Speaking of Park Board fact sheets, Park Board Commissioner Ed Solomon was distributing another �fact sheet� at a recent volunteer recognition event down at Minnehaha Park. The title of the piece is � Mayor and City Council Proposed Park Board Budget Cuts�. The tone and content were intended to alarm citizens, listing all of the park improvements that won�t be done in the year 2003 and subsequent years given the current budget.
Here�s the opening paragraph: �Mayor Rybak and the City Council adopted a policy to increase their portion of property taxes 19% while decreasing funding to parks and libraries. Park tax funding will be cut by 6% next year-resulting in 4.58 million dollars less in park improvement or recreation, maintenance, and environmental programs. The tax cut is devastating and will mean improvements and rehabilitation (such as roofs) at the following parks will not be done.� It then goes on to list the parks that �Won�t Be Done in 2003!� and makes a plea that �For $14 per year, They Can Be Done!� It finishes with some other hyperbolic fairness statements and urges the reader to call the Mayor and Council to restore funding and to attend a Council hearing on September 3. On its face, the flyer seems to make the case for not buying the river property, although that clearly was not the author's intent. If the board can�t take care of the basic maintenance of park buildings (such as roofs!), it has no business buying more property to rehab, period. In addition to an overall poor use of language and its �chicken little� tone, this lobbying pitch also has no disclaimer anywhere on it about who produced it and who paid for it. Given that Commissioner Soloman was helping distribute it, I assume it has at least Park Board sanction if not taxpayer money behind it. I�m aware that volunteer recognition is an important aspect of maintaining high quality recreational programs, and that the Park Board spends tax dollars and uses staff time to organize and promote these events. Commissioners cross another ethical boundry when they combine these taxpayer financed events with the stealth lobbying efforts. It is further evidence that this park board majority cannot be trusted. Niel Ritchie East Harriet-Farmstead Eagerly awaiting the next referendum or election, whichever comes first. P.S. I�m happy to share this with anyone via fax. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.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
