http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4302393.html
"The Star Tribune editorial that followed this action said I sprang a surprise on four of the board members. Yet I had spoken with one of the dissenters days before about Gurban; two of the others admitted they knew before the meeting. "
EY: Now it seems to be a he said, he said, she said, she said type of situation. Fine could do, what Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer did, which was make a News Council Complaint.
Gregg Abbot writes:
I disagree, partly because district-based park board members are far more insulated from the political consequences of their decisions than the at-large members. The political constituency of a district member can be quite small and still be unassailable in political terms. Walt Dziedzic's political base is barely wider than the boundaries of Ward 1, for example, but I suspect it's enough to keep him on the park board for as long as he wants. Dziedzic can't be beat in his own district, but after the superintendent fiasco he'd lose if he tried to run city-wide.
If his constituents want him in, then that's the process. A competitor has to make a compelling case about why the incumbent is doing a bad job. The incumbent has to justify their job performance every election.
The same is true for Jon Olson, and (perhaps) Marie Hauser.
I don't think this is true of Marie Hauser. I've talked to a number of people who voted for her, who are having voter's remorse.
This has a real tactical impact on the politics of the board. The district-based members can really play hard ball without fear of retribution, but the at-large members cannot respond in kind without making themselves politically vulnerable.
There is also, in fact, an ideological split between the at-larges and the district commissioners. Roughly speaking, there are two camps on the park board, those who put environmental issues first and those who put recreation issues first. The "environment" camp contains all the city-wide commissioners, while the "recreation" camp contains almost all of the district commissioners. The one district commissioner in the environment camp -- Vivian Mason -- comes from a district where residents by and large care more about environmental concerns than particular recreational facilities.
Where commissioners seem to unite, is whenever there's a discussion of whether having a separate Park Board is a good idea or not. What bothers me still was Annie Young's response to the Mayor's common sense proposal that the Park Board televise their meetings. We can't afford unnecessary duplication of taxpayer funded services. It's never made sense why there is a separate Park Police department for example.
No doubt personality conflicts have greatly contributed to the divisions on the park board. But the underlying splits are IMHO structural and ideological. (The fact that these splits have persisted for many years, despite the addition of several new commissioners, supports my argument).
But, at any rate, it strikes me as a real problem when the commissioners who have the broadest democratic mandate -- those elected city-wide -- are ALL in the minority.
Instead of my previous proposal, perhaps it would be simpler to require the affirmative vote of at least one city-wide commissioner for the Park Board to enact any ordinance, resolution or official action.
Perhaps instead, there need to be good contested races in the districts. The Park Board job - how much time does it take - gets pretty high compensation - $20,000. I've always thought this to be excessive.
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Blog is up:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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