There's more to being the chief executive of our city government than keeping the streets clean. R.T. has a national role in the affordable housing venue - there's a national organization for mayors and a national league of cities and he fits in there someplace. He's also likely to testify before committees of the Congress, to attend functions at the White House (dream on!), to travel to other venues nationally and internationally in the fullness of time, all in his official capacity as the mayor of our fair city.
I haven't been following this thread and haven't read or heard what R.T. has to say about the matter. I do know that dropping hundreds of millions of dollars on Turkey takes that money away from domestic uses. Spending hundreds of billions on maintaining a large military satrapy in the Middle East means that we will inevitably have fewer federal dollars in municipal coffers across the United States, including Minneapolis. Perhaps R.T. doesn't want to risk Republican reprisals for opposing the Bush Administration's adventures in empire. Certainly I have no taste for these ideologically-driven excesses. Remember "think globally, act locally" from the Sixties? Are we all to be indifferent to the extended National Guard call-ups, the erosion of constitutional government, and the militarization of the police? There are plenty of sound reasons to get involved at the municipal level. There are also political costs and they are just as real as potholes on Lyndale Ave. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
