As was shown in a posting earlier by Steve Brandt, the February list of schools to be closed is substantially the same as the list of schools that the consultants now propose to close. It would be easy, I suppose, to say that the new result is what was intended from the beginning. Last February, the closings were to be accomplished in a quickie fashion. It looked suspiciously like an effort to accomplish the closings before anyone could effectively mobilize against it. When mobilization was accomplished anyway, the suspicion was that the intent was to go to "Plan B." And that plan was to go through a show of open consideration that arrived at the same pre-ordained conclusion. Now, with the conclusion in the consultant's proposal substantially in accord with the original proposal, the cynical conclusion that what's been going on since February wasn't a "real" process seems justified.
The new consultant's report is complete with magnificent color and seemingly scientific charts. Despite that, the problem remains as it did from the original process. That is, there is no transparency as to why the particular schools were selected for closing. It still looks as if someone somewhere picked schools that he or she didn't like based on no particular reason and those became the schools to be closed. The only difference between last February and now is that the conclusions come with magnificent color and seemingly scientific charts. The only thing that is really new seems to be a sop to the masses is a hope that maybe, somehow, some of the buildings will be used for something else sometime in the future. The whole exercise reminds me of the story by Tom Wolfe called, "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers" that was originally published, I think, back in the 1960s. In it, Wolfe tells of how inner-city communities found that by raising a crowd and going to city hall together and basically raising hell, that they actually started to get action on the problems that affected them. They called the action, "Mau-Mauing." Then there was a subtle change. The crowd doing the Mau-Mauing was met by someone who listened closely, smiled a lot, cried with them, wrote careful notes and took names, and generally caused the crowd to leave city hall with a feeling of accomplishment. But nothing ever happened. It turned out that the folks doing the Mau-Mauing had been dealing with a "Flak Catcher." The Flak Catcher's job was to listen, smile, cry, write, and sympathize but to do nothing. The Mau-Mauing had been effectively parried by the appointment of the Fack Catchers. Do you suppose that KKE Architects are the appointed Flak Catchers sent by the School Board to protect it from the Mau-Mauing by the parents and the kids in the schools? Steve Cross Prospect Park 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
