This is why I no longer support local NRP groups where there are no
projects and meetings become activities, we could be using the money
more wisely.
I support the idea and the original beginning of NRP but it is far removed
from that ideal. Changes need to be made so the money given for
projects are used for projects and not just housing salaries and overhead.
Dorie Rae Gallagher/Nokomis
This link is to the charities division of the Minnesota attorney general's
office for one Minneapolis neighborhood. I don't know about other
neighborhood assns... but this one is certainly an eye-opening example.
Let's follow the money down the yellow brick road to your tax bill... got
your ruby red slippers?
A 1 year budget of $450,000+ about $200,000 goes to staff salaries,
bennies, office space for the staff, phone bills ($8000 for 1 year?).
$82,000 gets written off because NRP refuses to cover these expenses for
whatever reason(?). That leaves... about $120,000 for actual
projects/programs for this neighborhood.
So... spend $300,000 to provide $120,000 in programs for the neighborhood.
This is a good thing?
Don't misunderstand... it is a GOOD thing for the city to let
neighborhoods decide how to spend municipal money in their area. BUT...
why doesn't Mpls just tell the neighborhoods... okay... here's $200,000
for your neighborhood... hold one big meeting with all the neighbors, vote
on what you want to spend it on, and we'll cut the checks and send them
out. Done. No extra layers of beaurocracy. No office building... no
staff... no benefits... no $5000 in meeting expenses... no $8000 phone
bills... and NO $82,000 write off... and our property tax bills don't have
to go up to pay for such foolish waste.
How are the people running these orgs in any real way qualified to do so?
Are they successful business owners who know how to run a $450,000 dollar
per year business successfully? Or are they (in some cases I have seen)
career beaurocrats used to paychecks from government bodies who use
neighborhood assn as as a way to get their hands on more government money
and hire their friends and make themselves feel powerful?
What kind of business could operate this way for long?
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759,
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 -
1790)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1381.html Eva Young
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