[Mpls] Shane Price Issue Platform

[dyna]

Title: Shane Price Issue Platform

        Thanks Angela.

Lest we get stuck in a hole dug for other pigeons, the community should be aware of the real issues Shane Price stands for.

Localized Economics
The majority of Americans work for small and mid sized businesses, not small corporations.  Yet property taxes went up for neighborhood businesses to pay for big tax subsidies given to downtown corporations. 

        Not necessarily- the  property tax windfall the legislature and Jesse gave away lowered taxes on both big and small industrial properties.

Shane will not support a stadium uless it comes with a plan to employ local people with sustainable, living wage jobs. 

        OK, Shane 'fesses up that he'll support a stadium. Stadiums don't provide much in the way of living wage jobs.

When development projects are proposed, Shane will bring the concerns of recycling dollars, training and other resources in the local economy.  Shane sits on a number of committees that negotiates contracts for small and underutilized businesses in Hennepin County.  The average dollar in Edina is recycled at least five times before it leaves that community.  In North Minneapolis, our dollar is rarely recycled once.  Local, neighborhood driven development that simultaneously builds the capacity of residents and young and old will be a priority over and large corporate developments. 

        I largely agree. Problem is, the "neighborhood driven development" Shane   favors tend to produce lower wages than "large corporate developments". For example, if the Canadian Pacific Railroad proposed to develop a logistics center at Port of Minneapolis that would provide a couple hundred good paying union jobs Shane would probably oppose it. The Northside needs living wage jobs and a council member who will get them. I get the feeling that Shane is not that Council Member.

Decent, Affordable Housing
Finding and owning a place to live is often the first step to gaining a financial foothold for those seeking an American Dream. Predatory lending is among the highest in the Hawthorne and Jordan neighborhoods. Shane Price will introduce and support local legislation that holds corporations and individuals accountable for robbing our neighborhoods of hard earned equity and for humiliating homeowners that are seeking their dream.  The council should present an Urban Agenda for Minneapolis to the State Legislature that preserves and develops our urban landscape.   Shane Price is endorsed by ACORN.

        Agreed, but until the Northside is a safe place to live and raise children it will be the residence of last resort.

Health & Education
Shane is a licensed mental health, chemical addiction, psychotherapy and family therapy counselor.  He manages over a half million dollar budget with a staff of six at Hennepin County. His years of experience as an advocate for parents and students in the public schools gives him first hand knowledge of the education disparity.  In addition, his mediation and problem solving sessions are requested to resolve disputes between, teachers, administrators and parents across the state. With the African American Men Project, Shane has developed a model that engages community partners with school administrators to literally invest in the education of students in the poorest neighborhoods. This model assigns a responsible adult to a school and matches the adult with child(ren) forming an assertive mentorship type relationship. Although he recently completed a psycho therapy residency at Hennepin County Medical Center, Shane has years of experience working with a variety health projects within Hennepin County

        Agreed, this is Shane's greatest contribution to the community.

Environment
The local coal burning plant spews Mercury, Lead and and other toxins into our air and water, damaging the health of our urban environment. The phone utility monopoly is under fire, mega corporations are failing around the country.   In addtion to the Urban Agenda to the state legistlature, Shane Price will work with activists and experts to implement positive, renewable energy solutions that will not violate our responsiblity to future

  generations.

       

        Said local coal burning plant is already committed to switch over to natural gas. In my "fantasy" platform I've already proposed an alternative to Qwest, and Shane hasn't. Shane missed a bunch of opportunities here- wind and hydro power, running the city's vehicles on renewables, etc.. We also have at least one small elevator that would be ideal for distributing corn fuel. It's a bad sign when a DFL fantasy candidate upstages the Green endorsee on Green issues...

Neighborhood Safety
As long as deep poverty and hopelessness continue to permeate our neighborhoods, the quality of life for all Ward 3 residents will suffer.  Drug dealers and "street thugs" have some functional skills.

        Debatable... if they had marketable skills, would they use half a dozen of them to sell a $20 rock of crack every 10-15 minutes? Or worse yet, a $10 "trick" every half hour? And if they had any business savvy, they'd figure out how to solve their incredible "employee turnover" problem by keeping their "employees" out of jail.

 These skills need to be redirected to create positive outputs for our local economy.  Job Training, Apprenticeships, and career building opportunities should be considered when neighbors are spending NRP and Empowerment Zone dollars. 

        These are primarily state and federally funded programs- we could blow all our NRP money on them and not even make a dent. BTW, there are living wage unskilled union jobs on West Broadway that go unfilled- because so many of the applicants can't pass a drug test.

In previous years, residents used these funds to build around their fears.  Fear of crime, fear of lowering property values, fear of...  These fears lead to more fear and more hopelessness.

        Shane, these aren't just fears, they are reality. "For Rent" and "For Sale" signs are sprouting like weeds on the Northside. People aren't leaving out of fear- their leaving because they or their neighbors are increasingly being victimized by crime.

Shane Price will introduce an invigorating shift in the paradigm of fear based community development into one of Asset Based Community Development. 

        What is "Asset Based Community Development"? Doesn't sound like much of a "Neighborhood Safety" platform...

This kind of development builts out crime, fear and hopelessness and builts in hope, prosperity and respect.  Shane is not afraid to face crime and poverty head on, he has been there and will continue to advocate f

        No reasonable person is going to "builts" here on the Northside amid the multiplying vacancies, vandalism, and violence. Shane, this sounds like the kind of fantasyland social policy the DFL gets falsely accused of.

        By the way, did Shane really write this platform?

visit www.shaneprice.org for more information.

Angela Dawson
Jordan

        Unimpressed in Hawthorne,

                Dyna Sluyter

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