Your list of questions below is certainly not worthless, Aaron. In fact, this is probably the most intelligent list of questions about governing the city that I've seen. I would be happy if candidates commented on just half of these issues.
It would sure be nice if the local papers asked our candidates a list of sophisticated questions like this, instead of the more general questions normally asked. I suppose that would result in far too much volume, which wouldn't be very marketable. Anyone have ideas on how to make our campaigns more substantial with fewer sound bites? Mark V Anderson Bancroft Aaron Klemz wrote: List: I'd like to see the candidates for mayor and city council address the following issues in their campaigns. 1) Report and prioritize the "disposition rate" of criminal cases reported to the Minneapolis Police. Currently, response time to 911 calls and number of reported serious crimes (e.g. murder and rape) are used as the primary measures of policing effectiveness. Statistics on the success of the Minneapolis Police in investigating crimes and referring cases for prosecution are unavailable. Since those who commit serious crimes rarely start there, investigation and prosecution of crimes such as assault and theft serve to preempt more serious crimes. 2) Increase transparency for City of Minneapolis budgets. The City of Minneapolis should make all non-privileged financial transactions available for public scrutiny. Budgets should be specific and precise enough that a duly diligent citizen would be able to trace city expenditures from City to recipient. The conditions that have allowed bribery and corruption remain unchanged, although individuals may have been caught. 3) Reform the Stormwater Fee. The fundamental principle of the fee is good, but the City should make the process for appealing inaccurate assessments clear and user-friendly, and set a timetable for assessing the fee based on accurate measurements rather than general guidelines. 4) Eliminate duplicative inspection and licensing requirements. Where the State of Minnesota has established licensure requirements for work performed the City of Minneapolis should repeal additional and duplicate requirements. 5) Increase cooperation between the independent boards of Minneapolis governance and the City. For example, since we all agree that education is crucial, the City, Library Board, School Board and Park Board should cooperate in offering Summer education programs that draw on the strengths, resources and expertise of each in creating meaningful employment and educational experiences for the young people of Minneapolis. Similar avenues for cooperation should be pursued, beginning with a frank dialogue about how the various instruments of Minneapolis governance can pool their resources and expertise to maximize the public good. 6) Lead by example by creating a responsive governance structure for both the City and independent boards. Offer to host the minutes and documents for all Council, independent boards and other branches of city governance on a single website so that interested citizens can understand the operations of every brach of city governance from the Charter Commission to the Board of Estimate and Taxation. 7) Significantly reduce tax base subsidies for development. The City should limit TIF and other forms of tax subsidies for developments that serve a significant public interest, would not otherwise occur, and do not simply shift development from one metropolitan area city to Minneapolis. Minneapolis should also dialogue with other metropolitan area cities (within the property tax base sharing region) to adopt similar guidelines on the usage of TIF districts. 8) Adopt constituent service models that create an equitable citywide constituent service response as a primary model, with individual council members as a supplement. 9) Unambiguously oppose the proposed Hennepin County proposal for the Minnesota Twins ballpark and 15 mill sales tax. Minimize general tax burdens by taxing ticket sales and parking to the extent possible and capturing revenue created by a ballpark before creating a general and regressive tax to provide the remaining necessary revenue to fund a ballpark. Unambiguously state that Minneapolis needs additional and proportional representation on any newly created Ballpark Commission. Utilize the ballpark dialogue to leverage change that benefits all Minneapolis residents, such as a Transit Hub connecting LRT and commuter rail. 10) Adopt a leadership role in generating a metro-wide dialogue on metropolitan governance issues. Propose a metropolitan council of municipal executives that could strongly influence legislative actions and represents the elected officials of the metropolitan cities, as opposed to the appointed representatives of the governor. I'm happy to be told that my issues are worthless, but I don't hear much (if anything) on any of these issues from any of our current candidates for city-wide elected offices. REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
