Good point, except that it is based on a false premise, "that the City has picked the members of the "Community" negotiation team. Despite what Michelle has said, this is not the truth. The City did not pick anyone on the "Community" team, in fact the resolution offered by Paul Zerby to include representative organizations was shot down as I understand it.
Okay, Jonathan, you seem determined to drag me into this to correct the misinformation you are putting out on this list.
Fact One: Zerby's motion wasn't shot down. It was simply postponed. After it was postponed, some city folks and some folks who were not chosen by the community (but who are financially tied to the city) got together and SELECTED a NEW team that consisted of virtually no one who had been ELECTED to the original team, with the exception of Ron Edwards. This new so-called community team was by invitation only and Kinshasha made the phone calls to do the inviting. It wasn't a matter of simply showing up to be involved. The eight people at the table (the real negotiating team) was hand-picked well before the first meeting. No matter how you want to ascribe their motivations, it was still the city doing the picking.
However, Patricia Glenn said that it is DOJ protocol for the parties to be represented by representative organizations. As I understand, she was the one who stated that there needed to be organizations that represent the community present, and that it was open to anyone as long as they were an organization. Essentially all an organization such as the Urban League, which has a long history of fighting for the civil rights, had to do was show up. Organizations which came and legitimately represented affected communities could be included. All Kinshasha did was make them aware of this part. That's not handpicking anyone, that's making a community aware. The job that the "Community" team should have done. Patricia Glenn is the one that recognized the representatives. If there is a complaint about who is sitting at the table, she is probably the person that the issue needs to be taken up with.
Fact Two: Patricia Glenn stated repeatedly that the community team itself could constitute an organization so the requirement that people be part of an organization would be satisfied in that way. Moreover, there were already organizations representing affected persons on the original elected team.
It was at Ms. Glenn's recommendation that we held the meeting for the community to vote on their representation. This is how the process was done in many other cities. Since the meeting was advertised widely (including on the front page of the Strib), this would seem the most democratic means of electing our representation in an important process. Moreover, the meeting was run like a nominating meeting--Black folks voted for Black representatives, etc. Just because a particular group either did not choose to participate or did not get elected through this process does not mean that the process was flawed. These groups could easily have gone the time-tested route of stacking the meeting. I think it is sheer arrogance on their part that they chose not to be part of the process and then chose to complain about it. After all, I can't complain about who the president is if I didn't show up to vote.
I do have concerns with the role the DOJ has played in this process and I've communicated those concerns to them. As you pointed out in a previous post, mediation requires trust and litigation results when there is no trust. At this point, when the process itself is so tainted and manipulated, I have lost all trust in the ability of the city to negotiate in good faith. That's the reason we've gone the route of the class-action lawsuit. The ultimate irony is that the city will eventually be mediating with us (if it wishes to settle this suit) but it will no longer be on their terms.
Michelle Gross
Bryn Mawr
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
