As long as the DFL (with no resistance from the Rs or Gs or Is, etc.) holds onto the fiction of the Kerner Commission Report of 1968, that Blacks can't make it like other groups and therefore have to be taken care of by the government, you will have this upside down world in which Whites get jobs on the Democratic City Plantations to take care of the Black folk. Just as Social Security money is the cocaine of the federal government for both parties (much of the fabled surplus of the 90s was SS money just as much of the debt today will be cushioned by SS money) so too are "poverty programs" the cocaine of city machines, hence the continued poverty, lousy education and housing, etc. No secret here, as it is detailed in Ron Edwards book. Peter Jessen, Portland, www.BeaconOnTheHill.com, publisher of www.TheMinneapolisStory.com
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Wendy Introwitz Pareene Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 9:28 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Neighborhood associations - follow the money - uh... http://www.ag.state.mn.us/charities/search_res1.asp?Fed=411309335&Yr=CURR&cm dSearch=Submit This link is to the charities division of the Minnesota attorney general's office for one Minneapolis neighborhood. I don't know about other neighborhood assns... but this one is certainly an eye-opening example. Let's follow the money down the yellow brick road to your tax bill... got your ruby red slippers? A 1 year budget of $450,000+ about $200,000 goes to staff salaries, bennies, office space for the staff, phone bills ($8000 for 1 year?). $82,000 gets written off because NRP refuses to cover these expenses for whatever reason(?). That leaves... about $120,000 for actual projects/programs for this neighborhood. So... spend $300,000 to provide $120,000 in programs for the neighborhood. This is a good thing? Don't misunderstand... it is a GOOD thing for the city to let neighborhoods decide how to spend municipal money in their area. BUT... why doesn't Mpls just tell the neighborhoods... okay... here's $200,000 for your neighborhood... hold one big meeting with all the neighbors, vote on what you want to spend it on, and we'll cut the checks and send them out. Done. No extra layers of beaurocracy. No office building... no staff... no benefits... no $5000 in meeting expenses... no $8000 phone bills... and NO $82,000 write off... and our property tax bills don't have to go up to pay for such foolish waste. How are the people running these orgs in any real way qualified to do so? Are they successful business owners who know how to run a $450,000 dollar per year business successfully? Or are they (in some cases I have seen) career beaurocrats used to paychecks from government bodies who use neighborhood assn as as a way to get their hands on more government money and hire their friends and make themselves feel powerful? What kind of business could operate this way for long? Wendy Introwitz Pareene South Minneapolis TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
