WizardMarks wrote:

> Some of those activists will grow to become candidates. Everyone 
> involved can learn about how to work with government and how 
> government actually works. They learn about contracts and legal 
> language and what it means to request a "point of privilege." For 
> those who in the future may be handling lots of money as people 
> who have elected positions, wouldn't you like to know how they 
> operated when they only had a little money, before you turn over 
> the city budget to their hands?

So is that what the NRP is, a training program for government
bureaucrats?  I'd hate to think that the NRP is an apprentice
program because from my perspective it's teaching people the 
wrong kind of values and ethics.

> WM: The NRP mandate insists that the majority of the money improve 
> housing stock.

But, as Bob Miller has pointed out: What's the penalty if 
the program fails to meet this goal?  I think that ultimately
nothing will happen. Why is it that has the NRP failed to 
meet this goal in Phase I?  It's not because they don't 
approve each and every neighborhood development plan.  
How is it that the oversight of NRP contractors is so loose that 
the program could have ever fallen below the 52% target?  I
believe that it's because the NRP never intended meeting
the housing goal, that housing is just a facade to allow most
of the money to be spent on items that buy influence and
loyalty, and support.

Mark Anderson wrote:

> Michael has a major ax to grind on NRP because of his bad experiences in
> Prospect Park, and so he takes his arguments too far.  

Is having a major ax to grind the opposite of having a 
hidden agenda? ;-)  No doubt I am opposed to the NRP
because something went wrong in Prospect Park, but the
truth remains that what wrong here could go wrong in
any neighborhood in the City.  I believe that this is
because there are major flaws in the NRP concept and in
its current implementation. 

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park

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