[Mpls] This Week in The Minneapolis Observer

[Craig Cox]

T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
www.mplsobserver.com
Vol. 3, No. 1
July 28, 2003

**********************************************************

THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* Heritage Park Appointment Stirs Criticism
* Local Hospitals Rank High in National Survey
* Mayor Rips Plan to Use Park Police in Schools
* Strike Looming at University of Minnesota
* Domestic Partnerships Take Center Stage
Plus: Scott Benson's executioner's song, a pathway to peace at Lake Harriet, feeding the multitudes, and the case for--and against--new council elections

**********************************************************

HERITAGE PARK APPOINTMENT STIRS CRITICISM
The city's appointment of a coordinator for the controversial Heritage Park housing project has come under attack by a Northside council member.

Natalie Johnson Lee (Fifth Ward) claimed that the decision to place Kim Havey in charge of the project is another example of City Hall cronyism. "There was no process," she told Isaac Peterson III in the Spokesman-Recorder (http://www.spokesman-recorder.com). "It was not an open process, it was not a fair process. People weren't even asked."

Mayor R.T. Rybak and MCDA executive director Lee Sheehy selected Havey, Johnson Lee argued, because of his "coziness" with Rybak and Seventh Ward CM Lisa Goodman, and overlooked a black candidate who worked in the city planning department who was recommended by Johnson Lee and Third Ward CM Don Samuels. "She was more than willing to do it; she was not asking for any additional money, and felt that she would be more than qualified and able to do it," Johnson Lee said. "At some point in time, Lee Sheehy decided that it should be Kim Havey, never ever looking at [my candidate's] resume or her qualifications, until I pushed the issue."

Sheehy created another position for the woman, whose job in city planning was being eliminated, but Johnson Lee said the gesture doesn't mask the city's discriminatory hiring patterns. "It's just the way I've seen the value placed on African Americans in city hall . . . that leads me to be very concerned," she said. "The way that the current structure that the mayor's setting up and some of the individuals in city hall are setting up, you will generally see that city hall is continuing a pattern of having no directors of color, except for the Civil Rights Department, and very few supervisors or management of color. Which is not reflective of the city and how it's evolving."

Rybak denied that any cronyism was involved in the choice of Havey. He said Sheehy had to find someone within the current city workforce to take on the extra responsibility of the Heritage Park project and "with the very tight financial concerns that we have right now, he made the choice that he thought was the best within the City's employ."

LOCAL HOSPITALS RANK HIGH IN SURVEY
Three local hospitals were ranked among the nation's best in a recent survey by U.S. News and World Report.

MAYOR RIPS PLAN TO USE PARK POLICE IN SCHOOLS
The perennial debate over the city's dual police departments has once again emerged after the Park Board floated a proposal to station its police officers in public schools.

**********************************************************
The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2003 Independent Media, 4152 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406; www.mplsobserver.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Independent Media. Subscriptions: $12/yr. To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and we'll get you off the list and refund the unused portion of your subscription.
Editor: Craig Cox
Senior Executive Editor: Sharon Parker
Contributing writers: Chris Dodge, Leo Mezzrow
Equine consultant: Nora Cox
Perspective: Martin Cox

*******************************************************
Fight media consolidation! Support the independent press! Pick up your neighborhood newspaper!
*******************************************************