Hello, I have been trying to sort out issues and positions in this year's Mayoral race, particularly with respect to the issues of which I have some knowledge and in which I've participated. So, this post is-in part- a plea for assistance and, secondly, an effort to point out some discrepancies in Mayor Rybak's assertions. As most already know, on July 28th Mayor Rybak introduced his new budget and revealed his intention to appoint long-time and respected homelessness advocate, Kathy ten Broeke, as Director to End Long-Term Homelessness in Minneapolis. I was very surprised to hear this announcement and to learn of Mayor Rybak's sudden compassion for the long-term homelessness community. I was surprised for the following reasons:
1). In February 2005, three of us went to a meeting with Senator Jane Ranum to convince her to spearhead an effort to repeal the State Vagrancy Statute (MN Stat 609.725). As part of the preparation for this meeting, staff from Legal Aid, students from the U of MN, William Mitchell Law School, and Hamline, in conjunction with members of the homeless coalition and advocates did a ton of research. We (myself and two others) presented Senator Ranum with our research. Based on the information we had amassed, Senator Ranum and Representative Ellison decided to back a Statutory Repeal. Senator Ranum, in a truly visionary move, asserted that she wished to tie in the repeal with some sort of funding to help long- term homeless people. She asked us to come up with research on models that might be utilized for an alternative (alternative to a public safety\law enforcement response). We complied and Senate File 1877 was the result: A repeal of the State Vagrancy Statute and the allocation of $400,000 in funding from the PS & RS budget for a Homeless Pilot Outreach Project in Hennepin, Ramsey and one out-state County. In preparation for testimony before the PS & RS Committee, we sought letters of support. The Minneapolis Intergovernmental Relations Committee (headed by Lisa Goodman--Inter-agency Housing member and Task Force member on the Families and Children in Homelessness Task Force--spearheaded the motion to support 1877). Ultimately, the IGR wrote a letter of support, as did a number of other City and County policy-makers. To the best of my knowledge, Mayor Rybak never offered any support whatsoever for this effort. The resultant legislation was passed 7\1\05 by the State Legislature. This is a critical move in the right direction, widely backed at State, County and City level(s)...from this whole process, Mayor Rybak was conspicously absent. There is also a Local Match for these funds required by the legislature...again, unresponsive. 2). There is also a citation (on RT's site) that we have achieved 84% of the new housing initiatives undertaken in the previous 5 year plan. Looking back to 10\2004 and the CABH's review of the City's Consolidated plan-portion addressing housing-I cannot, for the life of me, figure out where the 84% success comes from...where can I reference this? Does anyone know? I contest this strongly. 3). I was appointed last May to the Hennepin County and City of Minneapolis Advisory Board on Homelessness. During that span of time, Mayor Rybak never attended a single session of our Board. Though we met with Erik Takeshita (Mayor Rybak's Aide) on three occasions (once at Alternative Housing in February, once over the panhandling issue, once in City Hall over the revisions to Police Protocols involving the homeless, no support for any of the proposals we came up with over a 2 + year period were ever supported by Mayor Rybak in any way, shape, or form. A month ago, we met with Mayor Rybak's new Housing Aide...I passed on information on CABH functions, requests for local matching funds, Wilder data on Veterans and homelessness, our set of recommendations, and additional information on supportive housing and alternative responses (NYC's model-PATHWAYS-Philly's Ourteach response, San Francisco). Had one brief e-mail several days later and that was it. 4). SF 1863, $500,000 in funding for MACV (Military Assistance Council for Veterans) for Outreach efforts- particularly to Vets returning from the current conflicts. If Mayor Rybak offered any support of this...it's a secret. 5). The Downtown Livability Task Force on Mental Health and Public Safety chaired by Judge Hopper. This was formed in March, if I recall correctly, out of a Resolution by the County Commissioners backing the re-allocation of 7 law enforcement staff to the Downtown area. The Task Force has been meeting for 2 months and is comprised of members of the City Council, MPD, HCMC, County Commissioners, Jail staff, Mental Health Court Staff, service providers and advocates. At the behest of Peter Mclaughlin and Gail Dorfman, the housing side of the equation was well represented. Conspicuously absent, again, from this group would be the Mayor or any member of his staff...I would think of 3 County Commissioners could find the time, so could the Mayor or one of his staff. 6). Alternative Response(s) and MPD: some members of the MPD have been very involved in exploring alternative responses to homelessness. They have proven intelligent, concerned, and very invested in looking at the experiences of other cities and finding more fiscally responsible methodologies to be employed in Minneapolis. Also involved in this exploration have been Mclaughlin, Gail Dorfman, 4th Judicial, Natalie Johnson-Lee, Zimmerman and Zerby, Lisa Goodman and Dan Niziolek. All of them met with us at one point or another and all of them continue to responsibly entertain other ways of dealing with a terrible problem. Absent from all of this: Mayor Rybak... 7). PCRC: One quote from the Observer says it all: "Rybak has never attended a PCRC meeting, Flowers adds. Hes never sat down in one meeting. Nor [has] he sent a representativeeven the black representative [community outreach liaison] Kinshasha Kambuito see whats going on. 68% of the homeless are of African- American descent, the Federal Mediation Agreement and the Civilian Review Authority have sought to improve relations between MPD and the African-American community and also with interactions between homeless, mentally ill and other minority community members. Serving as a backdrop to this, the Racial Disparity Initiative of 2003-2004. This has been a huge and divisive problem!!! Yet, Mayor Rybak doesn't bother to engage in the resolution of this contentious set of problems. The rest of the Observer article may be referenced at: http://www.mplsobserver.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=254 I could cite many other, similar instances of non-participation on the part of our Mayor on these issues. My question would be: Don't you at least have to show up to resolve these serious issues? The 10 year plan to end homelessness announced by Mayor Rybak would appear to be a rather hollow effort undertaken by someone who, apparently, cares very little for the aforementioned issues that continue to impact our community. The release of his 10 year plan is merely an election year gimmick...based on his record from his first term, how sincere can he possibly be on the issues of Public Safety, Community Relations with MPD, Housing and Homelessness and Racial Disparity? It strikes a hollow chord as far as I'm concerned. Guy Gambill (Uptown) ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs 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
