racism and the nrp Brother Weir has hit upon something with his satirical attempt at humor. Perhaps any organizational efforts will be doomed to being eventually taken over by those dumb enough to sit through the number of meetings that must be endured to work out programs such as NRP. I doubt that Bob Miller was smart enough to work this out as a "Racist" plot. Unless Bob is one of those who participate in racial self hate, and he knew that these NRP meetings would condemn a disproportionate number of Eurocentric people to the living hell of the "never ending NRP Meeting".
Yes, brother Paul has hit upon something, even though it is obfuscated within his insistence upon literate discourse, rather than simple communication. Actually, I am tempted to have him also write my arguments with himself, as his arguements simply sound better. Even though mine are usually sounder. (Better sounding ideas versus "sound ideas"???) Most people who are actively participating in the NRP process are very much interested in the well being of the City of Minneapolis and their communities. If this hardcore cadre were interested in just personal advantage they would get jobs at McDonalds or Burger King, and realize twice as much income on an hourly basis. Very few NRP programs ever give an individual more than a few thousand dollars in grant money. (This does not include City Council people receiving houses) If the thousands of hours of individual volunteer time are amortized for the number of dollars realized then the individual volunteer would certainly have realized a great deal more while working for Burger King. What those dedicated people do is make our City a better place to live for every body. Are these people disproportionately homeowners and family people? Yes, and I guess this may be one reason NRP programs disproportionately favor children's programs and housing. Of course this also may be a spurious correlation, and the relationship may be due to nothing more than most people's belief that this was the original intent of "Neighborhood Revitalization". I once, a lifetime ago, taught statistics at the college level. Also, I was the Research Director for Metropolitan Sociometrics Research Institute. So Brother Paul is wrong in his supposition that I, (Jim Graham), have a contempt for statistics. My contempt is reserved for those who attempt to pick and choose which statistics they will use and misuse to prove a point or lie. As anyone who knows research methodology and statistics will tell you, statistics are only as good as the sample being drawn and the unbiased nature of the person doing both the sampling and the choosing of questions to ask. Researchers are warned, (even in the supposed "hard sciences"), to be careful of making purely statistical correlations with out "observation". This observation would be the "anecdotal evidence" offered in our case. Otherwise someone might say that having meetings on Tuesday or Thursday evenings unfairly discriminates against certain people because more of another group showing up on those nights. And display statistics to prove it. (I have to be careful with examples because this might be a truer correlation than some of the race and homeowner ones I have seen) Congratulations to Mid-Town and Antonio on the number of people participating in their Land Use Planning. Those community members who participate in the planning of a community are not only in the best position to accurately define a community's problems, but also the BEST position to offer realistic solutions to those problems. NRP is based on this same principle. Latinos make up 20% or less of the population of Phillips, yet Paul indicates they were at least 60% of those participating in the Mid-Town planning meeting. Does this mean that "White" people will be complaining that they are proportionally under represented in such planning? Or does it mean nothing more than Latinos are family oriented, have bought affordable houses in the neighborhood, and are more concerned with the neighborhood because of this new "Empowerment"? Latinos bought approximately 40% of all houses sold in Ventura Village last year. These wonderful people have come with their families, bought houses, and become part of the community. Buena Ventura to them. They WILL be major players in both neighborhood and NRP decision-making. Latinos also have done this through buying affordable housing. As such they will stabilize the community in ways that social service agencies have never been able to do, even with the investment of millions and millions of dollars. These families have come from traditional communities to stay and to participate fully in "OUR" communities. I am afraid some NRP critics are in for a shock, however, because the Latinos are going to be emphasizing housing revitalization and children's programs even more than the past NRP participants. This would be interesting phenomena to follow and have "true" statistics on. Paul Weir, if I were one of the social service mavens I would be mad at you. They were just about to make a case for themselves and your minorities show up and disprove the whole darn thing with "real" statistics. Could this have been another "Miller Plot"? Could Miller have been so devious that he recruited Ecuadorian and Mexican families to move to these neighborhoods, buy property, and (horror of horrors), participate in Community actions at just this critical time? Just so as to maliciously disprove the statistics? Or could Bob Miller be deviously enough to be stacking meetings with actual "RESIDENTS" to thwart non-profit plans? Given his nature and deviousness I would not put it past Mr. Miller to stoop to even so heinous a crime. Imagine encouraging "Residents" to participate in meetings? Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of a man so committed that he would empower neighborhood residents to address their own problems? HA HA HA HA HA HA, the statistical shadow knows. (Disclaimer: The above paragraph is irony and humor. As such it may be dangerous if viewed as fact. Please do not attempt to adjust one's bias on the basis of it) Jim Graham, Ventura Village - >>>"We can only be what we give ourselves the power to be" >>> - A Cherokee Feast of Days _______________________________________ 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
