My personal political roots go back to Minneapolis' first major citizen participation exercise in the 1970's Model Cities program. I value citizen participation and believe its greatest contribution is in the empowerment it provides to citizens. I also recognize the negative side of the process. In today's political climate, woe is the local city politician who would dare to publicly express any doubts as to the wisdom of the current NRP process. Instead of focusing on bigger view of the city and its role in the region, the city of Minneapolis is balkanizing into mini fiefdoms with I suggest only the most marginally democratic trappings offering legitimacy.
I'm sure participation varies from neighborhood to neighborhood. However, I would be surprised to learn of a neighborhood that had an active participation rate exceeding 1/2 of 1% of its residents. And those that do, probably have accomplished that level not because people were happy, but because they were bitterly divided. Nonetheless each NRP group's half dozen or so active leaders will lobby and defend their pot of money and their God given right to that money, no matter what the status of the city's overall fiscal circumstances. The trend appears to be to devote resources and thought to smaller and smaller geographical debates rather than to a larger overview. As I stated in an earlier post this evening, we need to spend more of our political thought and activity thinking at a larger regional level. About how we as a city fit into a region that is in economic competition with the world. About how we might go about finding a more rational geopolitical basis for governing ourselves effectively. About how we as a city survive in a Republican state dominated by our suburban neighbors. True believers with fervently felt causes believe they have the right to divert the Mayor's attention to their cause. NRP leaders demand their full share of the pie. Group after group feels their group or issues local needs are not being fairly dealt with and to H with the rest of you. God is on the side of so many of us, you would think we would all be a bit more blessed than we seem to be. City councilors are asked to debate foreign policy, focus is lost and drifting. Our elected officials are almost as arrogant as our community leaders who are almost as arrogant as those of us who post our peculiar certainties on this list. So many of us claim to speak for the people, I wonder why the people stay at home and don't attend our NRP meetings or our caucuses? At least about half of them vote on occasion, you'd think that would provide some credibility to our elected officials, but who respects them? Few, particularly once our pet project fails to get priority attention. I've found this list to be distressing to follow of late. I wish I was able to do a better job of identifying the cause and the why. So many messages seem to full of negative energy. I apologize for the ramble. I have been active in my NRP group for about five years now. There is a role for our groups, but I wonder if having money to spend, and maintaining staff salaries has become the focus of activity rather than thinking and planning for our futures. Earl Netwal Nokomis East Neighborhood, (What an awful name) I prefer to see myself as living in the Nokomis Village portion of the urban forest. 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
