Per Chris Johnson's highlights.... >-A total of $345,000 in service reductions, service eliminations and fee >increases are proposed which reduce the budget gap to $322,000. These >proposals are: >-1. Environmental Education Program service reductions and fee increases for >$135,000. >-2. Eliminate park police horse patrol: $36,000. >-3. Reduce Summer Playgrounds by 50%: $85,000. >-4. Increase adult sports fees by 15%: $21,000. >-5. Charge field use fee of $500 to traveling teams: $25,000 [currently >FREE??] >-6. Eliminate contributions to Midtown Greenway $25,000 and the Coyle Center >$18,000. My concern here is the parks affected by #3. They had a map available at the meeting and all the parks were in North, Northeast and Central Minneapolis..only 1 was in South and none in Southwest. Commissioner Olson jumped in to defend the parks of North Minneapolis but the parks in Northeast (Hi-view, Cavell, Marshall Terrace, Jackson Square, Dickman, St. Anthony, Holmes and the mobile playground at Columbia Park are all slated to be discontinued) do not even get a peep of defense from Commissioner Dziedzic. As a resident of the Columbia Park Neighborhood this includes BOTH of the parks in my neighborhood. I know that I have never been thrilled with Commissioner Dziedic's representation of District 1 (NE and SE MPLS) and I seriously hope he is planning on taking his triple pension and finally retiring.
To the neighborhoods getting the shaft here I would recommend you attend the public comment part of the MPRB meeting on Wednesday Nov.10th. You can get to the headquarter's building with a quick drive over the Broadway AV bridge..next to Broadway Pizza. Be there by 5:30 and remember to sign in on the list for comment. You'll have 3 minutes to speak and if you are smart you'll bring some of our "younger park comsumers" with you to make a point of who is losing their services. You can also call the Park Board at 612-230-6400 or contact Commissioner Dziedzic at his home...as he is often heard to say "I'm in the phonebook under Dz". Then maybe Commissioner Dziedzic can drum up some of the positive PR he wants for the MPRB. > >* Dziedzic talks about visiting the Star Tribune Editorial Board and >twisiting >their arms about covering the Park Board. He thinks they should give the >Editorial Board a tour between 11am and 2pm to eliminate some of the negative >publicity and image the Park Board has gotten. Though a better run more cost conscious park system that wasn't continually asking for more money for better office space might work better at shaping public opinion. Liz Wielinski Columbia 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
