Jim Mork and Barb Lickness express the experience of most neighborhoods. The suggestion that MCDA might be more protective of the poor and minority communities' interest is absolutely laughable. Exactly who does that person believe was responsible for tearing down the thousands of units of affordable housing in this City? Who was it but MCDA that tried to denude the inner city of poor people by tearing down available housing? Well yes, I know that the City Council and their developer buddies were behind the deal, but MCDA was the tool they used, wasn't it?
I always view with humor the occasional posts attacking NRP on the basis of NRP not benefiting minorities. Some, and in particular white middle class social service types, try to act as if NRP was supposed to be an entitlement program run through their own offices. If it is not run by their agencies it must be bad. Inner-City Neighborhoods that refuse their domination are of course bad because such agencies are entitled to speak for poor minority people. God forbid that they might want to speak for themselves. Statements like, "Why not take the suggestions of well-meaning and knowledgeable folks who do want change, such as the Tenant Issues Working Group, and begin to work on those suggestions." are examples of such. These predominantly white middle class people, who most times choose not to even live in poor Minneapolis Communities, are of course the beneficiaries of what they see as an "enlightened" NRP. They say, "let us show you statistics about how the program is bad and how "We" can help to direct that the money be spent in the correct way". They say, "don't bother us with anecdotal evidence and qualitative data, just listen to "Our" statistics. Don't bother us with facts when we have statistics". To them I have an answer. There are lies, damn lies, and there are statistics. How about if these folks go back into their white middle class communities and set up a representative NRP of their own, and stop telling others how to run their lives. The inner -city neighborhoods these social service mavens are usually attacking include Phillips. So perhaps it would be informative to look at Phillips. Phillips received $18,089,283 from NRP. From this amount in excess of eight million dollars was directly dedicated to Native Americans for programming. Last time I checked Native Americans were minorities. From the remaining Eight million dollars probably half was directed to predominantly minority targeting programs. Of the remaining four or five million dollars programs for housing were created that also were open for all minorities. So from purely a dollar amount, minorities living in Phillips received an amount of money greater than the minority representation in the general neighborhood population. I am not complaining about this allocation, as I see the great benefits these programs have had. They are a benefit not only for the Native Community, but also for the Phillips Neighborhood as a whole. To say that this is not true and minorities were not represented is all three, it is not only a lie, but also a damn lie, and probably statistical as well. Now lets look at "Power" and "control" of Phillips NRP. During the first four years of NRP the Executive Director of "People of Phillips" (the neighborhood organization running NRP in Phillips), was Don Vargas a Latino and Cindy Jones who was a Black person. During those four years the Presidents or Chairs of the POP organization were three people, Shadda Byobi-Hammonds a Black person, Jerry Northrup a Native Person, and Mathea Smith a Black person. All were minorities. The organizing staff for POP was predominantly minority people and minority people fully participated at every step of NRP. What I have noticed is that Council Persons from more affluent neighborhoods are the most likely to oppose NRP. Why could this be so? Could it be that those Council Members from such neighborhoods do not see a need to address the needs of communities with more "Minority" and "Poor" people? I am aware that some politicians and social service agency people have treated Neighborhoods as the enemy, and as such try to attack NRP. They realize that the strategic planning experience that comes from NRP empowers those neighborhood people to think they have some power over the direction that development takes in their communities. This "Empowerment" is a major threat to the political world and limits the amount of "Political Contributions" which politically powerful developer buddies will give to politicians. Non-Profit developers and social service agencies realize that the Neighborhood residents may become empowered enough to not need social service agencies to spend the neighborhood's money, and might even change the neighborhoods environments so much that it would lessen non-profits ability to leverage money from other sources. For this reason Neighborhoods and NRP are viewed as enemies by the politicians and "unethical" Non-Profits. In contrast, ethical and responsible Council Members and Non-profits view neighborhoods and NRP as their natural allies to improve the condition for people in Minneapolis. A warning for those politicians and non-profits that choose to make neighborhoods an enemy. Be careful. Those neighborhood people might also remember that politicians and non-profits are also their enemies when non-profits and politicians need support for a project or to get elected. Neighborhoods need to realize that most funders whether governmental or foundation will probably give their money to someone else if organized neighborhoods fight that funding. Neighborhood residents need to also realize that they can do referendums, and are also citizens and voters in State and Federal elections. Taking City issues to the legislature and our US Congressional delegation is also appropriate. Impacted Neighborhoods need to put together a lobbying effort each year to go to the legislature. Neighborhoods also need to lobby Hennepin County, and our Federal Senators and Legislators to protect the interest of our communities. If "Neighborhoods" are going to be labeled as "Enemies" they off course should not trust City and Non-Profit lobbyist to do things in their interest. Jim Graham, Ventura Village _______________________________________ 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
