming that this is the case 
in Minneapolis.  However, let us hope the remaining commissioners will take 
a long, hard look at the title of the board upon which they were elected by 
us to serve upon.  It reads "Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board".  
Perhaps the actual parks and recreational facilities of this city should be 
the paramount concern during these tough financial times.

Alan Hooker
Victory Neighborhood
Minneapolis


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