News Just In From Ohio . . . And Minneapolis City Hall
This news just arrived from a friend in Ohio:
"Please add Cleveland, Ohio to the growing list of cities passing
resolutions against the war on Iraq.
Monday January 27,2003 Cleveland became the 50th city to pass such a
resolution... Unanimous vote.
Some council members AND the Mayor spoke in favor of the resolution ,
at the rally outside, attended by over 250 people, just before the
council meeting."
This news arrived in my e-mail inbox yesterday afternoon:
"The Minneapolis City Council's Intergovernmental Relations Committee voted this
morning to
"return to author" the resolution opposing a preemptive military strike against Iraq.
Council
Members Ostrow, Goodman, Benson, and Lane voted in favor of the motion to return to
author and
Council Member Zerby voted against. A motion by Zerby to move the resolution to full
Council
without recommendation
failed by the same split.
In speaking against the resolution, Council Member Ostrow asserted that the City
Council was not
elected to deal with matters of national security or foreign affairs."
Minneapolis is where I've spent all of my adult life (having grown up in
a suburb west of Minneapolis), doing civic work in this city for over 25
years, being a booster, a cheerleader you might say, of our wonderful city
everywhere I've traveled in the world ("No, no, NOT Minneapolis, Kansas --
Minneapolis, MINNESOTA!)
I've not only watched our lovely city, straddling both sides of one of
the world's great rivers, morph from being the "biggest city with a small
town feel," but I've participated on a number of fronts in that process. In
my lifetime Minneapolis has grown into what looks like a cosmopolitan
high-energy city noted for its tolerance and progressive, forward-thinking
ethos. Until yesterday that is.
Yesterday, upon receiving the news of the stunning defeat of an anti-war
resolution in the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the Minneapolis
City Council, I found myself filled with shame, with embarrassment. My
cherished home town -- how often I crowed about how progressive a city and
state I lived in, how humane a place for people to live! -- has disappointed
me in a way I did not believe possible. Despite 49 other major cities in
America voting in favor of an anti-war resolution, my city fathers and
mothers saw fit to be nay-sayers on an issue that may well be the defining
event of an entire generation of young Americans.
Yes, I have heard the argument that "we did not elect our city
councilmembers to deal with national and international policy." Forgive my
crassness: that is a bankrupt, an immoral argument. The truth that seems to
be missed with this argument is this: There was no war looming with Iraq at
the time most of our city councilmembers were elected to office. Of course
we didn't elect them to deal with this issue. Instead, this issue, barely on
the national horizon, has been "elected" for them to deal with, to comment
on, on our behalf. And no, we did not elect our city leaders to MAKE
national and/or international policy. That is not what voting in favor of an
anti-war resolution is all about. It is not about making public policy, but
it can and should be about COMMENTING, about taking a stand and making a
statement on governmental policy that affects the citizens of our city, no
matter at what level that policy is promulgated. We DID elect these
individuals whom we assumed would possess moral and ethical scruples for
their capacity to exercise those scruples no matter what was thrown their
way.
Are our collective heads buried so deep in the sand that there is no
comprehension of our city's connectedness to the rest of our country? No
sense of connectedness to events beyond our city's borders? Has Minneapolis
changed back into a self-righteous, smug little burgh? A moral island unto
itself? No, I don't think it has. But our city's leaders -- practicing the
civic equivalent of "morally neutral science" -- are acting as though they
think so. Why is it on the one hand our governmental leaders in Minneapolis
want to boast about the big city amenities that place Minneapolis in the
league of world-class cities and yet, on the other hand, act as though
Minneapolis is ethically a back-water burgh when compared to other major
cities in America? How is it that today, there are 50 -- yes, folks, 50! --
other MAJOR cities in our country that have the ethical sense and the moral
backbone to make a statement, to take a stand, against a war that many
citizens understand is about to be waged on bogus, trumped up charges. A war
that stands to benefit the President's business cronies at the cost of our
daughters and sons lives. A war that will cost us not only in dollars, but
perhaps even worse, in the bankruptcy of our national soul.
Please, if you've been opposed to the adoption of an anti-war resolution
at the city level, consider re-thinking your stance on whether the
Minneapolis City Council should take a stand on this issue. And if you find
upon further reflection that you have changed your mind, please let your
councilmember and Mayor R.T. Rybak know this (see the list below my
electronic signature for contact information). Thank you for your
consideration.
Jenny Heiser
Minneapolis/East Phillips
---------------------------------------------------------------
Mayor's Office:
R.T. Rybak
612-673-2100, Phone; 612-673-2305, Fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
City Council Members:
Paul Ostrow, Ward 1
612-673-2201
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Paul Zerby, Ward 2
612-673-2202
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ward 3: Vacant
Becky Hunter, Ward Aide
612-673-2203
Barb Johnson, Ward 4
612-673-2204
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Natalie Johnson Lee, Ward 5 (but she's in Washington)
612-673-2205
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dean Zimmermann, Ward 6
612-673-2206
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lisa Goodman, Ward 7
612-673-2207
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Robert Lilligren, Ward 8
612-673-2208
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Gary Schiff, Ward 9
612-673-2209
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dan Niziolek, Ward 10
612-673-2210
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scott Benson, Ward 11
612-673-2211
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sandy Colvin Roy, Ward 12
612-673-2212
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/contact/email-form-roy.asp
Barret Lane, Ward 13
612-673-2213
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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