I can think of NO situation where "E" Democracy has played a more important role than in spot lighting and protecting NRP from Minneapolis City officials bent on destroying NRP, or in wresting control of it from the residents of Minneapolis.
In early 2003 the "powers that be" at City Hall decided that neighborhood residents empowered by NRP were standing in the way of their plans. A decision seems to have been made by some that killing NRP was the road to returning "uppity" residents to the servile roles where they belonged. After receiving some heat for this activity on the MPLS Issues List, three Council Members posted a detailed memo outlining the motives and reasoning for taking their action. The memo, put together with the assistance of city staff, may have seemed logical to an uninformed person. All for the "good of" Minneapolis of course.
Unfortunately for the Council Member's "plans" some of us NRP neighborhood resident reps (who are List members) took the Council Member's "plans" to task in such detail and with such sophistication that their "plan" was revealed for the naked grab for power (and dollars for developer buddies) that it was. It was very clear that NRP had engaged a citizen base with far greater planning resources and sophistication than either the Council or the staff they had helping them.
The resulting chain of commentary on "List", as well as outrage from the residents of Minneapolis, succeeded in blunting the Council's attack at that time. The neighborhoods and residents of Minneapolis owe a great deal to "E" Democracy, and the MPLS Issues in particular, for saving NRP. Such grabs for the dollars and power will continue because the most powerful protection Minneapolis residents have against the power brokered behind the door schemes is an informed and empowered resident base.
In the last month Minneapolis has had two events sponsored by NRP that demonstrate the level of involvement in finding solutions to Minneapolis problems. One involved approximately 150 neighborhood selected representatives coming together to discuss "Community Engagement" and how residents may be more engaged to address public policy issues. I am sure the surveys taken at that meeting as well as public commentary will be invaluable in both critiquing City Departments that need "fixing" as well giving direction for better "Community Engagement". (I am very much lookingThe second was the NRP forum on housing that was attended by 120 to 130 people. It was evident from that last event that Minneapolis Politicians are taking serious an electorate that might be mobilized by any attempt to discount either NRP or engaged legitimate neighborhood organizations.
It was the hope of many neighborhoods that the Council would take the hint and enlist that intellectual resource to partner for the betterment of Minneapolis, rather than feeling inadequate and threatened. Good politicians are of course engaged with and celebrate the empowerment of their neighborhoods, but some who might have only their own interests in mind might still be threatened.
Minneapolis is the envy of the Nation's cities because of their NRP program and their informed, empowered, and active neighborhoods. That informed resident foundation looks to such information sources as the MPLS Issues List to maintain the information base that will keep Minneapolis residents so empowered. Such an informed public, participating and engaged in the decisions that impact upon them, is after all is the dream of "E" Democracy. It is also the dream of elected officials that view themselves as the elected "Servants" of the public, rather than as selected nobility that has dominion over the public.
Jim Graham,
Ventura Village, Phillips Community Planning District, Six Ward of Minneapolis
"We can only be what we give ourselves the power to be" - A Cherokee Feast of Days
The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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