This letter was sent today to members of the Minneapolis Library Board and City Council. It has been suggest that it should be posted to the Forum. Here it is!
To the Decision Makers Elected or Appointed on Behalf of the Citizens of Minneapolis: It is time for you to realize that the decisions you are making will, no doubt, negatively affect all resident groups. The process you are using, threats, innuendos and worst case scenario rumors have done nothing to achieve consensus, or the citizen partnerships you need to solve the problems created by a lack of funds. To the Library Board in particular, the community served by Webber Park Library will not tolerate its closing, now, or in the future. The Camden Community and the Webber-Camden neighborhood among others, has been engaged with the Library Board to support the renovation and redevelopment of that site and has committed Neighborhood Revitalization Funds to the process. These neighborhoods would not have considered allocation of valuable NRP dollars to the Library if it did not believe in its value to residents. It may be, that capital projects should be delayed and that is appropriate, while closing the library is not! Surely, you must be aware that the Hennepin County facility in Brooklyn Center, currently under construction, leaves the community with no convenient library services. Webber Park Library and MPRB facility should be an example of the best possible collaboration for youth and community programming. If neither the Library Board, nor Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board can see the wisdom, and the potential for such a partnership, perhaps the community would be better served by a private non-profit agency at the helm of either, or both. To even think that you as a board could vote for "a diminished library environment", to quote Laura Wittstock, without considering every possible alternative, is to assume you will have the opportunity to remediate the havoc you create. To the City Council, the Mayor and the administrative staff of Minneapolis, you are equally guilty of bad judgment and exceptionally bad public relations as you pit agency against agency in public forums which include City Council meetings. The residents and taxpayers of Minneapolis need the police, the fire fighters, regulatory services and the neighborhood organizations to prevail. It is obvious that you presume whatever you do will be accepted by citizens as necessary, inevitable, and given your enviable knowledge, residents would be fools not to accept decisions made in their best interest. Well folks, don't count on it! >From the worst of times it is often wisdom, honor and integrity that is remembered, all three of which seem to be oddly absent in this fiscal process. Perhaps a dose of elections will straighten things out. Roberta Englund, Executive Director Webber-Camden and Folwell Neighborhoods 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
