There are economies of scale to be achieved in the tension between the NRP neighborhoods and the CPED leadership that have apparently not been explored in any dispassionate way. I have long advocated to the mayor and others that having so many individual staff operations at the NRP neighborhood level has become fiscally unsustainable and have pointed to the practice in Greater Minnesota where small jurisdictions operate joint facilities so that staff costs can be spread around. I've also suggested the notion of "journeyman" planners, where recent arrivals in the municipal planning operation spend a significant amount of time breveted to neighborhood operations so they gain a hands-on understanding of grassroots motivations and expectations.
Simply arriving at the door of the City's human resources department with a splendid new degree from the academic community is not a very helpful indication of seasoning - it takes more than a narrow six-week masters' project to understand deep-seated nuances at the neighborhood level. I consider such academic attainment to be no more than an indication of brief success as a certified apprentice to masters of what has become an arcane art - attempting to quantify the unquantifiable, too often turning a blind professional eye to the human puzzles that we all experience in our civic lives. I agree strongly that letting the entrenched planning bureaucracy have its collective way with us would be a gross and ill-advised step away from the product of a quarter-century of grassroots empowerment efforts. I see the hands of the conservative majority at the state level pushing against our egalitarian aspirations and I expect our elected leadership in Minneapolis to find a middle road and to do so in a public way. Planners meddle - it's an occupational hazard. Developers scheme - that's a bottom-line mentality and it's not all bad. But our political leadership are our public servants and they hopefully are not elected by planners and developers. Fred Markus, Ward Six, West Phillips ------ http://USFamily.Net/info - Unlimited Internet - From $8.99/mo! ------ 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
