The Tenth Ward forum last tonight was really interesting, and yes, perhaps a little long. In my view, Scott Persons came out on top. I thought he very clearly articulated his top priorities of public safety and strong neighborhoods.
While Allen Bernard spoke well, he played up the fact that he's an insider. I'm not sure that people are going to choose a council member based on their knowledge of the minutiae city processes. What really surprised me were a couple of responses by Ralph Remington. The first was that Ralph implied that NRP isn't a priority of his. Remington spoke of NRP's origin, implying that it was a result of the city having lots of extra money it needed to throw around. Remington marginalized an urban revitalization tool that City planners and government officials could not design except after several decades of mistakes and angry, organized citizens. I thought Remington's position on this really contrasted with Persons' strong commitment to finding a permanent source of funding for the neighborhood-based reinvestment tool that has a proven history. I was also surprised by how Ralph ended the debate by saying he had the experience and connections to bring businesses to Uptown. I'm not sure what his experience is, since he's never really articulated his experience in any detail. Bringing businesses to Uptown is quite the process complicated by many different parties, and if anyone has the experience to navigate it - it seems unlikely that it would be him. It also seems to be at odds with his anti-everything position throughout his campaign, however much he cloaks it by saying he's for "smart development." We'll have to see how this all plays out in the primary, but it seems to me that what this all comes down to is that Scott has established himself as the neighborhood campaign. (Side note, it was the first time I've heard Tom Moore speak, and I thought he did a pretty good job - though I didn't agree with him on everything.) 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
