What a great idea Lisa McDonald has suggested! We really do not need MCDA to any longer administer the Common Project, so the money should properly go to the neighborhoods to administer in the form of NRP. After all we have received a great return on NRP investments (at least 1000%) compared to the return MCDA has gotten from the common fund (a loss I believe). You are right Lisa; show us one program the City has administered that came close to the appreciation of dollars that the NRP investment has created.
Minneapolis has problems currently, but can anyone imagine the state of this city without it. The past miss-management of Minneapolis would have left us as a Gary Indiana, or East St Louis, or even a Kansas City. We are the envy of other cities around the nation mainly because of NRP's wise investment. We are envied because of the "Empowerment" that has come from residents doing the critical planning that was the most important part of NRP. The head of the Federal Empowerment Zone program said that such strategic planning was the important thing that came from Empowerment Zone, not the few dollars. Minneapolis is fortunate to not just to have such "Strategic Planning" for a zone but for the entire City because of NRP. That lady from Washington was correct! Ventura Village has seen the commitment of what some estimate at over 100 million dollars along Franklin Avenue largely due to its planning efforts and NRP. Some might say the LRT contributed to this and we will not completely disagree, but remember the Market and Feasibility study commissioned by the MnDOT and Met Council for LRT said the prospect for development along Franklin Avenue was "Bleak". The neighborhood resident's analysis and assessment was of course completely at odds with that of Maxfield's and the City's. I remember City "Planners" getting quite testy when challenged about their doom and gloom "assessment" of our neighborhood. The neighborhood's effort through NRP is what took that prospect from "bleak" to over 100 million dollars of actual development. With the City crying and fighting us a good part of the time as it was being dragged along by the neighborhood residents. In fact I remember when only Paul Ostrow and Brian Herron had faith in our assessment of our true "Potential". They convinced others to let us at least try. Thanks to both of them. And thanks to Lisa McDonald for supporting NRP and the neighborhood's control of it. A lot of other politicians have promised such support, but we will have to wait to see who "puts up" and who "crawfishes". A lot of politicians ran on the issue of neighborhood control of NRP. Some less than truthful Council Members are now going to support some "regional" control, so they can steal the money without being accountable. Everyone should remember who lied, and who stood in faith with the neighborhoods as they had promised when they wanted our votes. Jim Graham, Ventura Village >"The rarest of gems, with the greatest clarity, and with the greatest brilliance, is not the diamond. The rarest of all gems is the truth. Yet as scarce as truth is, the supply has always far exceeded any demand for it. In fact it may well be the lest desirable commodity in the Universe. Ask any politician." - Toe 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
