Dorie Rae Gallagher writes: ->>We have NRP monies that have helped us ->> out for 17 weeks. There might have been more if our NRP ->> money was not allocated to hire police at time and a half ->> for the Phillips neighborhood. Just how much taxpayer's ->> money was given to Ventura Village? How about all the money ->> that dissappeared!
Jim answers: -> Dorie Ray is sadly mistaken about her "our" NRP dollars -> going to pay for time and a half police buy back for the -> Phillips Neighborhood. None of "her" neighborhood's dollars -> were used to my knowledge. But perhaps they should be! -> Until the Phillips Neighborhood enjoys the same degree of -> public safety as she and her neighborhood enjoys. Until that -> happens it is a bit selfish for some one to resent the -> poorer police protection that a neighborhood like Phillips -> gets than a place like Uptown. Doug Writes: Jim, Dorie might be mixing two issues. The first is the "time-and-a-half" comment: That perception might be the byproduct of past police buybacks using $$ from one of NENA's People's Services and Safety strategies. Strictly local, and all in the past. The second, and more recent issue is the $1,000,000 in Community Oriented Public Safety Iniatives Reserve Fund (COPS) that NRP earmarked for increased police hours with the MPD. That money comes off the top of NRP's Phase II funds, which are already reduced from Phase I levels by about 75%. And that does come from all neighborhoods. After all the discussions and reallocating, 3rd Precinct received about 27% of the $1 million reserve, with the vast majority allocated to Phillips' four and the three neighborhoods immediately across Lake St. We ALL understood the reasons for prioritizing the bulk of the funding towards Phillips. I didn't see any resentment from anyone in the initial meetings and discussions. (That, in spite of 4th Precinct neighborhoods requesting the entire million for themselves.) I think the point that Dorie is trying to make is that it's pretty hard to understand why the mere 1% that 3rd Precinct recommended go towards dealing with drug, gang, and assault issues in the Bossen area (in Nokomis East) didn't happen. In fact, it's worse than that: two thirds of the 3rd Precinct--roughly everything below 38th St--received zero dollars. Not a dime. Nadda. Although technically incorrect, it isn't hard to see where residents consider the COPS funds as "missing" around here. Doug Walter Nokomis East 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
