*My and others dismissal of some opponents of these projects
is a personal judgement, and I stand by it, Dave Piehl, Carlson, Avidor
and others are out of bounds with their antics and attacks. I've also
worked with plenty of respectful people on these issues who I have honest
disagreements with. This is hard work with difficult compromises, just
because some folks want to walk away from these projects altogether
doesn't mean they will or should carry the day. . . . My fear is that
we will have things foisted upon us from the outside by those who have
the power to pull the plug on current processes underway that do a better
job of balancing input from residents, businesses and institutions than a
MNDOT led process. Given half a loaf or none at all I'm taking half a loaf. I think ignoring the threat of MNDoT led redesign is naive and dangerous so I'm taking the current process.*
Russell responds:
Persons implies here that somehow he rides the high road above those of us who engage in "antics and attacks." Yet he apparently has no compunction as he maintains that "some folks" (STRIDE I assume) want to walk away from these projects and cede control of Minneapolis to MnDOT.
It would be far more accurate to say that, on the Lake Street PAC, there are members, including Ken Avidor and Jeff Carlson, who have promoted an alternative vision to the auto-centric designs being campaign-managed by Smith-Parker and Hennepin County. In fact, Ken, Jeff, and others have attempted to make the Lake Street repaving project something that will benefit the emerging Minneapolis that we value--a Minneapolis that is future focused, diverse, and small business friendly, one that doesn't invest heavily in a technology (the automobile) that is destructive and archaic.
Some of Person's opponents' methods obviously irritate him, and he has made his personal judgement to dismiss those folks in order to get his proverbial half a loaf. If he has made painful compromises to accomodate his more respectful adversaries, he should share those compromises and his "real" vision for the Lake Street area with us.
So far, from what I have seen, his "compromise" position has been to support the 35W Access project without reservation (eight lanes on Lake Street in the vicinity of 35W included).
So, I wonder which way DID you compromise Mr. Persons? Are you, in fact, a closeted supporter of transit, pedestrian-friendly design, fiscal responsibility, and accomodations for bicyclists? Or are you really a backer of 12 lanes of pavement on Lake, MUCH more traffic, ubiquitous exhaust, universal asthma, unlimited pork, and more immediate global warming.
If it is the former, I invite you to transcend your fear and join those who are trying to develop a pragmatic AND healthy vision of Minneapolis' future, even if you consider some of their methods, as you say, out of bounds.
Remember that some of us (not me thankfully) have at various points endured the bogus process of the Smith-Parker dominated PACs, a process that is often odious to us, in pursuit of our goal of a better Minneapolis.
Russell Raczkowski
Bancroft
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