Thank you, Jim Mork. Your "herding" comment brought to mind my favorite commercial from last year's Super Bowl. The one where cowboys were herding cats. I laughed my head off! Herding people to NRP meetings, or "making" them take a particular action would, in our community at least, be like herding cats, and just as funny. Greg Luce discovered this when he tried to "herd" Ventura Village people into thinking "his" way. That may be the reason he always seems to be badmouthing us. People can be led to where "THEY" want to go, but our people refuse to be herded. Oklahoma Cowboys have a hard time with unruly cats, I guess.
I also found amusing Greg's continued attempts to tell us how to run our NRP programs. Last I heard, Greg was a St. Paul Lawyer coming into Minneapolis to seek out NRP "opportunities". I'll bet Greg will come up with some really good ideas about letting "his" groups tell us poor dumb so-and-so's from the inner-city how to spend our money. Doesn't Greg know that St. Paul can use his help? Heck, I'll bet Greg has dozens of ideas about "helping" St. Paul neighborhoods organize their own NRP. Greg says, "We call for the creation of an NRP funded and implemented Community Outreach and Participation Team that does a number of things, including reviewing neighborhood plans for inclusivity issues and developing strategies for neighborhoods to use for increasing participation from groups largely left out of the NRP process." He's probably unaware that "programs" just like his own were the most criticized aspect of Phase I NRP. Too many programs and not enough money spent on revitalization. Where's the beef? A suggestion for Greg would be to use his time to create "Affordable Homeownership" opportunities for minority people. The seventy-five Latino people showing up at Mid-Town Phillips' meetings had already discovered that "Affordable Homeownership" was one way to seek opportunity. I will bet they'd prefer "NRP funded" revitalization and crime prevention over Greg's "programs" any day of the week. Could someone at the meeting tell us about the Latino's priorities? In all fairness, Greg Luce is a new comer to the NRP scene and probably does not understand that there was life and history in Minneapolis neighborhoods before he came to "help" us. Heck, a handful of us neighborhood people had already been to the county fair and a goat-roping, so maybe he didn't get quite the reception he anticipated. A good question would be: How much did "NRP funded programs" cost during Phase I? I know that several neighborhoods got in trouble because their "NRP funded programs" failed to meet guidelines about housing until very late in the process. It took some time to work the kinks out of NRP and free it from the ambitions of people who, like Greg, came to "help" us spend the neighborhood's resources on "NRP funded programs". Now then, a little seriousness in the middle of our fun. Bob Miller and the NRP staff are to be commended for the fine job they have done with NRP since the "bugs" were shaken out. In the last three years, Whittier, Phillips and others have run exemplary programs. While Central Neighborhood may have fallen, at least their funds were frozen before they could be completely looted. And I'm sure that Central will be much stronger and better prepared after having survived this experience. Whittier and Phillips learned the same lesson and have been far more productive because of it. Some may complain that it was a costly learning experience, but not if you compare it to the City Council's learning experience with Brookfield and Downtown Target. Greg is good at innuendo and at raising questions concerning other peoples' conflicts of interest and motive. Here's a question for him: How much money has he and his non-profit corporation taken from poor Minneapolis neighborhoods? We in Ventura Village refused to be herded by Greg into spending money on his "programs", but have any other neighborhoods been victimized, or have any others taken advantage of his "programs"? Are there other "List" readers who could shed some light on Greg Luce and his possible conflicts of interest? And in the interests of fairness, I should also ask whether there are those in any neighborhoods that have had positive experiences with him and Project 504? Isn't taking a Minnesota Legislation number as a Corporate name rather opportunistic? Does this cause any confusion for people about the supposed official nature of that corporation? Is this confusion created on purpose? How much money did Greg Luce and Project 504 receive last year? From what sources? Are Greg Luce and Project 504 registered with the State of Minnesota Attorney General? Are there reports on his funding sources? I assume that Greg, being a lawyer, would take care of such things. Just asking questions. Jim Graham, Just an old country boy and former goat roper from Ventura Village >>>There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies and revolution into minds. <<< TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ 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
