Posted to the Minneapolis Issues list at the request of Arlene Fried by
Chris Johnson, Fulton.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board owns 6,400 acres of land and
is responsible for a budget of over $50 million. It is the largest
landowner in Minneapolis; and it is in trouble. It has been plagued
with controversial decisions, public criticism and a $1.8 million
lawsuit filed
by unpaid contractors. Services are being cut and taxes are
increasing. Citizen participation has been ignored and neighborhoods
alienated. ... It is interesting to note that when Park Board
Superintendent Jon Gurban was invited to speak at the Minneapolis Club
on October 19, he defended the Park Board's lack of citizen input by
telling Club members and guests that citizens were "in love with
process" and dismissed citizen input as "cumbersome."
This particular commentary does show some of the consequences of
instigating a Neighborhood Revitalization Program. In order to do
neighborhood directed revitalization, various people all over the city
had to learn how to organize and focus and collaborate. Ordinary people
got organized and, as a consequence, the meaning of citizenship in a
democracy took a larger role in their lives.
Gurban's statement and the choice of audience to make that statement
shows the resentment created by organized citizens who want a fair
process by which to choose employees and they want their input heard and
considered as part of making decisions. My interpretation: Democracy is
such a pain in the patooty, that the only logical thing to do is to
ignore it when making important decisions in the name of a public entity.
I think this shows the the secret dreams of those who created the NRP
and nurtured it into being. This is the real bottom line value of the
NRP. It was designed to create a situation in which hundreds and
hundreds of citizens could train themselves to speak up and to speak
truth to power. As a consequence, Minneapolis politicians are being
pushed into consent from constituents on all sorts of hitherto quietly
made decisions with huge consequences. For that, bless you all, may you
get a nice seat in heaven should there be one.
In terms of this park board race, today I got another e-missive from PIP
as well as this one from ParkWatch. PIP, a truly old guard DFL group,
endorsed pre-NRP, all DFL. ParkWatch, of course, endorsed post-NRP, DFL
and Green. Both endorsed Vreeland, very interesting. Should he win
tomorrow, he will be the key person in bringing the board into
collegiality. If ParkWatch can win the day, tomorrow, the future process
should be very interesting to watch.
WizardMarks, Central
________________________________
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
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
