I think Robert Lilligren's idea to adjourn the Whittier Alliance Community Issues meeting to allow for broadcast of the 6th ward candidates forum was a great solution to this problem. I was copied on his e-mail to you yesterday which also copied Dean Zimmermann. However, I take exception to your assessment that the Whittler Alliance policy is "foolish" or "shortsighted:. The Whittier Alliance is a private non-profit corporation in the State of Minnesota as are all neighborhood associations in Minneapolis. They are not subject to the Minnesota Open Meeting Law. They are required to hold open meetings and allow all neighborhood stakeholders to participate when NRP priorities are being determined or when the "millions of dollars" you referred to of NRP funds are being spent. This is a requirement of the NRP Participation Agreement or the Planning, Evaluation, Oversight and Monitoring contracts with the neighborhood association. The policy adopted by the Whittier Alliance was also adopted by other neighborhood organizations in the city. The policy originated to help protect people attending neighborhood committee meetings from being threatened and maligned by people videotaping meetings with the intent to doing harm later. The City Attorney's office issued a legal opinion supporting the policy. While the policy originated in Prospect Park, the Whittier Alliance adopted it to prevent Basim Sabri from retaliating against tenants in the Karmel Square complex if they decided to vote against a project he was developing. In this case it was a large group of Somali women who complained about being threatened by Sabri after attending and voting at Whittier Alliance committee meetings. I attended some of those meetings and the fear and intimidation toward those people was very real. While people in the neighborhood were retaliated against after the meeting, it was hard to prove it was at the hands of Basim Sa bri. The City of Minneapolis Planning Department, now CPED has never had a contractual relationship with neighborhood associations regarding how zoning and planning decisions are visited by neighborhood groups. This is work neighborhood associations do for the city on behalf of their citizens without compensation. The policy was adopted in 2004 and had nothing whatsoever to do with elections of any kind. Marian Biehn is a staff person for the Whittier Alliance. She did not have the authority to drop the policy without a board action which most certainly could not take place by last nights meeting. I am glad Robert Lilligren was able to maneuver Robert's Rules of Order to help us all through this difficult situation. Barb Lickness Whittier
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