I'm sad about the news of the FBI investigating Dean Zimmerman as well.
Dean and I have much in common. We are both dreamers as well as doers.
Dean has not been afraid to make changes in his own lifestyle -- riding a
bike to work, for example -- to make our city a better place. Most people
his age would come up with a thousand excuses about why riding a bike to
work would not be possible or practical in "the real world."
Dean has not been afraid to talk about the need for real changes in urban
infrastructure in preparation for the postcarbon world.
Above all, it makes me sad to know that most of our politicians who make it
to the City Council or to the office of Mayor are already bought by legal
bribes. They are already entangled in the sticky web of relationships of a
culture which refuses to acknowledge any need to for meaningful change.
Those politicians not loyal to a culture which is absolutely resistant to
change are hobbled by those who are loyal. Most politicians sense that
American voters are overwhelmed and yet spoiled at the same time. The
"political base" of this country and of our city are mobilized to maintain
the status quo.
Our political conversation is designed to stay on-topic: we told that the
only option we have is to shape our city to attract huge global corporations
upon which we become ever more dependant, even as the positive returns upon
such investment diminish and the waves of the negative consequences are
crashing in -- more global and local violence, more disparity between the
"haves" and the "have-nots" and less local strength and self-reliance.
Dean Zimmerman has been for me a bright spot in our local political scene.
I don't see anyone else on the scene who compares. I am saddened because if
he is removed from the scene, we are mostly left with political careerists
who are engaged in the process of carving up Minneapolis and selling it
chunk-by-chunk to the highest bidder. Of course the real crimes are always,
always legal, just as the real criminals are able to hire public relations
firms to garner applause instead of outrage.
"Poor men rob the passers by for a little cash to spend
Some men rob whole countries dry
and still get called their friend
and under the feeding frenzy
there's a wound that will not mend..."
B. Cockburn, "The Mines of Mozambique" from "Night Train"
-- pedaling a bit sadly today-- from Lynnhurst for now -- Gary Hoover
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