People need to remember that John Gurban was appointed to fill the vacant superintendent's job over more qualified applicants after serving in an interim capacity.
The Park Board majority responsible for Gurban's appointment as Superintendent included Commissioners Fine, Kummer, Dziedzic, Olson and Hauser. Prior to his appointment Gurban ran a recreation group that was housed in a historically significant park building, the Theordore Wirth House in East Harriet Farmstead Park. Gurban's group had a sweateheart deal with the Park Board, rented the space at far below market rates, and repeatedly thwarted neighborhood efforts to renovate the building for use as a museum with public access. During his tenure with the recreation group, Gurban apparently had problems with state charitable gaming officials which become public during the time he was serving as the interim superintendent. Of those who voted for Gurban, Hauser is running for city council and the others are standing for re-election. This is an issue they should all be called to account for...both for the poor quality of their choice, and for Gurban's misuse of power. Bullying behavior cannot be tolerated. Gurban's unprofessional actions in this instance make plain his poor judgement and demonstrated his lack of commitment to open access. He should resign. The fact that three squads were disipatched to hassle Jason Stone for his perfectly legitimate activity certainly makes me question the need for a seperate park police force, especially one with such poor control over its resources. As for the Park Board, they should 1) speak out against Gurban's abuse of power and 2) take action to remove him if he doesn't resign and 3) take steps to reign in the Park Police and make the parks open and welcoming of free speech and political discourse. If they aren't up to the task, they should find another job. Niel Ritchie Linden Hills __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 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
