Hello list, There's so much to respond to on the list recently.
I'm going to start with start with two of Vickie's recent posts and work backwards. Housing-- I think Vickie is a sharp business person with a pretty good understanding of finance and development issues. Her research into a riverfront housing development is interesting reading but she paints a misleading picture that ends with "Steve Minn ends up with a $30 million asset. How does that help people who cannot pay $500 per month for apartments that are available now?" Dissecting the finances for this deal would probably show that Steve ends up with 1% of a $30 million asset and that the asset is offset by a $31 million list of debts. The remaining equity will be in the hands of limited partners while the debt holders will have liens on the property until the debts are paid off. Voting-- In an earlier post Vickie asks about non-citizens voting. I'm an election judge and I was interested in this same issue at training this year. It turns out that we, election judges, cannot ask if a person is a citizen. We administer an oath that the voter must swear they are a citizen, 18 years old, not a felon, not under guardianship, that they live in the precinct in which they are voting etc. But, if a voter wants to commit perjury in front of an election judge, a non-citizen has an easier time voting than a 15 year old has getting a picture ID from the State. Library Director-- How many folks on this list use the library? It seems a lot of people are willing to criticize and bad mouth the Library Board without much understanding of our library, how it works or the level of knowledge and expertise needed to lead an agency of this magnitude. The discussion of salary might be seen as class envy. Poor (like me) and lower middle class folks (like anyone earning less than about $80,000 per year) post here yearning to get one of those upper middle class salaries in the $120,000 and up range. These folks can't see how anyone should earn that much. First, its not really a zero sum situation. And second, the real culprit here is the upper class who have siphoned off the value created in the past twenty years into their off shore accounts, their palatial estates, their ownership of over 80% of all US corporation and the trust funds for their children. Back to Minneapolis on this-- Even as someone who's been out of work for almost two years now, I can see how a person being recruited to take on a job like Director of the Minneapolis Public Library system or Superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board would need a serious salary that might exceed the State mandate. This becomes an argument in favor of paying the Governor more or maybe paying the First Lady a salary and including that salary in the formula. Or, scratching the law from the State books altogether. While I agree with Vickie and others who rightly point out that fancy resumes and high salaries does not guarantee effectiveness or high job performance and while I agree that salaries have to be compared to others in the local area not only to those in higher cost localities, I also understand that any skilled professional needs incentive to pick up from a safe job and move to a new one even if they are not relocating from another city. That incentive must be enough to fit the challenge of the job and to acknowledge the personal interests of the candidate. I support the Library Board and the Personnel Committee in their work and I sympathize with their recent set back. It must be very disappointing to lose both the top candidates after all the work they've put into making a great choice for new leadership of the Minneapolis Public Library. Thank you to the Library Board and especially to those involved on the Personnel Committee. -- In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward: a great place to live, work, learn, and play! (612) 724-3217 home ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ mailto:riese@;tcfreenet.org ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
