Anne McCandless wrote: <snip> Neither Natalie or Don wanted the new boundaries, let alone anyone in North Mpls. The critisiam should be thrown at the people who drew the lines. The redistricting affected the Fifth Ward in more important ways than the fact that we have two African Americans running against each other for the same job. The redistricting took away the most valuble property in the Fifth Ward and gave it to a ward that was already one of, if not the richest wards
in the city. Money is power, so the rich got richer and more powerful and the poor got poorer and less powerful. If people in the Fifth Ward want to be angry about anything it should be that the land on which the new stadium is to be built on, along with a whole lot of other expenisve development ( non-affordable housing by most people's standards) is no longer in the Fifth Ward. Don't worry, though, the city is right behind us when it comes to building 'affordable housing' in our ward. <snip> Mark Anderson asks a question: My question is somewhat unrelated to the thread going on about Samuels and Lee, but Anne brings up an issue I've heard many a time and haven't understood. There've been many complaints about a part of downtown being stripped from the North ward in the latest re-districting. How exactly does having a rich section in one's district make a council person more powerful? They all have 1/13th of the vote. And even more puzzling, if this rich section somehow gives the council person more clout, how does this help the poorer section that the council person also represents? If anything, I would think the downtown issues of the district would be distracting to a representative that should be working equally hard on behalf of its poor areas. When a ward is 100% poor, the representative will usually be a constant advocate on behalf of the impoverished. If all districts are split between poor and rich, there's a good chance that no one will be such an advocate. Mark V Anderson Bancroft 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
