Very well said, wizardmarks. It must be something in the water here in Central. Green Central Park (Public) Stadium anyone? Matty Lang Central
wmmarks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >So everyone that opposes your plan or votes against your wishes is doing so >NOT because they think it is best, but because they are corrupt? > > That's a pretty self-serving way to place the question, Mr. Thompson. The issue revolves around what is the MPRB's responsibility, in this instance, to take care of Nicollet Island, a Mpls. park. Nowhere in the MPRB role could you conceivably connect conveying Nicollet Island park land to a private school as filling the role of taking care of Nicollet Island. I don't have much sympathy either for the Islanders or for deLaSalle: two groups of highly privileged people going at it hammer and tongs does not move me to side with the one or the other. But the island itself, now that's another story. It's a pretty delicate piece of property which has been much abused for a century and a half. (Funny how the Indians could live with it for thousands of years and it looked absolutely pristine when Hennepin and Nicollet paddled up to it--or so their diaries and letters would indicate.) I think the term 'conflict of interest' is very fuzzy and fails to plumb the depths of the real problem. To wit: why is the park board giving away an eco-delicate park to deLaSalle who says it will bring in hundreds more cars and the people in them, put down astroturf, build bleachers, put in screaming big lights, concession stands, locker rooms, and, in general, torture the environment. That is the first concern in this issue and neither the MPRB nor deLaSalle has addressed it. People on this list (and elsewhere, no doubt) have jumped up and down on conflict of interest in the legal sense of the term, but not in either the ecological sense of the term or the political sense of the term as it relates to the MPRB. Political sense of conflict of mission as it relates to the MPRB's interest: Though we be deep in the heart of Denial, MN, the park board still proposes to give away a chunk of land to a religious institution in a country that makes a lotta noise about the righteousness of the separation of church and state. I doubt there could be a clearer instance of offending that principle around at the moment. Ecological conflict of interest: From the position of the MPRB, the ecobest they can do is to say a pox on both the islanders and the school. This is park land, this is a very delicate piece of land, this is a part of MN history for eons (probably since the glaciers), and both the residents and the school can keep their grubby mitts off it! It already has more pressure than it should have to endure. Head races and tail races that no longer operate, miles of defunct tunnel, a lock and dam, a hydropower plant, a restaurant, a school, a hulking replacement bridge, a small bridge, a railroad bridge, and a foot bridge, and whatever else. It's a little island with a tough history and an already tough job to do. There are lots of parks in Mpls. and a case can be made for the unique qualities of every one of them; but this one, this little island in the stream, is so precious that the idea of putting a football stadium/field/whoopie ground with Astroturf on it (Astroturf! of all the ignorant &%*#+&^% !) is outrageous on its face. We have no business giving up even an inch of land on the islands in the Mississippi to any private entity and certainly not if it offends a founding principle of this nation state. So, no, Mr. Thompson, it may be that various posters have missed the bull's eye here, but conveying land to deLaSalle is a conflict of interest on a couple of very important levels. >WizardMarks, Central >________________________________ > >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 > > > 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. 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