Having completed my rant about Tom Leighton's inclusion of Project For Pride In Living and American Indian Neighborhood Development Corporation in that list of organizations open to community input. Now let us look at constructive parts of Tom's post. Tom asks for "constructive stories of community and CDC's working together.
Some of the "positive" stories Tom should look at are how Alan Arthur and Jim Graham worked through the major problems and differences with the Gateway project. Or the way American Indian Housing changed its focus from multi-unit rental to one of affordable homeownership and senior housing to answer neighborhood needs. Those are true examples of successful and constructive "Openness" to neighborhood input. What is needed is an alliance between Neighborhoods and responsible Community Development Corporations. Such an alliance would not only guarantee ethical and responsive treatment of neighborhood residents by developers but also allow for the coherent and comprehensive pursuit of funding resources to develop neighborhood identified needs. Though there are budget problems and cutbacks, billions of dollars are available for more competitive cities. In pursuit of this goal I have for sometime attempted to talk to members of the Coalition of Community Developers. The purpose of these attempts has been to explore ways for developers to cooperate with neighborhoods and possibly with a similar organization of Neighborhoods. Ways to cooperate for the mutual benefit of both groups. I have attempted to remind them that if "community" is taken from Community Development Corporation then nothing is left but "Development Corporation". The strength and competitive edge CDC's have in the past enjoyed are due in large part to that community link. We need to return Community to "Community Development Corporation" for the sake of both the "Community" and the "Developers" in order to maximize the benefits to each. Some neighborhoods are presently working on "Memorandums of Understanding" that they will ask CDC's working in their communities to sign. These MOU's would lay out the expectations of the roles and purposes of both the neighborhood and the CDC. It is hoped that such MOU's will become the rule of operation for all neighborhoods not the exception. It has been said that some CDC's will refuse to sign such MOU's with the neighborhoods where they do business. Such a stance will bring unethical organizations in to the open and show their true nature. One would wonder about any CDC who would hesitate to sign an agreement to do business in an ethical manner with the "Community" they supposedly seek to help. It is like someone refusing to promise to be honest. That is not someone I would want to do business with! American Indian Community Development Corporation is the first organization I am aware of that has been eager to participate in such an "Understanding". When the idea was presented to AICDC they were eager to not only participate but eager to help in drafting such an agreement. Of course AICDC has consistently demonstrated a dedication to and leadership in such good business practices. It is expected that Ventura Village and AICDC will formalize such an agreement in the near future. I believe it is on the agendas of each organization. A coalition of Neighborhoods and CDC's would better address the development needs of Minneapolis in a time of scarce resources. Our City Leaders should look at taking a leadership role in establishing and supporting such a relationship. Of course there might not be as much need for the brokering "deals" if such an ethical relationship and its resultant open discourse existed. But it would be better for all of Minneapolis. Jim Graham, Ventura Village >"Advances are made by those with at least a touch of irrational confidence in what they can do." 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
