T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan www.mplsobserver.com Vol. 2, No. 7 September 23, 2002
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To check out a sample of the full-meal deal ($12/yr.) go to www.mplsobserver.com and click on "sample copy". ********************************************************** THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER: * Pro-Palestinian Posters Spark FBI Search in Dinkytown * Uptown Borders May Become First in Nation to Unionize * Park and Golf? * RiverLake Greenway Construction Finally Underway * The Mystery of the 24th Street Bridge Solved Plus: Laying down the law on fireworks, crossing the street on a Tuesday, an osprey siting, remembering Jerry Haaf, Biernat and the city's ethics problem, and how the mayor still gets to be the mayor--even when he's in St. Paul. ********************************************************** PRO-PALESTINIAN POSTERS SPARK FBI SEARCH OF DINKYTOWN BUSINESS Disturbed by pro-Palestinian posters in a Dinkytown tobacco shop, Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies last week called in state FBI agents to search the business during an eviction process. "When you think you're looking at hate messages, you don't know what else is there," Sheriff's department spokeswoman Roseann Campagnoli told Brad Unangst in the Minnesota Daily (www.mndaily.com). "Because of that, (the sheriff's deputy) then asked for some back-up resources to help him search the property." The posters, displayed in the tobacco shop's windows, were furnished by a university student group and called the creation of an Israeli state unjust. "What does that have to do with an eviction?" said shop owner Nizar Alsadi, who was being evicted for nonpayment of rent for the space he's leased during the past six years. The FBI search yielded nothing, and Alsadi was not arrested. UPTOWN BORDERS MAY BECOME FIRST TO UNIONIZE The 20 employees of the Uptown Borders Book Shop will vote October 18 on a proposal to join Local 789 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. If a majority approves the move, the store will become the first Borders in the country to successfully unionize. PARK AND GOLF? A local development firm wants to turn a downtown parking ramp into a unique golfing experience. _________________________________________________________ RAVES, RANTS, AND OTHER CONSIDERED OPINIONS _________________________________________________________ IT'S JUST MY OPINION, BUT . . . The mayor and his Ethics Task Force have done yeoman's work in clarifying and detailing just what's expected of people serving Minneapolis citizens when it comes to ethical behavior. Conflicts of interest are to be promptly and properly registered, outside employment that "interferes with public duty" will be explicitly prohibited, and evidence of fraud will be promptly reported. A new Ethical Practices Board will be on hand to review possible ethical violations. What was ironic, to me, was to see this big ethics process hauled out proudly before the public the very same week that Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan ruled that Council Member Joe Biernat's now very public confession that he had illegally accepted free plumbing could be admitted as evidence in his upcoming extortion trial. Here you have this marvelous piece of "process-speak" designed to foster trust between citizens and City Hall and you look over at Biernat's situation and you can't help but notice that no amount of ethics codes or training sessions or independent review panels would have saved poor old Joe from the pickle he now finds himself in. I don't pretend to know what went through Biernat's head when he was offered--not once, apparently, but twice--free plumbing work from his friends down at Local 15, but my guess is that he wasn't thinking about filling out some ethics checklist when the bill for the work somehow never showed up in the mail. The first time, back in 1993, he might have imagined himself to be the fortunate recipient of some small favor--the sort of favor council members routinely are supposed to receive for their hard work on behalf of particularly important constituents. The second time, in 1999, the quid pro quo was apparently quite clear. Still, would Joe have consulted some ethics worksheet on his bulletin board to see if he was on the straight and narrow? I would doubt it. My sense is that the people we voters send to City Hall arrive there with certain tools, among which may or may not be a functioning ethical compass. For those who are so equipped, the new ethics guidelines will serve as a kind of street map of their hometown. For the rest of them, it's simply a hastily scrawled map of a foreign country. --Craig Cox ********************************************************** The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2002 Independent Media, 4152 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406; www.mplsobserver.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Independent Media. Subscriptions: $12/yr. To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and we'll get you off the list and refund the unused portion of your subscription. Editor: Craig Cox Deputy Assistant Senior Executive Editor: Sharon Parker Contributing writers: Chris Dodge, Leo Mezzrow Online technical assistance: Christopher Pollard Equine consultant and correspondent: Nora Cox Perspective: Martin Cox Thanks to: Michael Buelow, Darcy and James Dungan-Seaver, and Victoria Heller ******************************************************* Fight media consolidation! Support the independent press! Pick up your neighborhood newspaper! ******************************************************* _______________________________________ 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
