Doug Mann:"The NAACP needs to bring a motion into Court calling for monetary penalties against the City for delays beyond the current 2004 deadline. Hefty penalties, and the longer the delay the bigger the penalties. Otherwise the City will drag out the housing replacement process for years. "
Whoa, Betsy! Does Doug understand what he's saying here? "The city" isn't some alien species, it is Doug, it is me, it is most people on this GROUP! I have to think MAYBE we can find a better way forward than residents encouraging groups, especially a group that Doug has flayed repeatedly, to use the courts to bludgeon the citizens of this city. As a citizen of this city, I PROTEST. There's been just a little too MUCH of these "settlements" with the city. As I've said, I have Sharon Sayles Belton as a neighbor. I have two African American homeowners for neighbors, I don't think we're in the desperate straits that would justify this sort of thing. YES, I believe safety issues in Jordan should be taken seriously on the city council. I think Gary Schiff agrees. But I DON'T believe we need to add the courts to the present campaign of destruction being waged by Pawlenty, Sviggum, and Awada against the city. Doug needs to maybe consider some rhythmic breathing and plant his feet on the ground again.
Jennings
I'm a supporter of the African American community in questioning the process of replacing Superintendent Johnson. I'm kind of wondering why, if they KNEW that Jennings was their only candidate, they didn't announce that beforehand so that they wouldn't be in a position of having an offer to Jennings on the table when the community reacts. Unfortunately, this might be like so many other objectionable things done by our elected officials. Like the Nicollet Mall rehab project where the city (according to court decisions) put a contractor in a bind by how it handled contracting, the fact that Jennings has received an offer may create liability for the taxpayers, and if Jennings decides to be nasty, we could end up paying. I definitely think this whole thing needs to be an issue in the next school board election. Even if the Jennings is the VERY BEST CANDIDATE, this wasn't the way to handle a thing like this. And we taxpayers may now be screwed if we try to do it more sensibly. Why DO our elected officials show such a disturbing tendency to ignore citizen interests when they get some notion in their heads? Why DO they never ask a lawyer "how could this decision we are cotemplating turn into an albatross for the people who elected us to office?" And how can we elect people who will use that elementary common sense?
Gallmon
You know, Grow has a point. Why do ALL African American organizations have to attack problems from the same angle. One of the biggest beefs over the years was "When people escape the ghetto, they totally forget the people they leave behind." Well, here's an organization for successful African Americans to work for equality. And yet it is torn apart by dissension on the grounds that "it should be run by the field hands". Well, why? Why not one or more OTHER organizations for that segment of the African American community. Whites have Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, and not a few others. Who is demanding that ALL these organizations derive their leadership from one segment of the white community only? Have a whole series of DFL chairmen been driven out due to the demand that they come from one particular faction? And if that makes no sense, why does it make sense in NAACP? I know Doug Mann is the main person scolding the NAACP leadership, but I doubt he can make a case that NAACP MUST represent only opinion from the poor neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Because at least one of the councilmembers from the Northside seems more in keeping with the NAACP leadership than with Ron Edwards. The fact that he was elected indicates he has strong support from the very victims of discrimination for which Edwards wants to be a spokeman. I think the real question is: Can Edwards be PART of something if not chosen to LEAD that something?
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
Liberty - The most wretched slave is allowed to salute the imperial flag and cry "Hail Caesar" when the tyrant passes by. ---Anonymous
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