First, I really appreciate all the discussion on this issue. I've an open mind on whether or not there should be an independent Park Board and was trying to grasp arguments on both sides.
I'm thinking we may have the lens too broadly focused, such that the debate becomes replacing Park Police with regular police, or just folding the Park Board into a city parks department (though that's the question that instigated this debate). I do lean heavily toward retaining the parks as an independently run institution. I hestitate at the thought of folding the parks into a regular city department and what that may mean--not necessarily now but for future political generations who may not be so supportive of the parks when tossed into the same pie as police or fire. But, can we not figure out ineffeciencies and deal with them? Take the Park Police. I'm certainly supportive of having a police force that is more readily responsive to specific park-related issues, and I like the idea of Park Rangers, though that's mostly terminology. But, whatever park police force there is, it has a fleet of cars, equipment service needs, communication requirements, payroll and administration, etc. Cant' we fold some of those functions into shared city functions so that we don't duplicate them on much lesser and inefficient economies of scale? Same goes for facility maintenance, road work, tree work, etc. Maybe that's already occurred and we just need to know more specifics. Maybe this has already been discussed ad infinitum, but to be honest I'm not seeing any progress. Boiled down to its roots, it seems the debate about Parks vs. City is one of trust and turf, both highly intangible but emotional topics--in other words, we typically make very little headway in dealing with them. The park folks certainly don't trust the city folks, and perhaps vice versa. It then makes it difficult for park commissioners to take a step toward cost sharing or facility consolidation without being seen as selling the parks down the river. Or, more cynically, park commissioners value political independence so highly that any step away from independence is impossible. Thus, an overture toward shared functions would be seen as blasphemous to some and perhaps the first step on the slippery slope toward city control over the parks. While I disagree that it is a slippery slope, I agree that it takes some fairly charismatic, strong, and visionary leaders to make that step while holding on to the parks' core power and functions. Maybe we don't have that currently but instead have more parochial-minded leaders. My mind's open. Gregory Luce St. Paul -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Allen Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 8:01 AM To: mpls@mnforum.org Subject: RE: [Mpls] Park Police /duplication of services I disagree with having a separate park police force. I see it as being akin to a small town of 500 people maintaining it's own police force when they could for less money contract with the county to have a deputy serve their community. For those that maintain our parks will go down the crapper without them, how? Are St. Paul's parks a bastion of crime? So horrible that it's citizens stay far, far away from them? Maybe having numbers will show that St. Paul parks experience 4.5% more violent crimes than Minneapolis parks. Would that justify the millions of extra dollars the city spends merely to have it's own park? Personally, I lived at 28th and Lyndale Ave N. or Philips, I would be livid that the city could find a few million dollars to have some cops drive up and down the parkways while I had to keep my TV in the basement to make it more difficult to steal or to make things a bit more safe while watching it in case of a stray bullet or three. Allen Graetz Lowry Hill 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
