Although this bill only requires the Dept. of Education to contract with
and "independent" party to "study" the merger, such a merger would be
catastrophic for the libraries in Minneapolis.
I believe that within three years of such a merger, at least one-half of
the community libraries in Minneapolis would be closed and the buildings
and land sold in order to provide more funds for the county system.
I am not sure if the intent is to look at a "friendly" takeover that
would require a vote by the Minneapolis City Council or possibly by
Minneapolis voters, or to formulate a strategy for a hostile takeover of
the Minneapolis system through state or county action.
Of great concern is who would do the study: Center for the American
Experiment I am told is being tossed about as the "perfect" candidate
despite their palpable loathing of public agencies and love affair with
privatization.
This bears watching for any who care about Minneapolis libraries!
Jim Bernstein
Fulton
Agreed.
In fact, I believe we should go in rather the opposite direction: I believe Minneapolis should be a city and county unto itself, as most cities our size are across the nation. Hennepin County, along with its libraries, would revert to being only that portion of the current county which does not lie within the Minneapolis city limits. The county sheriff and jail could move to Maple Grove, and the current county jail could serve as the new Minneapolis County jail.
Then, since folks at the state are looking for efficiencies in combining things, they should look into combining the cities of Osseo and Maple Grove, or North Oaks, Shoreview and Vadnais Heights.
There's lots of possibilities -- just take a look at a good map.
Actually, I'm only serious about the city and county of Minneapolis.
As for the Center for the American Experiment -- they should have their tax exempt status revoked. They are defrauding the taxpayer by claiming to be non-partisan to get their tax exempt status. If they're non-partisan, I'm the King of Denmark.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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