What did happen at Ventura Village the evening that Basim Sabri and Zack Metoyer tried to "take over the meeting?"
My understanding, from talking with Basim this morning, is that Basim wanted the neighborhood organization to discuss and hopefully approve a small change in one of his development projects. Many Somali businesspeople from his Somali bazaar came to the meeting to hear the discussion and they wanted to participate. They were continually ruled out of order by the Chair. They were told they didn't understand Robert's Rules of Order. They got frustrated. The chair got frustrated. Some Somalis were upset that they were always asked to identify themselves with proper ID, but white people walked into the room and were recognized and allowed to participate. There were rules that said you had to attend a meeting before you could become a member, but even Somalis that were members of the organization were forced to show ID. They felt they were being racially discriminated against. At one point a Somali member called the question. The Chair ignored him. Basim reminded the Chair that according to Robert's Rules of Order he was required to allow the body to vote on whether to end debate. The Chair left the room in a huff. At that point Basim thought the proper thing to do would be to elect a new Chair. Eventually, Jim Graham talked to the Chair and convinced him to go back in the room. This ended the election of a new chair. But in a final act of frustration the Chair came over and screamed at Zach Metoyer just inches away from his face. As I understand it, that busted Zach's cool and Zach screamed back. At that point someone called the police. To eliminate a source of tension, Zach willingly left the meeting. Basim's "tactics" seem a lot more reasonable given the context. But, certainly, there seems to be room for more understanding and more self-control on both sides of the debate. It is unfortunate that the first taste of neighborhood democracy must have seemed bitter to the Somalis, and it is unfortunate that the wonderful hard work that the people of Ventura Village have done to improve their community is not widely known and appreciated. And, it is doubly unfortunate that two groups who want to improve their community seem to be at odds. Ed Felien Powderhorn 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, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
