Liz Wielinski writes: > -----Original Message----- >The city has an at-large school board and > most of the school board members live in the areas that, low and behold > did not get school closings.
While I don't think there was a quid pro quo, the school board's at-large structure invites such suspicion. And it's one good reason to reject the Strib's "reform" of new at-large councilmembers. The Strib proposes to change the current 13-member, ward-based, full-time Council into a part-time body with 6 wards and 4 at-large members (plus a full-time mayor who presides). This is a double-whammy of elitism: 1. It increases the cost of elections (full-time candidates have to fund citywide races, and bigger wards raise those races' costs) AND 2. It reduces the ability of non-professionals to serve on the Council (or, as the Strib so piquantly put it, "This would...make it possible to recruit high-quality council members from the private sector's professional ranks, including Republicans whose influence desperately is needed in city government.") Tell me this isn't a recipe for Southwest Minneapolitans to be over-represented on the Council. While most voters would live elsewhere and could vote those geographic interests, I still think it tilts the field too heavily toward those with dough (or connections to it) and against "regular folks" candidacies. After all, the Park Board and School Board are part-time, with a blend of at-large and wards (Parks) or all at-large (Schools) and right now, no one is suggesting they work better than the Council - in fact, the Strib wants to abolish them! I think members can come up with less elitist plans to boost broad-based interests on the council, and I welcome being reminded about those ideas. I'm still pondering how I feel about city manager government (I lived in Des Moines where there was a real bloodbath over replacing a manager who had become too much of a strongman). In any event, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the Strib opinion folks for producing the package - it's a great way to get people thinking about positive change. It's up to those of us who live here to make sure the change we adopt is positive. David Brauer Kingfield 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
