Following up on Chris Johnson's park board highlights... It bears mentioning that the Kroc centers would likely be owned and run by the Salvation Army. The plans may call for conveyance of city, library, and park board property to the center. As Chris notes, and as Johns Olson and Erwin discussed, salvation army is a faith-based organization which would not necessarily abide by Minneapolis standards for non-discrimination. There was also mention of worship facilities on the campus, apparently integrated with the facilities. That troubles me. It's difficult to accept charity that is not offered without strings. At the same time, it's a very generous amount of money - $20 million endowment (requiring that an additional $10 million be raised privately) - and would be an incredible boon to a long underserved area with about 50% of the population under 18, per Don Samuels.
With regard to the Bryn Mawr Meadows plans... it's difficult to understand why the plan came forward at this point in time. Annie Young noted that she is receiving significant communications from the community asking why the Park Board isn't more focused on maintaining what we've got. My feeling is that it is a common sentiment. There appears to be a fair amount of resources wasted on visionary plans for which we have no money. Not to mention the fact that the planning was paid for out of an ostensibly buried slush fund and moved forward on the sly... What I'd really like to know is why the Park Board, and the City, are not talking about trees. Our urban canopy will be severely degraded by the time that all the marked-for-death Elms are removed. My brief googling tells me that other communities have managed to control the problem better. It takes a strategic plan - not just cutting and replanting. Early identification and rapid removal appear to be the key. It will likely need to involve the community. I have seen marked trees sitting for months. Why haven't they been cut down? It is postponing the inevitable and allowing the problem to spread more rapidly. Trees provides energy savings, increases property value, reduces management costs and improves water and air quality. This summer appears to be a near-disaster for the canopy - shouldn't somebody be mobilizing a more significant response? I'm no expert... but I don't think it takes one. Jason Stone Diamond Lake --- Chris Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 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
