http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/tcmetro
But there's a point counterpoint on the Center for the American Experiment's Report Urging that the Met Council get abolished.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/4317463.html
Editorial: Abolish council?/No; metro body is a major asset
Published January 14, 2004 ED0114
As if to punctuate Minnesota's rightward drift, the conservative Center of the American Experiment (CAE) intends this week to release a report that calls for abolishing the Metropolitan Council, the nationally admired regional planning agency founded by Republicans in 1967.
In the process, the center has undercut one of its own founders, Peter Bell, the Met Council's current chairman who served on the center's board for nine years. Bell was described by colleagues as livid over the draft report, the result of a year's work by a 14-member CAE task force that spurned Bell's participation.
In an interview, Bell challenged both the report's conclusion and methodology. "Blindsided" was a word he used, saying the center declined his offer of information that might have moderated the report's outcome. "It doesn't pass the smell test," Bell said, likening it to a task force that would recommend closing, say, the University of Minnesota without interviewing its president.
The staff author of the report is Annette Meeks, herself a member of the Met Council. Meeks was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, with Bell's approval. Meeks now finds herself serving on a public body she wants to abolish. Indeed, she had begun working on the report months before her appointment to the council. "I don't see a conflict," she said on Tuesday.
Aside from her duties on the Met Council, where she represents north Minneapolis and much of the city's Near South Side, Meeks also serves as director of government affairs and public programs for the CAE and as vice chair of the state Republican Party. Asked whether he thinks Meeks should continue on the Met Council, Bell said he would have "no comment."
EY: Meeks is the representative of the North Minneapolis. As a Northside resident - and Republican - she certainly does not represent me on this one.
There's more commentary on this report - Con: Ted Mondale and Curtis Johnson
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4317409.html
And the Center for the American Experiment.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4317408.html
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Blog is up:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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