>>>>> "DRG" == Dorie Rae Gallagher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
DRG> ----- Original Message -----
DRG> From: "Derek Burrows Reise" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
DRG> To: <[email protected]>
DRG> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 1:59 PM
DRG> Subject: [Mpls] Restructuring Mpls School Board
>> Posted at
>> http://www.mplsobserver.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=108
>> , the Mpls Observer says that Rep. Davnie is pushing a
>> bill to restructure the Minneapolis Public School
>> Board.
>>
>> According to the news story, the bill "would increase
>> the number of School Board members from six to nine.
>> Six of those would be elected by district and three
>> at-large--just as the Park Board is structured."
>>
DRG> Is there any way to compel the Park and School board to maintain the
>> same districts?
>> Derek Burrows Reise
DRG> About time there is a change in the School Board and there
DRG> should be members taking ownership for a district or
DRG> two. Otherwise, some areas have no voice, no recourse, no
DRG> power. Such as what was happening in our area the past couple
DRG> of years. Let someone be elected who will represent the area,
DRG> be accountable for what is happening, and keep us informed.
I simply don't see why this is desirable. In the current arrangement,
it's one person, one vote. In the proposed new arrangement, the votes
of citizens in parts of town where no one turns out will have a
disproportionate weight. The reason that some areas have "no voice,
no recourse, no power," is that the people in those areas don't show
up at the ballot box. You can give them a district of their own, but
if they don't bother to show up at the polls, they still won't have
any voice. All you will have done is create some "rotten boroughs,"
where the few who do bother to vote will own a seat. That's a recipe
for corruption, not representation.
--
Robert P. Goldman
ECCO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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