Chris Johnson writes: > Gosh, if only it were true that NRP was "handling hundreds of millions > of dollars." The NRP was planned to get $20 million a year > for 20 years by the state legislature and the city starting in 1991. > However, last year the legislature shot the cow that was funding NRP, > and now, 12 years into the program, NRP will be lucky to see any money > this year, much less $20 million. And the next 8 years? Doubtful also.
$20 million X 10 years = $200 million. Plural, hundreds of millions. $20 million X 20 years = $400 million. Regardless of whether it eventually receives money for Phase II this is the amount that the NRP wants to distribute. > Most NRP projects are fairly small. Even with $20 million annually, > recall that Minneapolis has 81 neighborhoods to spread that among. You may not think $200M is a lot of money, but we've just had two council members convicted for acts of corruption involving sums that are minuscule in comparison. What do you think can happen when you pump $200M into urban projects with loose accounting practices? What happened at Enron with tight accounting practices? If this were New Jersey or NYC the mob bosses would be erupting in cheers. I'm not saying that there is corruption in the NRP, I'm saying that there is a significant danger of corruption. When Joe Citizen can grant a subsidy of $600,000 to a developer with no competitive bids and little administrative oversight I think you have a problem. Depending on the circumstances $600,000 to a developer can be pure take home. How much would someone be willing to kick back for $600,000? $5000? $10,000? $60,000? How would we know when such an event occurs? What are the safeguards? > The 3 NRP projects I'm familiar with displayed no signs of abuse, > mismanagement, or even failing to improve the neighborhood > that Atherton earlier claimed. I know first hand that two of > them had a large amount of neighborhood involvement, and have > paid off as major improvements to that neighborhood and are enjoyed > by those who visit it. Three out of eighty? I think that many people on the List are in denial about the NRP. A state auditor's report just resulted in the failure of one of the NRP's principle loan administrators and all people can do is identify anecdotal cases of when the NRP works? Well, it worked so poorly in my neighborhood that 120 of my neighbors spent their own money to file a lawsuit to block an action initiated by our neighborhood NRP contractor. I suppose you could call that neighborhood involvement. The basic point here is that the NRP structure is ripe for abuse and currently lacks adequate controls to prevent it. Jim Mork wrote: > As I read of Mr. Atherton's ire over lost money in NRP, > I can't help but wonder about his feelings when he reads > about the vast sums lost in the Pentagon. I feel pretty much the same, but I think I can have more impact at the local level. > Not to mention the waste we've learned about in healthcare, such > as Medica. I'm opposed to waste, too, Mr. Atherton, but > it costs a BILLION A MONTH to maintain our military presence > in Iraq. So, when I hear someone talking about "waste" in my > hometown, and then find out it is a few THOUSAND > dollars, I have to wonder about priorities. We both know that this is not the proper forum in which to discuss Iraq, besides it's not clear to be that money spent there is wasted. It is much clearer to me that NRP funds are. > NRP actually helps ordinary people (though some wealthier > people obviously do have their appointed trips to the trough). > Maybe it is hard for some people to enjoy subsidy programs where > the rich have to feed next to the poor. So since the rich have exploited the government, the poor should do the same? What about the General Welfare? What the NRP appears to be doing in my neighborhood is subsidizing the public schools. Does this benefit the General Welfare? Or does it give an upper middle class community the ability to keep a neighborhood school when others are closing theirs. The Neighborhood Revitalization Program was intended to focus on housing and revitalization, not filling funding gaps in the Minneapolis Public Schools' budget. Michael Atherton Prospect Park 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
