Sheesh, talk about the lowering the bar, what's next, complaints that RT's wearing of mismatch sox directly led to Daytons now being owned by an out of town firm? How about the time the Major illegally left his Hybrid running, it seemed like the crime rate started to creep up right after that, maybe it was a subtle hint that it was ok to be an outlaw in the city.
I especially love the complaint about the budget. Here is a mayor who inherited a huge budget shortfall from a former mayor who didn't want to make hard budget decisions and a staff that was afraid to confront it. Couple that with a state government that literally turned its back on inner cities, plus having to govern in a post 9-11 world where Cities were saddled with additional security needs but no additional funds to pay for them. He could have taken the path the former mayor did and stick his hands over his ears and say "la la la I'm not listening." But instead he confronted the budget mess head on. Now he's facing an opponent full if happy bromides but won't give us his budget details. So excuse me if I'm a little nervous. But don't worry, I'll also watch his office hires, I'm sure that receptionist position will be his first order of business. ----- Original Message ----- From: wmmarks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, September 8, 2005 2:23 am Subject: [Mpls] when Rybak started to make me wonder > After the last election, the winner of course moved to city hall. He had proclaimed that he was going to 'sweep city hall clean,' have an open door policy, and fix the budget. OK. Fine. Roll it out, let's see your act. > > Within a week or so he had removed the receptionist and some other low level clerks, installed his staff, sans any receptionist, and had moved the staff positions into higher wages than the positions had carried under the previous administration. > > At that point he had broken all three of his intentions. The one that galled me the most was his failure to hire a receptionist. What it told me about Rybak was that he devalued the work of a receptionist, thinking that job irrelevant. It completely contradicts the notion of an open door policy. The consequences are myriad and far reaching. *Phone messages get lost, *visitors are greeted with confusion, *having an open door implies someone is home. Things don't happen in a timely fashion. In my estimation no office of any size over two inhabitants can operate without competent clerks. That also appears to have been the conclusion of every mayor preceding Rybak for a hundred years. Then, of course, raising staff salaries for the remaining group out of the wages of a receptionist and a couple of clerks meant he could shuffle money into the pockets of his supporters and out of the picture for running city hall well. Clerk positions are through civil service process and the contenders are not of the mayor's choosing > It was also dumb. The administration we have had as a consequence has religiously followed the path of not-quite-up-to-standard throughout. Rybak had the opportunity to hire people who could have improved the functioning of the city, but did not. Instance after instance when he could have made decisions for the city, all of which impacted the budget to one degree or another, Rybak made less than sterling decisions. A few bad decisions are to be expected. Nobody's perfect. But decision after decision? Over a period of 4 years? At some point one is forced to say that this guy ain't got his act together OR follow the money and see where it takes you. > > Not a pretty picture. > > WizardMarks, Central > REMINDERS: > 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
