I was at the meeting on Oct 17th at Farview Park. Rev McAfee may have voiced his congregations grievances, which is his right, of course, but walking out was just theatrics and accomplished nothing but get the newies to run after him for a sound bite. Then again, maybe that was the purpose.
Rev Staten's insults also accomplished nothing except to fuel the fire. Yelling at people and rehashing old greivances will accomplish nothing. We need ouir community leaders to sit down in a neutral atmoshpere, where there is no 'star' and discuss solutions. For the City Pages to say that there was no a single criticism levied against the mayor that was not true, is, in itself, not true. Since Mayor Rybak has taken office, he has attended at least five forums hosted by JACC. These meetings are open to anyone in the neighbors. Notices are in the North News, which is delivered to every household in North Mpls. The fact that Revs McAfee and Staten choose to not come to these meetings is not the fault of the mayor. The Mayor has also been out on the corner of 26th and Knox talking to us. He has also been to other neighborhoods to discuss issues. To say that he is not out here is just not true. This level of participation is not something we got from his predecessor. The mayor was not the only one who was verbally assaulted that evening. Don Samuels was called everything but Councilman. Don Samuels was elected by the people in Jordan and other neighborhoods in the Third Ward who got out and voted. If you don't vote, don't complain about the outcome of the election. Don also represents more than the North side. He is responsible to his NE constituents as well as us. Don lives in Jordan, which is something that many of his harshest critics cannot say. He and his family live in the house that he lists as his residence. They shop here, go to church here, have friends here. Some of his critics who claim he is out of touch or the Mayor's lap dog, don't even live in Mpls, so how can they claim to be more in touch with the residents of North Mpls. As a new face in the political scene, I would think the olders leaders would welcome some new blood. Lack of participation in the community has long been a complaint by many in our African American community. If any problems are ever going to be solved in our community, people are going to have to put their egos aside and the chips on their shoulders away. We need to sit down together, with respect, and talk about solutions. And this means all portions of the community. This city is made up of all sorts of people. No one group has exclusive dibs on the Mayor or any Council member. However, being the organizer of some of the meetings I referred to, I can say that the Mayor, Don, Natalie Johnson-Lee and Barb Johnson, along with other officials, elected and civil service, are more that willing to participate in community dialogue IF they are asked in time to schedule the meeting into their calendar. Nobody should expect to call their offices and get them to attend a meeting the next day or even the next week. As far as the Mayor saying that the cops may not be quilty, well, they may not be quilty. Even if they are, what the heck was he supposed to do? Organize a lynch mob? Anne McCandless Jordan REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
