RE: [Mpls] Commentary: Ron Edwards: Legacy of Natalie Johnson Lee
I hear from my former colleague, Rick Stafford, that there are very likely going to be some substantive changes proposed in the languaging of the Minneapolis Charter that governs the redistricting process. I also understand that there will be at least four seats on the Charter Commission to be filled by appointment by the Chief Judge of Hennepin County for four-year terms commencing in April of 2006. My information may not be all that precise, but it seems to me that those who were chagrined by the redistricting outcome in 2002 may wish to be proactive in 2006. An ounce of prevention might save us all a pretty bundle in legal fees, you think? Fred Markus, Philips West, Ward 6 2000 Redistricting Commissioner 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] post-election comments
We had a crackerjack election - there are many new faces around town who had never been in the municipal trenches before and many more familiar faces who have now seen these new brooms do their work. I'm particularly glad to see that the Greens were not swept away. I have no desire to switch parties. I'm situated in the DFL where I think I can do the most good but I'm also truly gratified to see so many talented and passionate presences gaining valuable experience across both my favorite majority parties. Now I think we have to look to 2006 and the resources our city will be able to bring to the larger tables at which we all sit - the metro region and our state government. There are moderate folks of whatever political persuasion who are surely ready to help clean house if that's what it takes to bring sanity and sustainability to Minneapolis' relationships with other jurisdictions. I strongly believe that our commonalities of purpose should trump the bromides of partisan wrangling. Imagine what we accomplish if we find common cause with our surburban and exurban and rural neighbors. Imagine how transparency in process compares to "gotcha" politics and banal soundbites. We've been learning how to live with one another here in Minneapolis despite lots of differences - cutting one another a little slack now and again. Learning to listen. Now just maybe we can collectively take that show on the road. Fred Markus, Phillips West, Ward 6 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] List manager news
Hey, now, don't go drifting off into the ozone! You've been a crackerjack editor and I hope the papers' loss is our gain. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Brauer Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 3:37 PM To: mpls@mnforum.org Subject: [Mpls] List manager news If everyone will permit a point of personal privilege... I wanted to let Mpls-Issues members know that I'll be leaving my job as editor of the Southwest Journal and Downtown Journal on Nov. 11. It's a voluntary thing; I'm not going out of here spitting nails about the bosses or anything. The joy of having an "ideal" job is that it sucks you in thoroughly; the problem is that it sometimes doesn't let go when you need it to. On a personal level, I like change; for the first time in many years, I can contemplating a blank slate, a sabbatical of sorts. At 46, it's good to still be able to take risks. For now, I plan on honing my cooking skills and picking up my kids from school every day. One of the most exciting things is that I'll have the time to look for another way to contribute to the community - possible a way I can't even imagine right now. Or I could wind up writing and editing again. Some words of thanks: to the staff here, especially all the reporters who get out on the streets and on the phones to find out what's happening. Reporting is a rare commodity and the papers here have a lot of it. Also, my bosses, Terry and Janis, who backed me up on every controversial story we did. (I'm proud of the fact that we wrote tough pieces on our two biggest advertisers this year.) Not every owner does that, especially in the community newspaper biz. I also want to thank Mpls-Issues members, who have been a great source of tips, information, feedback, prodding and occasional butt- kicking. Even though I had no clue I'd be editing the Journal when I co-founded the list in 1998, the citizens of Mpls-Issues and Journal journalists have helped each other for the betterment of Minneapolis. The Journal was excellent before I got here and I expect it will be excellent after I leave. I think everyone knows papers like the Journal have become more crucial to the Mpls body politic in recent years; I'm proud I could help fill the gap. And yes, I still plan on managing the Mpls-Issues list, and perhaps weigh in on a few more topics if the career path allows. David Brauer Kingfield 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:mpls@mnforum.org 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Star Tribune endorses R.T.
I was at a city council candidate's house party last evening and learned that the planning department is in for some reinforcements in the next budget. Good. That takes away one of my major criticisms of the mayor's administration provided that there is much broader communication between CPED and the city's neighborhoods. I have long advocated breveting junior planners to functional groups of neighborhoods as away of cutting staff overhead in so many individual neighborhoods. While the budget apparently keeps city personnel in city hall - not always the most attentive listening post - beefing up the planning department is a good beginning. I also hope that relations between Miller's NRP agency and CPED can be collaborative, not adversarial. A second major criticism of R.T.'s administration in my eyes is that the Mayor has been very good at reaching out away from city hall but not very easily met within city hall thanks to a palace guard that routinely turns citizens away when they have arrived in response to the Mayor's "come visit me" remarks. Of course the mayor of a big city needs flak-catchers, but there should be known titles, routine channels, and a much less breezy approach to mayoral invites to "come on down". And there's no overlooking the structural disinterest the Mayor has shown to the bodies that have negotiated about police-community relations and strategized about homelessness remedies. R.T. doesn't have to hang out in these meetings, but surely his subordinates could show their faces and their respect for these efforts. This is the tough part of runnning a city and I can't accept such systemic indifference as appropriate mayoral behavior. Other than that, well, yes, R.T. is the genuine article. So is Peter. I've supported Peter because our inner-ring neighborhoods need genuine advocacy, not lip service. There are entirely too many examples of class advantages - the well-off run the place and the lesser mortals take what they can get. We often see the city government entirely too cosy with developers whose deep pockets necessarily demand respect but ought not connote servile acquiescence. Smart governance sometimes requires "just say no" and sometimes that should be expressed by the city's chief executive, weak mayor system notwithstanding. Gotta keep those foxes out of the henhouse, folks! Fred Markus, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] A post-primary overview of the electorate
David Brauer has added his shrewd thoughts to reflections on why the Minneapolis wards have the boundaries we are now using and G.R. Anderson's in depth analysis of the redistricting episode is certainly worth a visit. http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2005/10/redistricting_m.asp I've been a busy bee in my own right and the product of my endeavor can be viewed at http://minneapolisgoldenoldies.blogspot.com/ This analysis displays the core voting population of the city down to the ward level. My apologies for the limitations in the graphics - I'll be using better software in the time ahead but if you make it through the park districts to the individual wards, you'll have a remarkably accurate overview of the "Golden Oldies" - my term of convenience for the chronic voters who vote in every even-year election and very likely in the municipal election cycles as well. These maps are based on the current voter rosters as of April 11, 2005. There is no sure way to know what voters of more recent provenance have on their minds but we'll soon discover how matters stand when the electorate goes to the polls on November 8, 2005. I've also included a precinct-level map that shows the outcome of the mayoral primary for the "win, show, and place" candidates. There's lots of food for thought in these maps because they bear out perceptions about the electorate commonly held "in the trade" but not so easily brought to broader civic consciousness. I assume that the technology involved here will be in much wider circulation by this time next year. We all had at this during the redistricting process at the state and local levels earlier in this decade and the information management lessons learned have been showing up around the country in partisan marketing strategies too numerous and convoluted to mention here. Fred Markus, Phillips West 2000 Redistricting Commissioner 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re [Mpls] City Pages: 8th Ward white
David Brauer is right in correcting G.R. Anderson's assertion regarding the electoral footprint that the Kingfield precincts had on primary day. I myself think that the fundamental motives in the minds of the majority redistricting commissioners had to do with incumbency protection in the "four corners" - Wards 1,4,12, and 13 - and with an assertive reaction to the arriviste council members in the inner wards. Reinforcing the influence of the seventh ward - the "downtown" Ward - was also a deliberate choice that had a pernicious influence on several of the adjacent Wards. I've been satisfying my curiosity about the core long-term voting population of the city and I'll have some systematic material about that ready in a few days, most likely on a website similar to the one I made available during the active life of the 2000 redistricting commission. What strikes me in the eighth ward is found in a comparison of the registration/2005 primary turnout and the long-term voting habits of the eighth ward's current precincts. There are as many long-term voters in 8-10 as there are in precincts 8-1, 8-2, and 8-3. 8-10 is at the base of a column of precincts that run along the east side of I35. The other three precincts are at the top end of the ward and include much of the Powderhorn area. The addition of 8-6 and 8-7 in Kingfield west of I35 roughly balances the relatively quiescent 8-4, 8-8 and 8-9 areas due south of Powderhorn, leaving 8-5's voters sandwiched between the northmost and southmost areas along the east side of the freeway. What is immediately apparent from the primary results, and regrettably predictably so, is that the core settlement of minority voters who were expected to elevate a person of color were outvoted by supporters of the two ladies and left with these two primary victors. The notion of a "minority majority opportunity" ward - advanced by the majority of the redistricting commission - has fallen victim to the grinding realities of underparticipation by the "minority" electorate. The voters in 8-5 and 8-10 south of 38th and east to Chicago will decide this matter, by and large, and none of us will know for sure to what degree race may have influence in these decisions. What is clear is that class has already made its point and that, I think, ought to be understood by the city generally as a legacy arranged for by the majority redistricting commissioners. Small wonder that I voted against this plan. Fred Markus, Phillips West 2000 redistricting commissioner 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Re: RE: 5th ward fireworks
Wizard and now David Strand have touched a tender spot with me - partly from my recollection of the tensions at redistricting time and partly because I'm one of the "old heads" albeit not a person of color. Age is easier to address because I live it every day. Race/ethnicity/national origin and class confront me whenever I venture forth from my aerie in Phillips West. It seems to me that we have a hard time coping with the idea of "the greater good" when we dress for battle in our civic affairs. Parochial interests have greater volume by default on our personal radios and seizing the day sometimes appears to be a matter of uncritical inertia/momentum - I know I find myself preaching about seniors' needs regularly and some of that is transference given the implacable demands of an aging body. Still, we are blessed with higher faculties if we make the effort to use them and I can rest easy when I see commitment and insight in my vicinity. When Alberto Monserrate of Gente De Minnesota uses the sharp point of his pencil, he is a treasure to hold dear. During the 2000 redistricting episode, even my status as a commissioner couldn't get me past the flak catchers in the Spanish language community and I still regret that my willingness to carry that interest forward fell short. Not just because of language and culture differences, but because the larger community as represented on the redistricting commission and elsewhere in our governing bodies seems to be satisfied with ephemeral nods to diversity while making darn sure that our own kind get the inside track. Don't get me started! Help me prepare the ground for the 2010 redistricting cycle so we don't have to return to this historical lesson yet again. Fred Markus, Phillips West -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of wmmarks Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 12:38 AM Cc: mpls@mnforum.org Subject: Re: [Mpls] Re: RE: 5th ward fireworks [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >We have to realize that redistricting caused the only two sitting minorities >to be fighting for one seat, just like redistricting cause the downtown area, >where the money lies, to be taken from the 5th ward. > > I don't think it's fair to lay all the responsibility on the fifth ward. The eighth, which had been represented by African Americans for 20 years running, did not, in the end, support another African American in the primary this year. In some ways I'm at a loss to understand this, since African Americans have been a mainstay of the DFL in this ward for much longer than a generation. However, some of the "old heads" who could rally the troops did not appear at the DFL convention this time. Truth to tell, some of the elder statesmen and women did not choose younger people to train up in how to work for votes, how to work the caucuses and convention, and how to find the ones most likely to be electable to put up for consideration. Thus, some of the old heads who supported SSB and Herron were not able to muster the wherewithall to support new candidates. That's sad. It means that these elders are passing on. By this time in history, both the sixth and the ninth wards as well as the eight and fifth, should be able to produce more than one credible candidate for council member who is either African American and/or American Indian. WizardMarks, Central > > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org >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:mpls@mnforum.org 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Commissioner Hauser joins park reform movement
Commissioner Hauser has an incumbent's cross to bear and the same can be said of Commissioner Kummer. Four years of going along with the other commissioners who have created such an alarming and bullying atmosphere on the Minneapolis Park Board is pretty hard to explain away. I was musing about terminology the other day and finally looked up the word "oligarchy" to refresh my memory. Sure enough: Yourdictionary.com explains the term as "Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families". Does this shoe fit? A negative connotation comes readily to mind and not just in the context of abuse of process on the Park Board itself. Others have done a sterling job in describing shoddy practices in the exercise of that Board's functions and the larger-than-life steering that emanates from senior management staff. Tunnel vision about DeLaSalle's ambitions is also easily observed and one may hope that persons of Rip Rapson's caliber will find a reasonable resolution to that contretemps. I've earlier expressed reservations about Commissioner Hauser's desire to have one "Last Hurrah" in seeking advancement to the City Council seat in Ward 8, noting that her agreeable temperament may stand in the way of the hard moments of decision that routinely confront our city council. To this I must add more than a little concern about the episode of the Hauser campaign literature that expropriated the images of two others running for office without their permission. Ah, yes, and the match-up of Commissioner Kummer's image with that the Ward 12 incumbent - done with permission, granted, but giving Commissioner Kummer the opportunity to bask in the reflected glory of a DFL endorsement she was unable to achieve on her own merits. We are in fact governed by a few individuals. That's the Faustian bargain we make as a practical reality. But it's reasonable to expect high standards of public behavior and that's where incumbency becomes more than a matter of atmospherics. Don't listen to what is said so much as watch closely to what is done! Fred Markus, Phillips West Measure twice and cut once. 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re[Mpls]: Stone Arch Bridge for rent.
Good for you, Shawne and Christine, for giving us more news on the shock and dismay front in re the outlandish Parks situation. There's precedent for renting facilities in the parks but IMHO this is a special case because the bridge links major sections of the Historic District. Should the Library Board rent out the facilities that they oversee? Not just a room or an auditorium, but whole locations? Might not the City of Minneapolis find creative ways to justify renting out City Hall from time to time? What else have we got in the public's hands that can be used to turn a dime here and there? Somebody should reel these guys in before we have nothing left for the public's use and enjoyment! Fred Markus, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] People for Independent Parks
Oh my goodness. I love a good rhubarb. I was interested to see if there were any fresh faces in the list of supporters of the ancien regime and happily there were very few. Last week's news, by and large. I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande, and I'm so glad I didn't hang up my sixshooter just yet. I hope the list members can stand the excitement because we're in for some sharp-shooting verbal highjinks. I hardly know where to begin. I'm glad the People for Independent Parks have put pen to paper. Perhaps our city will see reasoned discourse, thoughtful understandings, and comity all around. It'll certainly be entertaining and educational for the young crowd who will once again understand why "all politics is local". I wonder if the old guard will take the time to have a spot of tea with us other oldsters. We can talk about making the park system more accessible and inviting for seniors, planning events and facilities for people over 60, say. Golly sakes, it'll be a treat to set a spell and enjoy the company of others who like us, reminisce about the good old days. Not at the parks, of course. There's not much provision for us old dogs. Still, think ahead to when the over-60 crowd doubles and triples in size. Those baby boomers aren't getting any younger! Fred Markus, Phillips West -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Brauer Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 4:58 PM To: mpls@mnforum.org Subject: [Mpls] People for Independent Parks This should be fun. A counter-group to ParkWatch and ParkReformNow has been formed by Councilmember Barb Johnson (who you may remember from a few years ago when she criticized list members who criticized the ultimately aborted Dairy Queen park concession deal.) Voters should brace themselves for fireworks (at least for those who pay attention to park board politics). As the group's press release states, "Johnson believes that a self-appointed group of 'watchdogs' has attempted to interject a massive dose of politics into the park elections to serve a narrow agenda based on the personal disagreements of a few misguided and misinformed people. Johnson said: 'the parks are the best thing the City has going for it. A small vocal group of people is trying to hijack the Park Board under the nebulous idea of 'reform.' ... As Edmund Burke said 'all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.' Well, now is the time to do something and stand up for a great park system." Whew. This should mean a much mellower race now, right? There are about 100 names on the media release, such as former pols Mark Andrew, Pat Scott, Tony Scallon, Sharon Sayles Belton, Joan Neimec, John Sarna, Mark Kaplan, Alice Rainville, Dick Erdall, and Carol Flynn. Two Councilmembers - Johnson and Sandy Colvin Roy - plus State Sen. Wes Skoglund and County Commissioner Mark Stenglein. List members Nikki Carlson and Peter Surmak are also there (apologies to anyone left out.) The web site is www.parksareforpeople.com. David Brauer Kingfield Editor, Southwest Journal and Downtown JournalREMINDERS: 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:mpls@mnforum.org 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Safe neighborhoods, indeed!
Yes, we apparently showed some intruders the door last evening here at our senior highrise. They were none other than the mayor and his too-numerous entourage, who were asked to leave, I'm told, because they insisted on knocking on our individual doors. I refused to answer my door - nothing new there - but jeepers, one would think that repeated requests not to disturb our elderly residents wouldn't fall on such tin ears. Speaking of tin ears, we had another bad incident where the perpetrators parked in our lot and then one of them jumped an elderly resident when he was en route from his car to the front door. This old gent takes a drug that thins his blood as a preventative against blood clots and he bled profusely. A life-threatening incident from the sound of it. I do hope our civic leadership, whomever they turn out to be, can embrace the notion that seniors have the right to peaceful enjoyment of their "golden" years. Putting these two examples of selective deafness together would make a nifty editorial cartoon had I only the drawing skills to render same. Fred Markus, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] A fine piece of dissimulation thwarted?
A fine piece of dissimulation thwarted: >From Ballot Box, 9/12/05, sent 12:51 pm to Mpls Issues "With all the brouhaha surrounding the Zimmermann campaign, we've overlooked a couple of interesting developments in other races. Mary Merrill Anderson, one of two DFL-endorsed candidates in the at-large Park Board race, told us that her name was included on a piece of literature being distributed by Eighth Ward City Council candidate Marie Hauser without her permission. She said she requested that the piece not be distributed. "Now, why would a candidate facing a tough primary race not want her picture plastered on a well-meaning sample ballot? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that one of Hauser's primary opponent, Jeffrey Hayden, is Anderson's nephew." Marie isn't endorsed any more than Carol Kummer is endorsed, and in both cases, the unendorsed candidate is lumped with endorsed candidates (Hauser, et al.) or an endorsed candidate (Kummer/Colvin Roy), giving voters the impression that these individuals who did not receive endorsement are nevertheless basking in reflected glory as if they had been endorsed. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] My candidacy for mayor
Wizard has the high ground here and I applaud her incisive commentary. I've repeatedly warned R.T. in face-to-face conversations and in writing at one remove here on Minneapolis Issues that the turn away from NRP and the establishment of CPED were/are recidivist gestures. Now I understand why the mayor's campaign was so turgid early on when I warned that lack of groundwork in my part of town would be a negative thing when DFL choices were being made. Sure enough, that played out in the city convention. Well, if the incumbent mayor is playing only to the fertile crescent - the most prosperous parts of town along the south and west edges of the city - why bother with the inner-city wards? Why take on responsibility for all the city of Minneapolis if deep pockets are all that matter when policy decisions are made? Have we ever been down this road before! The whole point of NRP from my perspective was to build on the grassroots initiatives of the 1970s and 1980s. Indeed, by the late 1990s we had a large cadre of informed and capable neighborhood leadership - not always that representative, but those who show up are the ones who care. Now the precious few of us who remember staff stonewalling in the 1970s have lots of companions in the bottom-up approach to governance in this town. When CCP-SAFE came along and even more collaborative capacity emerged, as has been well established by Wizard and others, we saw a very marked turnaround in the realm of personal safety and protection of property. These were important steps forward and our more prosperous brethren who may wish to shy away from social responsibility need only watch the horrible disaster movie now playing on CNN. We have our own slippery slope to contemplate in re class and race challenges and I don't see the present mayor acting in accordance with his stated rhetoric. Not a good thing. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Cost of Stadium and Tuition at D
I agree wholeheartedly with Greg Abbott's assessment of the mission drift we have been seeing lately. The Park Board itself is responsible in part for this unseemly development. Rushing a decision of such magnitude is shabby leadership and I've been very pointed in my criticism of this apparent intention. I've also been fairly clear about the larger context of the Historic District and the limited carrying capacity of the Island proper. Addressing the Minneapolis Issues list generally, I notice that no one in the position to make appointments to the CAC has picked up on what I think is obvious - the need to have folks with clarity of vision in this larger planning realm. Astonishingly, the membership of the CAC has been kept from the general public. This is hardly appropriate. I don't want to be appointed. That's not the point. Not to know the identities or interests of any of the persons being asked to sit on this committee just days before the committee is to meet and just a few weeks before that committee is ostensibly expected to have informed and final opinions is IMHO a transparent attempt to tilt the scales to one side's eventual intention. Given the proximity of the election on November 8 and the intensity of the controversy, I suggest a more credible process on the calendaring of this preparation is essential to eventual public acceptance of the CAC's and the Park Board's actions. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg Abbott Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 4:09 PM To: Chris Johnson Cc: Issues Forum Mpls Subject: Re: [Mpls] Cost of Stadium and Tuition at D I have followed the DeLaSalle stadium debate, but I have drawn no conclusion one way or the other. In my judgment the opponents of the stadium have completely lost perspective if they think pointless quibbling with DeLaSalle supporters over tuition and scholarships advances their cause. DeLaSalle is a fine institution, and contributes greatly to the quality of life in Minneapolis. It is counter-productive to deny or minimize that fact. If the debate becomes a referendum on DeLaSalle generally, the stadium opponents will almost surely lose. So, let's stipulate for the record that DeLaSalle is an excellent, amazing, divinely-inspired school that saves thousands of kids from the clutches of poverty and crime. That fact is not a sufficient condition to permit a private religious entity to use public park land. The only way this deal makes sense is if the public as a whole benefits. From the perspective of the Park Board, the larger question is -- does the stadium proposal improve the use and access of the affected park land by the public as a whole? From what I can see on the list, no one has discussed this particular point. Someone needs to provide some hard data on current public use and enjoyment of the tennis courts, compared to potential public use and enjoyment of the new facilities. Use and enjoyment of the facilities by DeLaSalle is not a public benefit, even if helps keep kids off the street. Justifying use of public land by private religious groups on the basis of the good works done by those religious groups sets a very dangerous precedent, and is wholly inconsistent with the principle of church/state separation. If the public benefits, as well as DeLaSalle, then it's a win-win. But without a direct public benefit, it's a no-go. So let's reframe the debate, and leave the discussion of tuition and financial aid on the table, OK? Greg Abbott Linden Hills On Sep 1, 2005, at 2:26 PM, Chris Johnson wrote: > I would like to make my own comparisons, and draw my own conclusions. > > To repeat the question: how much is DeLaSalle's tuition? The > correct answer is a numerical value, expressed in dollars and > cents, not an opinion on its relation to the amount at "most" > private schools. > > Carlson thinks the tuition went up about $500 and another parent > said around $1,500. Which is it? > > How many students get more than a token amount of financial aid? > How many students get 50% or more of tuition? Giving over half the > students a few dollars might qualify as financial aid, but would > not be representative of the real financial needs of the student body. > > One other note about financial aid. All students at Catholic high > schools in the archdiocese are eligible for need-based grants from > the Archdiocesan Annual Catholic Appeal. DeLaSalle is hardly > unique in that aspect. > Greg Abbott [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 ext
Re:[Mpls] siding
Anne McCandless has told it like it is. I spent a fair amount of time in years past being a small-scale property manager, a caretaker, a church custodian/gardener and a handyman in the Trust Chore Project doing useful things for seniors still living in their own homes. All the properties and functions involved in this aspect of my work experience (and me too, for that matter), were past their original prime. There were inspectors involved from time to time and I'd have to say that they were on balance a well-meaning bunch of city employees. Of course it's a mixed bag because I remember the guy that was caught playing golf on company time and there are plenty of backroom possibilities I don't know about. But there are a gazillion properties in Minneapolis that aren't so hale and hearty and nowhere near that many city employees to keep track of them. I can understand the desire of the city council to get ahead of the curve and give better tools to those who have to lean on the bad guys that Anne makes reference to. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] It seems history is -- well, it's history! con't.
In today's world, IMHO the expectation that a governmental body will do right by the Island's situation is once again in doubt. E.G., tucking in a Hennepin County Commissioner appointee without regulatory authority to do so would be an awkward gesture. Advantaging Football and Soccer devotees while turning an indifferent face to social historians, environmentalists, and the several other governmental bodies who have an institutional interest in the evolution of the Historic District and Regional Park would also be - umm - bad form, would it not? Setting aside the concerns of the aggrieved parties (the Islanders and their allies and the parochial high school and their supporters), one notices that Park Board staff are being asked not to put their thumb on the scales, so to speak. We went through this cautionary exercise thirty-five years ago when city staff were a bit presumptuous in assessing the Island's situation. Once burned, twice shy - many of us who prodded the government into being more sensitive to the unique challenges and opportunities of that earlier time are discovering that the agency that was unwilling to participate in what amounted to a remarkable public-private charrette culminating in the 1983 compact - the Minneapolis Park Board - is still demonstrating an unwillingness "to work well with others" as the old grade school report cards would say. It took many years and the efforts of many people from all sorts of walks of life, public and private, to arrive at the 1983 compact. How can any prudent person expect any less thorough and representative effort to survive the oppositional hurdles - litigation, particularly - that would surely emerge if the advisory committee process is but window dressing? Expecting tensions to subside and resolution to be reached in a matter of a few weeks is simply unrealistic. Such a schedule is surely a patent attempt to sidestep the opinions of the city's electorate. The logistics alone are daunting - Remember the Affordable Housing Task Force? It takes time, patience, good will, and a sober look back at the planning efforts to date. Until the parties turn the volume down, those elements won't be ready for prime time in the matter of proposed land use changes on Nicollet Island. Months, not weeks, for preparation. Years for implementation. And never mind about the farm animals. That was then. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] It seems history is -- well, it's history!
I brought the matter of how the Citizens Advisory Committee re changes in the Nicollet Island landscape might be constituted up last evening in conversation at the Jason Stone FR. It was early and the crowd hadn't arrived yet so we few were making do with one another. I didn't take the CAC heads-up email along because I wanted to think about it some more. It's interesting that among the comments last evening was the notion that the Islanders have become as rigid in their debating posture as those who are promoting a stadium on park land as an expansionist feather in De LaSalle's cap. I finessed this opinion with an anecdote about the early life of the Cedar Riverside PAC - our sister urban renewal project in the early 1970s - who were deeply conflicted at the time by factional struggles on their board. The louder they squawked, the more serene our board appeared to be (at least in public). When angry West Bankers came to the MHRA headquarters to rant about something, we would be lotus eaters in the far-away land of the NIEBURAPAC, the obscure tribe thought to inhabit a little-known island nearby. We modeled our behavior after the Swiss, being far too modest to raise our collective voices in so disrespectful a manner. Taking a page from The Mouse That Roared, we also threatened to secede from the United State at another point when the local government had broken the law in its haste to dispossess some of our members (the Wilder Hotel incident - a story for another time). A matter of judgment and timing. Many of the insiders around town found our antics entertaining. A few realized that we were busy forming alliances with far more potent persons and agencies of interest but there wasn't anything sufficiently improper in our activities that could be used to shut us down. Given the "Cannery Row" reputation of the Island, we chose to embrace this stereotype and frankly flaunt it when that suited our purposes. A small village with an annual average income of about $300O per person could hardly do otherwise. Besides, it was good for us to have donkeys and other farm animals as an affirmation of the rural character of our community. Simple Minnesota farm folk, you betcha. Pointing to the WEST Bank's sound and fury with alarm also suited the purposes of the Nicollet Island - EAST Bank Urban Renewal Area Project Area Committee (NIEBURAPAC) because in contrast to our sister project under Minnesota's Urban Renewal Plan R-54, all our business people were in their own Nicollet Island Business Association, or perhaps it was named the Nicollet Island Area Business Association, because Paul Rosso and David Lerner were joined at the hip. Paul owned the building on East Hennepin just past 2nd St. on the right side of the street. He was furious at MHRA's heavy-handed tactics and was forever taking them to court. David Lerner owned a critical set of buildings directly in the path of the Hennepin Ave. highway project and was understandably holding out for a good settlement for himself and his on-Island business neighbors. The business owners were of the opinion that they would come out better in the end if they distanced themselves from the loonies who lived on the North Tip. We residents tut-tutted regularly about the abrasive tactics of our business neighbors, assuring the government that we wanted to help, not hinder, planning for the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and its economic development potential for the city, the region, and the state while privately making sure that Paul and David always had the best insider information we could ferret out. Ah, yes. The halcyon days of yore. (to be continued) Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Recent Nicollet Island posts
I forgot about the bus tours. They've been a fact of life for many years. I recall an episode when a busful of school children were brought to the Island for an outing. They were very young, perhaps third- or fourth-graders. This was a walking tour and the rather straggled-out group of children had some city voices at the front lauding the possibility of a football stadium on Nicollet Island. I was at the rear of the group describing how we Islanders were hoping to preserve the houses so that the elderly Islanders who were our friends could live out their days in their familiar setting. "Think about old oak trees," I said, "they can't be transplanted. If they're uprooted, they die and we don't want that to happen to our friends and neighbors." Think about your own lives," I said, "by the time we adults make up our minds about what to do with the Island, you will have children the age you are now. What would you like them to be able to see and do if you brought them here to the Island?" Of course, the old Islanders are gone now and those of us who lived with them are ourselves well into the grandparenting years. On that long-ago occasion, the children got to meet old Gus Rudy, a widower in his 70s who had preserved his wife's extensive collection of dolls. The old gent and the kids hit it off and the teacher had her class write letters thanking me and Gus for the good time they had on their field trip. I don't recall any mention of football stadiums in those letters, but time has taken its toll. What would you like your children to be able to see and do if you brought them to Nicollet Island? Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Nicollet Island Part Four
Robert Lilligren wrote to Mpls Issues a while back describing how he likes to stop by Nicollet Island as a place of spiritual substance. Well he might, given his Native American heritage. I don't think it's accidental, parenthetically, that religious folks of a contemplative bent built an edifice that looks out over Lake Calhoun or that first the Unitarians and later the French immigrants established Our Lady of Lourdes church to look out over St. Anthony Falls. We are a busy people, we Americans, and we have few enough opportunities to grasp the majesty of the Mississippi as it passes through our settlements on a natural scale far surpassing mere human activity. >From Boom Island to the James J. Hill limestone railroad bridge, with Nicollet Island squarely in media res (in the middle of the place, literally), we have achieved remarkable recognition of the centrality of this physical geography. Not to be taken lightly because here lies the heartbeat of our city. Minneapolis would not have come to be were it not for this riverine environment. I submit that Minneapolis has turned its collective attention to the Mississippi in many major ways over the past forty years. I am intensely pleased that we have been able to keep the essential qualities of the riverfront available to all and this is a great statement of egalitarian reality. The early movers and shakers accepted the value of heterogeneous settlement on the Island while sketching out far grander visions for parks and lakes and a greenbelt surrounding the city. No one paid much heed as multi-story walkups proliferated along the downtown side of the river, spilling over onto Hennepin Ave. and the East Bank; and here today, gone tomorrow, the Gateway Project in the 1960s and subsequent radical transformations of the Island settlement area swept away buildings and people alike, leaving something of a tabula rasa, a blank slate, on which we have been crafting our awareness of our past and our preparations for our future. No small task and something compelling enough to warrant slow, reflective, thoughtful process. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Re: Nicollet Island Part Three
There's an element of "location envy" that's been in the Nicollet Island residential mix for longer than even De LaSalle can assert. Col. King had his mansion where De LaSalle now stands and cared for his prize livestock where we now enjoy the Farmstead Rose Garden, perhaps arriving via "King's Highway" aka Dupont Ave. S. William Eastman had his mansion where the De LaSalle football field is now located. He also built Eastman Flats (torn down for DeLaSalle's building and parking lot that faces Hennepin Ave.) and the Grove St. Flats that are still extant, renovated, on the National Register of Historic Places, and home to folks who paid handsomely at market rates for their respective parts of this condominium. People of more modest means settled on the North Tip of the Island, beginning with a farmhouse of sorts built in 1863, as I recall. Still there, renovated, part of the residential cooperative ensemble. There are pictures from the Civil War years that show Nicollet St. as a raw cut in the earth and the South Tip with a field under cultivation where the Park Board has put in a surface parking lot for the adjacent private enterprises. During the heyday of milling expansion, Franklin Steele attempted a flour mill whose millrace tunnel construction led to a collapse of the limestone riverbed and a thirty-year effort by the Army Corp of Engineers to stabilize St. Anthony Falls. Also during this time after the Civil War, a limestone suspension bridge was built from the Island to Bridge Square on the downtown side of the river, the lumbering years brought Boom Island its name, and the gandy dancers who built our railroads recreated themselves in a red light district that kept the original farmhouse company on the back of the Island. The other houses on the North Tip, still there, renovated, etc., now recognized as a unique ensemble of 19th-century residential architectural styles, were built in the 1880s or thereabouts and housed middle- and working-class families whose children attended school where Carlson Store Equipment Manufacturing Company operated and where there is now some of that precious open space on the North Tip that helps gives the Island its credence as a regional park. I used to find clay marbles in the ground when I had one of the community garden plots in the vicinity during the 1970s. The Island is something of an antiquarian's paradise because the North Tip community survived World War I and the flu pandemic, the Great Depression - bootlegging days on the island, I'm told - a fresh influx of families as everywhere in the 1950s, and some folks on the fringe of society in the 1960s. A fascinating place to this day and still there to be experienced by the general public because of herculean efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to keep this gentle ambiance a part of Minneapolis' and St. Anthony's historical legacy. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Elected Myopia
At first I thought this too intemperate to post on Minneapolis Issues, but since the matter of appropriate language has come up, I offer this as serious food for thought: Why would any cogent voter want to encourage the myopic vision that seems now to be a continuing reality as Park Commissioner and City Council Ward 8 candidate Marie Hauser signals that ordinances and legally mandated advisory safeguards apparently do not obtain in her interesting worldview. I know that now Park Commissioner and then City Council Member Walt Dziedzic was a caustic critic of legally mandated citizen advisory input to the urban renewal process in Minneapolis in the 1970s. It would appear that he hasn't changed his stripes in all the intervening years while our majority body politic has moved to institutionalize grassroots citizen participation and become a highly regarded leader on the national scene in these matters. Would City Council Member Hauser be as protective of the public trust as Commissioner Hauser is showing herself to be? I have to wonder if there is a special reality where these folks live - where statutes, ordinances, and legally binding covenants are simply "inoperative" when they are what - "inconvenient?" or can be elided on the advice of staff whatever the black letter ground rules? My most major complaint about the De LaSalle affair is the routine abuse of process that we now read about regularly. I know that my side doesn't win every battle - vide the recent redistricting. But by golly, my side at least plays by the rules. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Constricting traffic flow on Nicollet Island?
Another interested citizen shared with me an e-mail he received from Don Siggelkow, a spokesperson for the Park Board, that indicated that the grade crossing on East Island Ave. would no longer be available should the De LaSalle ambitions be realized. Oh, my. the perimeter road around the Island is a favorite drive for countless people. It's a pleasant Sunday drive through a rural setting and people often stop along the way to appreciate the quiet scene, to take a stroll, to have a casual look at the restored houses without intruding on the neighborhood's need for a modicum of privacy. This has been a stable feature of the Island's ambiance probably ever since motor cars made their appearance. Cutting off the second grade crossing would require folks to drive through this little neighborhood arriving/leaving via the bridge over the tracks on Nicollet St. Remember that a number of Minneapolis neighborhoods asked for and received cul-de-sac treatments for residential streets in order to discourage intrusive vehicular traffic. I also know that there are heavy vehicles that occasionally take advantage of the "back road" - drivers take their lunch breaks in this woodsy setting. This traffic would also be forced through the neighborhood and up and over the rather modest bridge on Nicollet St. Talk about mission creep! The public likes to drive. Some folks are elderly or have other mobility challenges and appreciate being able to "drive around the Island" - to circumnavigate the entire Island using the perimeter road and in recent years being able to take advantage of the bridge that connects to Main St. This is handy, easily understood, and dependent in part on the stretch of East Island that crosses the RR tracks and continues on past the De LaSalle campus and parking lot and connects with both Hennepin Ave. and the facilities on the South Tip of the Island. It's a good way for parents to show their kids what the old houses are like. It's a direct shot from Main St. to the pedestrian path in the old rail bed that leads to Boom Island and/or to the steps that connect from Island Ave. to the bridge across the back channel to Boom Island park. For Pete's sakes, folks, this is a unique little park setting. Let it be! Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Nicollet Island - Part Two
In due course, a bridge span was moved at Hennepin County's expense to create a surface link between the south tip of the Island and Main St. The old sash and door limestone structure was rehabbed into the Nicollet Island Inn, the Grove St. Flats were saved from oblivion, and the residential community on the north tip was established as a unique resource hearkening back to residential architectural styles in the early decades of the city's history. The planning scenario also addressed another important postulate, namely that there should be a residential presence on the north tip of the Island in order to avoid - especially once Boom Island and ribbon parks along both banks of the Mississippi the strip were improved as open space - what was familiarly referred to as the "Central Park" syndrome. This was a significant matter - with no 24-hour residential presence, the north tip of the Island and its environs qua regional park would not be safe. There was also general agreement about another postulate, namely that all the public should have access to this historical area. This meant in practice that there could not be a gated community on the Island. The compromise that was reached here leaves the land itself in the public's trust, requires that infill in the residential area is consonant with the historical architectural character of the preexisting buildings and left significant open space where commercial buildings had once stood, and puts a lid on speculation in the value of the houses themselves. It was a real pleasure in the 1980s to be able to give history tours around the Historic District via horse carriage. Subsequent establishment of excursion boat tours anchored on Boom Island, the renovation of the Stone Arch bridge, and major improvements on the west bank of the river within the Historic District give credence to the viability of the St. Anthony Falls area as a major uplifting factor for Minneapolis, the metropolitan region, and Minnesota itself. This is the birthplace of Minneapolis and that reality is celebrated by a carefully crafted evolution in the urban renewal process that for once did not destroy what was "renewed" and included those affected by the process at the heart of the planning involved. This is what stewardship has meant for Nicollet Island since the total clearance intentions of the urban renewal plan were set aside 35 years ago. One may celebrate this in a grand way with fireworks, bands and concerts and one may appreciate the quiet pleasures to be found in the District's and the Island's natural setting. I give the Islanders, including De LaSalle, great credit for taking this responsibility seriously and I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to the many bodies, both public and private, who are keeping this legacy alive. End of Part Two Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Nicollet Island - Part One
When I accepted a leadership role in the Nicollet Island resident group at the time (in 1970), The official description of the housing on the North Tip, along Hennepin Ave., and on the east bank was that of dilapidated housing slated for removal. The residents were described as being beset with a variety of social ills. In the larger context, the newly established St. Anthony Falls Historic District and the extant urban renewal plan for the area were on a collision course. In a still larger context, issues of blight surrounding the downtown core and significant issues of exclusion from the planning process for persons affected by urban renewal had to be borne in mind. What ought not be lost in the heat of current debate is the central role that Nicollet Island has played in the history of Minneapolis and earlier still that St. Anthony Falls and its environs played in the cultures of the two major Native American settlements for which the Mississippi was a significant line of demarcation. This historical reality is what engendered Congressional establishment of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and the eventual designation of Nicollet Island as a regional park by the State of Minnesota. Several postulates emerged as our tasks played out in the 1970s. With the help of the State Historical Society we understood that many buildings were beyond utility or appropriate continued use and these were all removed in due course. This cleared the way for the bridge and highway improvements now in place. It was also a matter of general agreement, borne out by a 40-acre study of the east bank area, that this part of the Nicollet Island-East Bank urban renewal area could sustain a major commercial and residential development. That too is in place, albeit with some financial growing pains for Riverplace and St. Anthony Main that required infusions of CDBG funds in the 1980s. At considerable expense to the then Minneapolis Housing and Redevelopment Authority, the old limestone structure that had been sited further from the river was moved to its present location abutting the open plaza at Riverplace. Main Street was replumbed and repaved with cobblestones and the streets were renewed on the Island itself. The Bicentennial Commission spent their entire budget establishing the amphitheatre park on the South Tip of Nicollet Island. End of Part One. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Nicollet Island's quiet charms
There is a rural flavor to the Island, once one turns away from the cityscape. There are hiking paths along the slopes, a good landing for canoes at the little beach in the back channel around the bend from the bridge that goes across to Boom Island park. People fish the back channel as well. There are several good spots. People also walk and jog along the perimeter road and it's also a lovely carriage ride. The view of sunset over the river is just very special and one may sit quietly far from urban bustle. These aren't just adult things. They hearken back to the days of Penrod Jasper - Booth Tarkington's paean to a quieter time in American history. Samuel Clemens, whom we know by his pen name, Mark Twain, may have been a caustic social critic much of the time, but there was a young lad inside him that celebrated life on the Mississippi for as long as he drew breath. Something to bear in mind, apart from the examples from history and literature, is the value of being able to live at the tranquil pace of natural settings - not manicured, not organized and regimented and driven by competitive pressures. Not requiring an SUV, a cell phone, a dress code. We have our own Walden Pond, in manner of speaking, but we also have a riverine neighborhood that creates modern-day Huckleberry Finns. People don't forget about going down to the river as they grow older. They just aren't quite as evocative about it as they may have been when the adults weren't looking. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Park Board Jaberwocky
There are very many people in Minneapolis who are familiar with the importance of accurate and timely record-keeping and document flow. Apart from the normal functions of private enterprise, agencies of various stripes, and the necessities of prudent management in the academic world, we have a plethora of citizens who have gone through the rigors of NRP growing pains, our many political processes, and simply put, the niceties of public and private discourse. This is how we function in all manner of civic activity. No news here. Whatever possesses the personnel of park board management, civil servants and elected commissioners alike, of the notion that they are somehow not bound to these basic rules of conduct? It is simply shameful that as important and really stellar a public asset as our parks system must now be held up as a grotesque aberration. Commissioners are part-time and we take the luck of the draw on that. But professional staff who are so clearly out of step with common business methods and established civic practices aren't worth the salaries and respect that ought to be their due. Fred Markus, Phillips West, Ward 6 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re [Mpls] Friends of the River Organize
Here's a little lesson in geography. the Bicentennial Commission put a public park on the South tip of Nicollet Island. The current Park Commissioners paved the open swale on the South Tip for the benefit of a private, profit-making enterprise. We all agreed, back when, that an open space mentality was important for the remainder of the Island so that the historic buildings would be ensconced in an inviting open space setting meant to encourage pedestrian use. The current Park Commissioners want to pave another goodly chunk of the mid-Island (bear in mind De LaSalle already has a major paved area in front of the school). And close a pubic street. And expropriate the old tile and marble site for what looks suspiciously like their exclusive use, given the remarkably vague language in the so-called "shared use agreement", again a gift to private enterprise that already has a net worth of several millions of dollars and a healthy chunk of the Island's total area. Add to this the travesty of public process that others have documented relentlessly in recent weeks and ask, perhaps, "What's the rush?" Helpful hint: expect major personnel changes at the top of this heap - I wouldn't want the fellows who established our remarkable parks and open space legacy disturbed in their rest by these arrogant grabs for power and privilege. IMHO, a resounding vote of "no confidence" in November seems the best way to keep the Historic District from further erosion by the latest in a very long history of attempts to seize Nicollet Island from the public's hands. Fred Markus Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Barbarians at the gates.
I gather that the De LaSalle commissioners on the Park Board are preparing to cross the Rubicon and lay siege to our fair city, cheered on by a coterie of the school's students and alumni and turning a deaf ear to the reasoned arguments that come to them despite their best efforts to stifle these voices. This is a public policy disaster in the making. Breaking long-standing covenants arrived at by a many-sided negotiation process is bad enough. Abusing public process by blatantly advantaging the school's spokespeople in violation of the Park Board's very rules of engagement - can this be "conflict of interest"? Will this attempt at shared-use agreements open the door to the gradual transfer of our park land to private use on a broader scale? I have every reason to agree with those who say that the De LaSalle commissioners have turned a deaf ear to history. It was not by accident that the St. Anthony Falls Historic District came into being. Nor was it by accident that the Bicentennial Commission under Gladys Brooks' leadership chose to invest their budget in a bicentennial park on the South Tip of Nicollet Island, nor that major parks and open space money was applied to the establishment of ribbon parks along both banks of the Mississippi, to the transformation of Boom Island and the East Bank part of the Nicollet Island East Bank Urban Renewal Area and its environs and to the improvements on Hennepin Island, Father Hennepin Park, the Stone Arch Bridge, and the Mill District on the West Bank. Nor that a hefty sum of MHRA's money was spent moving the old fire barn into Riverplace's plaza, that another major gesture by the Hennepin County board put a span of the old Broadway bridge between the South Tip of the Island and Main St., that the new suspension bridge over the main channel at Hennepin Ave. is designed with an eye to its predecessors built in 1890 and before that in 1876. De LaSalle spokespeople have tried to paint the north tip community as being elitist, wishing to reserve this end of the Island for their exclusive benefit. I can't begin to estimate how many thousands of people have been able to view the old Queen Anne structures or admire the restored Limestone Flats on Grove St., or stroll comfortably around the Island's perimeter or stop by the vest pocket park we established within the heart of that cluster of buildings on the North Tip so many years ago now. Or to walk safely down the old rail bed and across the bridge to Boom Island Park. We argued a generation ago that a residential presence was an essential ingredient for reasons of safety and I have no doubt that the attitude of stewardship of the public's trust that has characterized good faith dialogues with the larger community in the vicinity - for decades now - remains a shining beacon and a reassurance that the grasping excesses of this De LaSalle crowd will not prosper in the fullness of time. There are a lot of Catholics in this town, Commissioner Dziedzic is alleged to have said. Do not Catholics also hear the songbirds in the back channel? Have not the residents in the vicinity put up with De LaSalle keggers by the black bridge for generations? There is a long-standing reality called "live and let live" that is being breached here and to me this is a far deeper wound in the life of the city than the recent ambitions the school has put forward so clumsily in public process. All the city benefits from the Historic District. The folks I drove around the Island in the 1980s via horse-drawn carriage came from around the region and beyond and from four generations of our families. There are memories of the Island we will never be able to recapture in their entirety, but surely we can do more to preserve the sense of history that pervades this place. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Campaigning in the Parks
Ah, the gentle breeze of sweet reason! Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:29 AM To: mpls issues Subject: [Mpls] Campaigning in the Parks Common Sense and our basic Rights about Freedom of Speech seems to have prevailed. MINNEAPOLIS PARK AND RECREATION BOARD 2117 West River Road North (612) 230-6400 FAX 230-6500 M E M O R A N D U M TO: All Commissioners FROM: Jon Gurban, Superintendent DATE: June 23, 2005 SUBJECT:Attached news release This is a copy of a news release that is being sent out. It has the approval of legal counsel and the President of the Board. June 23, 2005 Dear Park Users The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board has had a practice of requiring a permit for individuals or small groups to engage in the distribution of literature in our parks. The primary purpose of this practice was to reinforce the sense of parks as a place of refuge and relaxation. The recent event at Pearl Park regarding literature distribution (of a non-commercial nature) has caused us to review this policy. Our legal counsel has advised me that case law has evolved since 1991 when the present regulations were established. Further, that our current regulations may be overly restrictive from the sense of requiring permits for individuals or small groups to distribute non-commercial information. Therefore, I am advising park staff today that NO PERMITS WILL BE REQUIRED OF INDIVIDUALS OR SMALL GROUPS (defined as less than 50) WISHING TO DISTRIBUTE FLYERS, LEAFLETS, PAMPHLETS OR OTHER NON COMMERCIAL LITERATURE. I will ask the Park & Recreation Board staff to review the 1991 regulations. If the regulations are flawed, I will be pleased to lead the charge to have them corrected. I am also asking that any individual or small group who are in the Park distributing literature to use common sense! By that I mean please do not block access or egress to Park Buildings or block or impede traffic on parkways or paths. Do not litter or bother parents and guardians who may have children in wading pools or people playing on athletic fields. Most importantly, the peaceful enjoyment and solitude of park patrons must be respected. Thank You! Jon R. Gurban, Superintendent 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:mpls@mnforum.org 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Leaflets in the Parks
Steve Brandt: 'when a group reserves space the participating individuals aren't required to pull a permit to distribute within that gathering'. If an individual doesn't have the benefit of an organizational umbrella, this can be quite the bar to public expression. Minneapolis Issues is premier because I don't have to pay $35 and deposit an additional $150 just to be available to speak my mind in a public forum. Thank you, helpful list manager. I also write letters to the editor and very occasionally more substantive commentary that usually gets printed in the papers around town. I've hardly made a dent in the world of blogging, websites and the like. Where I'm going with this is that there are an awful lot of people who don't participate in this forum, or read the papers consistently, or surf the web. They do show up in our parks, on our sidewalks, and in an endless variety of more organized settings. Concerned citizens, inquiring minds, people affected by public process, people for whom privacy is paramount - many possibilities. One can participate in these "more organized settings" as a way of getting one's point of view into circulation, true enough, if these settings are helpful - but that's not always the case. Or, apparently, if one has money and a thick skin, one can approach the public bureaucracy for propinquity to the public in public settings. Bona ventura, folks, when the bureaucracy is negatively inclined but not particularly adept. That seems to be where we're at with the De LaSalle commissioners and their superintendent. Tawdry situation, IMHO, ripe for change. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Campaigning in the parks
Those park police are going to be busy this weekend! Loring Park will have score of people wearing buttons, t-shirts, funny hats, and the like, waving flags and offering campaign literature and persuasive campaign dialogues to the masses that show up for the days of wine and roses. At $35 for a permit to sit mute at a table and with a $150 damage deposit to boot, looks like a real money-maker, doesn't it? Now if only those naughty candidates and their marching millions would take the park board staff seriously, assuming that the park commissioners would somehow find a way to validate a murky bureaucratic rule that somehow reminds me of Kafka. So if I'm just strolling in the park one day, in the merry, merry month of May, with my partisan t-shirt du jour proclaiming my allegiance to someone's candidacy, and I impulsively offer a piece of campaign literature to a passer-by, what will become of me? Does this escalate into a matter of Kevlar vests, pepper spray, water cannon, rubber bullets, festive plexiglass shields on the horses of the mounted patrol? They had these anti-riot accoutrements on the horses last year when the Prez was preaching to the faithful at the St. Paul hockey dome. Quite the fashion statement. Forget Easter bonnets and ice cream socials. We're in a brave new world. Is this what Commissioners Dziedzic, Fine, Hauser, Kummer, and Olson have in mind? Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re: [Mpls] My take on Stonegate and other SWJ stories of note
This really is a mess, isn't it. If there were sign-in sheets at the Park Board meetings, perhaps the De La Salle band members or the De La Salle football team would realize their civic participation is in fact on a par with the participation of more adult members of the community, whether parents, De LaSalle alumni, staff or other interested parties. Boosterism is not the highest form of political expression and sign-in sheets would emphasize that point to these highly motivated adolescents. The absurdity of irregular process regarding freedom of speech in our parks has been thoroughly vetted on this list and now in the SWJ and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the local media. As a community activist, I've always followed the paradigm of "Never make a rule you can't enforce." It seems to me that the Park Commissioners have a long-overdue obligation of due diligence here. The paid staff in our parks need consistent and transparent direction and that's clearly not the case now. Will I be subject to arrest if I am supervising a crew of doorknockers from the vantage point of a park bench in Stevens Square Park in the heart of that apartment-heavy district? Do I need a permit to use the picnic tables if I have campaign literature along with my hot dog buns or my taco shells? Can I be arrested for wearing a t-shirt supporting some candidate or some cause I find important? I believe this is too important a topic for ridicule and sarcasm and I hope the political donnybrook doesn't descend further into chaos. There has to be compromise with reality and the sooner the better. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Stone's judgment
Anyone who runs for the independent boards has a daunting task concerning reaching out to voters. Park District 5, for example, has 21 precincts in which a total of over 37,000 people voted last November - a little over 12 square miles on the ground. Of these more than half are settled voters who have voted in the last four even-year elections. So, how does someone with a full-time job take on the task of contacting voters likely to have an interest in this race in November, 2005? Or consider at-large candidates, where the grand totals voting city-wide are several times these numbers? I don't know how much the Park Commissioners get paid, but their annual remuneration probably wouldn't even pay the postage for a first-class letter to their voting constituents. We are told that the Ward 13 candidates may drop as much as $10K per precinct into each of their ten precincts. At least the winner there will have $60-70K income each year for four years. If candidates for the Park Board can't campaign in the parks, ought school board candidates not be permitted to use school facilities? Ought all candidates be barred from what Superintendent Gurban calls "private property"? Ought the Park Board ordinances trump the ordinances of the City of Minneapolis? Inquiring minds want to know. It's a vision thing. Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Gurban should resign ...
I've been a community activist for almost my entire adult life and I've never as astonished as I was this morning to read in the Star Tribune that Park Commissioner Dziedzic thinks that twenty years from now the current leadership of the Park Board "will be viewed as visionary" in re the building of the new headquarters and the hiring of John Gurban. I don't really have an opinion about the new park headquarters but I certainly have an opinion about the Park superintendent's behavior regarding free speech in the parks. Minneapolis parks are private property? What's really going on here? The vision I see is one of whittling away at park services - outsourcing, privatizing, creating private profit at park users' expense; positing "shared-use agreements" that would remove park land from unfettered public use to the benefit of private entities; blatant cronyism in the very hiring of this superintendent; determined efforts to insulate the Park Board from interactions with the public during public proceedings ... The "vision" I see is profoundly anti-democratic, authoritarian, and an egregious attempt to turn one of our most treasured civic assets - our park system - into something private, all right, according to the saying "what's yours is mine"! When The Star Tribune's reporter Rochelle Olson refers to the reformers as "outside groups", I am reminded of then City Council member Dziedzic's annoyed description of us urban renewal activists as "professional citizens" way back in the 1970s when sweetheart contracts were a tacky reality in the city's redevelopment process. Be happy that we stick our collective necks out, folks. Using the park police to stifle political expression is so third-world. Is this the vision we want in our history books? Fred Markus, Ward 6, Phillips West 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:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Voter Registration
It's easy to overlook how quickly the calendar pages flip over on the open registration period. This year, the closing dates for open registration are on Tuesday, August 18 prior to the primary election on Tuesday, September 14 and again on Tuesday, October 12 prior to the general election on Tuesday, November 2. Once these deadlines come into play, no one can register to vote until the very election day involved. There are further stumbling blocks: a significant difference of opinion between the Minnesota Secretary of State and the Hennepin County Auditor over the proper handling of proof of identity mandated by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) - for voter registration applications that are mailed in during the open registration periods - may well lead to a procedural logjam at the polls. Newly enfranchised voters will be well advised to bring a photo id or other recognized proof of identity (a current utility bill with the voter's name and home address works well) in the event that such proof of identity is required before the voter can receive a ballot on election day. The City of Minneapolis Election Bureau is advising the general public to sidestep this vexatious issue by bringing applications to their office in City Hall by hand or by bringing their applications to the City's government partners by hand: "Our office recommends in-person, in-person, in-person. We are telling people to turn in their voter registration applications at our office or to one of our government partners, i.e. libraries, park buildings, fire stations, police precincts so that we will receive it through inter-office mail. This is a way around the id problem." This from Dani Connors-Smith, Program Assistant, Minneapolis Elections (612) 673-3857. Of course, one may register on election day itself and the ability of a registered voter to vouch for the identity of an individual who lives in the same precinct is very helpful here. But - and it's a big but - there will be perhaps a thousand people wanting to register by this method in Whittier and Stevens Square alone and that number viewed citywide will be very large indeed. Both of the above bottlenecks are very real and will mean long lines on election day - not so much on the primary day in September, but this will be real problem in November in precinct after precinct. Thus, registering in advance in an uncontroversial manner and even thinking seriously about absentee voting (if a given voter can honestly say that he or she will not be able to vote in person on election day - and that's not so unlikely for people who work or have children or have mobility challenges) fall squarely in the ounce of prevention department. BTW, the City of Minneapolis will also be conducting an election process for the children in the K-12 system such that the young'uns will tentatively be permitted to vote at the various precincts from 7-9:30 and from 2:00 on, adding another busy component to already overcrowded conditions. The kids will vote separately, not on the offical optical scanners, and their votes will be collected and counted at a central location. The people traffic will inevitably be memorable on November 2, 2004. Fredric Markus, West Phillips Minneapolis Redistricting Commissioner (until the federal judge says otherwise!) 2523 Portland Ave. #1210 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Walker Library
Thanks to CM Niziolek for sitting down at his computer at the very beginning of this Independence Day to write at length and with care about his purposes related to the renewal of the Uptown branch of the Minneapolis Public Library. We had a Carnegie library in Portage, WI when I was a youngster in the late 1940s and that treasure house stood out for me far beyond other institutions in my home town. I had to partner with my parents, teachers, and religious mentors because I had a fierce curiosity about every sort of thing and the structured learning environments and interactions with my own age peers couldn't hold a candle to the wonders at my fingertips a few short blocks from where I lived. To this very day I view the public library as a sturdy and reliable source for the intellectual building blocks I've accumulated over the years. Whatever the roads I've traveled since those early days, I still relish the sense of potential discovery that comes over me when I walk down the Greenway from Ebenezer in West Phillips to the Walker Library in Uptown. Sometimes I prefer to amble through my old Whittier neighborhood or down Lake St. - ever interesting alternatives - but the clarity of the purposes of my trip to the library has never wavered for the thirty-five years that I've spent here in Minneapolis since I arrived on July 4, 1969, as it happens. Thank goodness for the MTC when I'm not up for the exercise and more thanks for the Library's digital world. We are so very blessed in this city and this country of ours. There are plenty of nifty positives I can trot out about Minneapolis and its leadership but not all gardens are tended in public view and not all contemplations are meant to be shared. Even the grand universities I've had the privilege to be a part of don't have the unique blend of repository of knowledge and precondition of populist access that invites my still youthful, sometimes private, but still persistent curiosity. The Walker Library should surely be there for Dan's twins and all the other youthful lights that will celebrate our Independence Days on into the future. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Re: Disingenuous and Unfortunate.
Joe Barizonsi is in error: I voted "no" on the plan, Joe. I signed the map because I was acknowledging a piece of legislation we had enacted as a commission. I'm not going to comment on the merits because the matter is in litigation. All of us commissioners were deposed at length by both sides in the Green Party's lawsuit as were the members of the City Council and Lord only knows who all else. Fred Markus, Redistricting Commissioner, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE:[Mpls] Carleton Crawford
I too had a positive experience with Carleton during the active life of the Redistricting Commission. He was one of the faithful few that followed the work of the Commission from start to finish. Mind you, we commissioners got along pretty well, considering the stakes at hand - the DFL/Independence majority on the commission eventually had its way with the rest of us and we are still in the litigative aftermath of that encounter almost halfway through the decade. It helped considerably to know of Carleton's presence representing the IR's interest because he was and is an example of the gentility of the Wisconsin Republicans that gave me my start in politics during the Kennedy years. Republicans that correctly took umbrage at the fanaticism currently steering our ship of state toward certain disaster. Absolute power is corrosive. It's better to negotiate differences in a respectful way - with due deference to political realities - and Carleton was and is very easy to live with. Contrast this if you will with the harsh experience our Minneapolis representatives are currently having in the Minnesota Legislature. I will never believe that the adversarial system is the be all and end all of politics because people like Carleton Crawford still make the effort to be civil and respectful when disagreements are intractable. That's the kind of leadership I can honestly celebrate. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Mpls DFL proposed constitutional change
Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I expect that the inner-city ward conventions - 2,3,5,6,7,8,9 - are likely to be lively gatherings. It may be that there will be electricity in the air in the other wards too - 1,4,11,12,13. Dunno. I'm not that tuned in across the whole city. I know that there will be some determined turnouts in my ward (the 6th) and in the 8th ward that has an open seat. Should there be a way to limit the number of precinct caucus delegates that can go forward to their respective ward conventions? Rather than an expectation of low turnout, I'd rather call attention to the possibility of runaway turnout - caucus packing that might not mean much in the settled wards but that might be a real factor in the wards that got pretty well jumbled up in the redistricting. If the municipal precinct caucuses are held immediately prior to and in the same location as their respective ward conventions, what is the point of having a separate preliminary function if everyone must become a delegate de novo? Why not just become a delegate de novo at the ward convention? Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Mpls DFL proposed constitutional change
Like Earl Netwal and others who are speaking up, I too have a lengthy history in the city's civic life. My early experience in grassroots democracy hereabouts included not only a remarkable empowerment of a handful of Nicollet Island residents in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District but also an opportunity to participate in the resolute opposition to 335W which as planned would have cut through Northeast Minneapolis and across the north tip of Nicollet Island itself. It was also my privilege to work with representatives of many neighborhoods impacted by a sometimes insensitive urban renewal process in those years and this too was an environment of grassroots initiatives that not only pushed the government into more accommodating profiles but also gave rise to a group of community leaders who rose to prominence as city council members, made significant reforms in the management of existing renewal and development functions, and designed the Neighborhood Redevelopment Program (NRP) that institutionalized "bottom-up" input about renewal and development at the neighborhood level. Whatever the financial restraints challenging the continuity of Minneapolis' remarkable NRP initiative, the political reality is that there are now many new hundreds of Minneapolis citizens who have found their civic voices in a big way and it is reasonable to observe that this transformation has left its imprint on every kind of organized political activity in our fair city and its surrounds. It strikes me that contentious issues like the perennial freeway fights are essentially situational rather than structural in nature and that programmatic innovations like the NRP however ingenious are a bit transitory in comparison to the ongoing corporate entity we know as the City of Minneapolis. In this context political parties stand out as more permanent vessels for democratic expressions of civic intent and I see the notion of de novo municipal election year caucuses in the DFL Party as an appropriate response to the challenge of renewal of these perennial flowers of democracy. This year, for example, thousands of citizens came forward to participate in varying degrees in the DFL's precinct caucuses and subsequent activities. Many of these folks are new to the process and might well succumb to the stereotype of "four-year voters" who come out for the presidential year contests and then fade back into passivity. Having a fresh sequence of caucuses in the year following the presidential year gives these folks an opportunity to turn their collective attention to the municipal world we tend not to notice when the presidential circuses come to town. The argument can also be made - especially now that so many citizens have had a taste of local governance via the NRP - that there are indeed folks who may find the municipal caucuses more in their immediate interest than somewhat rarified national concerns. Another argument in favor of the municipal caucuses is that the ability of the "ancien regime" to engage in empire-building in the caucus system is forever challenged by participants de novo. I particularly like the iconoclastic overtones of this argument because it's all too easy for small groups to come to power in voluntary organizations and there's nothing more refreshing than an occasional - and always inevitable - change in the political weather. I'd much rather have a series of little squalls than the kind of tempest that can emerge when entrenched pols get out of touch with the electorate. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Linden Hills affordable housing
CURA's housing forum is topical - e.g., attention will be focused on adaptive re-use at this month's meeting on May 14 - but it should be said that Professor Goetz draws in major talent for these discussions and from this I infer that professional willingness would be there for the kind of blue-ribbon effort that David Wilson and Bill Cullen have been bandying about. The Affordable Housing Task Force that was largely driven by community activism has made a mark or two - actual construction, ongoing trust funds, bipartisan political commitments, increased awareness of the regional and statewide implications. Progress, not perfection. But now we have the threatened HUD cutbacks re housing vouchers and MPHA doesn't have the deep capital reserve pockets that the Bush Administration is suggesting be used to pick up the slack in program costs. There is also substantial future need looming in the approaching demographic bulge of retiring baby boomers. It would be nice to get ahead of this before existing arrangements jeopardized by federal budget pressures meet that future demand curve. This goes way beyond the capacities of stand-alone community activism or free-market economics - a worthy task for government writ large. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re: [Mpls] The Mayor's performance
A year before any endorsement decision and two weeks before this year's city DFL convention, it's not too soon to think seriously about re-electing R.T. I've stayed out of City Hall's intramural food fights for the most part. The city's leadership has had to deal with cruel financial realities, some imposed by cavalier leadership at the state and federal levels, some by the contraction of value in pension funds, and some by structural due bills created by magic reality municipal accounting during the Sayles Belton era. The weak mayor system means that the city's chief executive officer easily gets into trouble - mischief by the city council is ever possible. I give R.T. high marks for giving CM Barret Lane a major role in budget planning early on. I also regret that R.T. and CM Lilligren aren't on better terms - I like them both and think that their divergent visions reflect an inevitable tension between neighborhood interests and the needs of the city as a whole. R.T. has been respectful of other leading members of the council - CMs Ostrow, Benson, and Johnson come to mind and these, together with CMs Lane and Colvin Roy, are spokespeople for the city's "fertile crescent". This leaves CM Goodman in the "silk stocking" ward (Kenwood and downtown), and the CMs who represent the rest of the inner-city doughnut - CMs Johnson Lee, Samuels, Zerby, Schiff, Zimmerman and Niziolek. Setting aside the DFL/Green divergence because there are more similarities than differences in the functional realities of governing the city - there's a mouthful - think about who could realistically expect to replace R.T. Deputy Mayor David Fey has deep understandings from his prior involvement in Seward Neighborhood. The jury is still out on the new police chief and we will have had a four full seasons of inner-city challenge to help us evaluate the wisdom of that mayoral preference before we come to endorsement time next spring. I personally like the mayor's visibility. He's indefatigable like the energizer bunny. He also shows promise in intergovernmental venues and I question the value of setting aside R.T.'s pragmatism in dealing with so many hostile politicians. But the proof of this particular pudding is in that ever difficult inner-city doughnut and I hope that the mayor and the city council can be judicious in their handling of former CMs Minn and Cherryhomes who are such busy bees in the development world. We can't expect the capital market to maintain the social safety net - that's government's job. We'll see, won't we, how things go this fall in the Minnesota House races and the all-important Presidential contest. At the municipal level, "semester grades" will come due next spring. Stay tuned! Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Bus strike and transit
There are many thousands of elderly folks who depend on the bus system for all sorts of reasons. The handicap-accessible buses are particularly useful because metro mobility service is limited and expensive. Taxis are prohibitively expensive for all but the most essential trips. It is no accident that people who are disabled ride for 50 cents 24/7 or who are on medicare ride for 50 cents except during weekday rush hours. There are many seniors who use those 50-cent rides to give structure to their days. It is not just that trips are necessary. Trips are also therapeutic, enable socialization opportunities, make de facto statements about independent living, and just create a myriad of free choices. Great for cabin fever and often making a virtue of necessity. Take that away for a long time - six weeks, three months, whatever - and real harm will result. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] No...Caucuses Next Year Are A Good Thing
I agree with David B. and Loki. Under the old system the lag between the caucus just concluded and next year's municipal round seems like an eternity. There were enormous turnouts this year for reasons far more elevated than our local situation would likely engender. There are many new faces exercised for reasons beyond the purview of this local discussion list with no guarantee that this novel interest will continue into the municipal election cycle. New caucuses next year will draw yet more new faces that would not find a home were there no contemporary precinct caucus to welcome them. There may well be a lively contest around the mayor's reelection campaign and I know there will be a hot time in the ward races in my part of south Minneapolis - for reasons very familiar AND germane to the readers of this list. "All politics is local" goes the saying, and the municipal races are the absolute ground on which all political superstructures must rest. Another reason for fresh assemblies derives from the ever-changing mix of issues. We don't know now what will be the hottest topics next February and thereafter. With a new constellation of keenly interested caucus participants, candidates will have to craft messages attuned to the times. They won't be able to avoid the critical attention given voice at these municipal gatherings. They won't be able to depend on the lowered attention span and diminished participation of the even-year enthusiasts. They won't have the benefit of the elevated influence of the "old hands" that would otherwise dominate the endorsement process. Then too, the Park Board and School Board elections next year will also be quite the circus. There's no realistic way to focus on these decisions in the heat of a presidential campaign season. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re: [Mpls] Remind DFL caucus attendees of '05 caucus
DFL anyway: http://scc.net/~t-bonham/MPLSCONS.HTM gives the needed constitutional detail. The DFL municipal caucus sequence starts over at this time next year: precinct-level, then ward conventions, then a city convention. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Park Board to hire Dairy Queen at Lake Harriet?
Slippery slope indeed. Privatizing is seductive but profit margins mean dollars depart that would otherwise have remained in-house. The public agency still has to maintain oversight and unless every tot and tittle is spelled out and closely monitored, mission drift can mean that labor and pricing and menu and hours and advertising and service policies and well - thatsa lotta oversight. Oversight that costs money right alongside that profit margin money. We are absolutely bombarded with commercial hype and it takes some of the joy out of being a thoroughly modern Millie. I grew up with greenery and so did my parents and my grandparents and my great-grandparents. I'm not to far from the age of great grandparentship - I know this because grandparents are starting to look surprisingly young - and so there's anyway two more generations to add to this remark. And who among us will not say that greenery is a good thing? You know, like schools and centers of worship and art and music and all that. Even sports, minus the billionaire owners and the multimillionaire players. Why even begin to sell this off - this ready commodification of culture? Especially in a city that's known the world around for its greenery and other cultural attainments. I don't expect schoolchildren to care about commercial signage and homogeneity of product. They swim in this stream carefree and ignorant of other lifestyle choices. Why stop at Dairy Queen? Why not McDonalds? Why not billboards in the outfields and musak and commercial graphics in the restrooms? I would hope that our adults would want to pass along generational values of greater substance. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] News stories, Doug Grow column on the Police Inquisition
I learned many years ago, as a young aviation cadet company commander in the Air Force, that with rank comes the likelihood of heavier caliber fire than what is typically the risk level for rank and file. This principle has stood me in good stead in leadership positions over the years. I don't much dwell on this sort of risk analysis. I figure it comes with the territory and I try to concentrate on analysis and resolution if I feel obliged to be a part of some public or even private transaction. To whom much is given, much is expected. I'm not quick to form judgments when prominent and/or high-ranking people get in the soup. I'm enough of an optimist - in Minneapolis anyway - to think that due process is usually worth the time it takes. If anything, I'm intrigued by the new chief's decision to call in the state people rather than keep what happens next either in-house or sent out to some local law enforcement laundry. My understanding is that suspension is a routine procedure and so the fact that these are high-ranking officers is irrelevant. I see the new CEO in the police department doing his duty as he sees it and if someone has to be called to account - time will tell. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] NOT Really in this Together
800 empty heated and lighted classrooms with soap in the lavatories and secure locks on the outside doors. Hmm. What could go in there. Freebie examples: Medical/dental assessments - vide the NIP clinic on Hennepin, run by volunteer professionals with a sliding scale fee structure for uninsured clients. The resource shelf for infant supplies that Calvary Baptist maintains (and Calvary's ESL classes and their sewing workshop). Simpson Methodist's hand-me-down computers and computer tutoring (also found at the House of Charity's dining facility on Park Ave.) Evening classes for adults on a plethora of topics run by the school system itself and other offerings run by the Free University. Paying examples: Night classes from Mankato State University - they have an ambitious outreach program for students in the Twin Cities and TC suburbs. NRP offices now housed in rented facilities - possibly expanding service activities and neighborhood events. Room for contract staff with multi-neighborhood assignments. Incubators for specialized service organizations like CLUES, AAFS, Blind, Inc. - not these specific examples but rather comparable non-profits that have budgets for facility rental and a likely growth curve. Self-help groups. Lambda Sobriety Center was an anchor tenant for several years in a fairly nondescript commercial building on Nicollet Ave. We paid our way with membership money and eventually outgrew the place. For-profit activities if the shoe fits - clean assembly work, telemarketing, white-collar/pink-collar spillover for big outfits that have run out of expansion room, free-standing commercial conversions like the suuks and mercados. These are nickel and dime suggestions, granted, but demolition is so very terminal and eventual replacement so very expensive. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] In this together
Demolition is pretty hard to undo, all right. Creative re-use strategies will help. The Ramar building (formerly Hennepin County) is being converted to residential use. Didn't the Centennial office building (also Hennepin County) usta be a vo-tech high school? Whittier Coop is a large converted school building first built for the waves of immigrants in the first part of the twentieth century. There's a charter school on Blaisdell in what usta be a community mental health clinic. African American Family Services now anchors what usta be Franklin National Bank. Blind, Inc. now lives in a restored Pillsbury Mansion facing Fair Oaks Park. A tremendous rebirthing awaits the Sears complex. Sabathani is another large-scale example of creative re-use of what usta be a school building. "Usta" should be in the dictionary - it gets a lot of use. Conversely in the early 1970s Nicollet Island residents monitored a systematic examination of the historic value/restoration/re-use feasibility for built structures in the Nicollet Island-East Bank Urban Renewal Area while taking note of the St. Anthony Falls Historic District scenario and in due course released interest in 50-odd obsolete buildings that were then demolished. The old sash and door company that had been a residence for Salvation Army clients was retained and reborn as the Nicollet Island Inn. Other major conversions of usable commercial structures contributed (sometimes expensively, admittedly) to the rebirthing of Main St. There's plenty of precedent for setting aside the easy cure for obsolete functionality - demolition. There may well be another major surge in school-age population over the next decade or two when the suburbs can't absorb that predicted increase in metro population of one million souls. Their municipal infrastructures are a bit lightweight for a doubling of population, population density increases are politically unpalatable, and the core city remains a terrific centralized destination. So perhaps the thing to do is to look at service functions that can be shoehorned into school buildings in interim and even long-term, the idea being to have enough rent revenue coming in to keep the buildings up and running providing functions of readily recognized value to the adjacent community. Duplication of services is an approachable issue - many NRP neighborhood organization storefronts are now in a bad way fiscally. Maybe some consolidations are in order that can be housed in municipal structures - not my place to get specific, just a variation on the theme of economy of scale. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Get me to the church on time
I appreciate the 14th amendment argument: hiding my sexuality, suffering contumely from hateful people, living with rejection from my biological family, officially immoral, illegal and insane. What a beginning. How forlorn the hope for a loving relationship with another person. How daunting the responsibility to mentor others and craft a proud legacy to pass along to others. It's been a challenging three score and change. I also appreciate the incredible progress that's been made - "insane" went away in the early '70s, "illegal" went away in Minnesota in the '90s and again in the '00s with reference to the old blue law about sodomy, and "immoral" has at least become an elective rather than a required course. Incredible kudos are due the official posture and heartfelt convictions that characterize the leadership of our city and our region. "Gay Pride" is not theoretical hereabouts. It's astonishingly real and international in its scope and we can all be thankful for this novel cultural understanding. Minneapolis has been good to me. You've saved my life and given me an opportunity to give back from a hard-earned reservoir of insight and good will. Gay marriage isn't on my personal horizon. My personhood was forged in a papal seminary environment in the early '50s and I have no Plan B. What I do have, however, is a clear understanding of the evolution of the notion of "equal rights" under the law and see the concepts of "domestic partnership" and "civil unions" as way stations in a societal journey to full equality for my kith and kin. Minneapolis, I am relieved to say, is ahead of the curve for reasons we find familiar. Hennepin County is maybe not so enlightened and I appreciate Mayor Rybak's willingness to help shine a great light into these dark places. It will take all three branches of government and some prayerful introspection to find the path forward that will "get us to the church on time". Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Suburbanites Still Afraid of the City
Wizard's got a point: there's noting like living in an area for many years to give one a feel for a place. My geography gurus call this "a sense of place". Not exactly rocket science if you think about it. My favorite outdoor pastimes now are walking around the neighborhood and taking 50-cent bus rides. The thing is, I've been walking and taking the bus and driving a car or a pickup truck in this part of town for quite a while and I've seen lots of changes. Nicollet-Lake is a really busy place. So is "Eat Street" - just to the north of that superblock. McDonald's is just east of the Interstate and there's a nearby Taco Bell. Now there are Latino eateries and Somali grocery stores further along and I bet we'll see more places cropping up when the Sears complex comes on line. We all like to eat, me especially. Commercial strips that were sometimes nasty ten-fifteen years ago are really coming to life and there will be much more commercial infill as Lake St. is rebuilt and some sense is made of the vehicular traffic challenges. This hasn't been a sudden transformation. Progress is incremental in this part of town. But we who live here know what we're talking about. Conversely, I needed to make my way to Eden Prairie City Hall a few weeks ago and took what MTC had to offer by way of point-to-point transportation. Not to knock Eden Prairie - I've watched that grow out of the cornfields just as the elderly ladies in Southwest Minneapolis that I used to do chores for in the late 1980s would tell me about the cows they used to be able to see in what is now Richfield. But out there past 494 - you need a car. It's just not like Minneapolis' oldest neighborhoods. You can't walk two blocks to buy eggs for cheap. The bottom line for me is that whizzing around on the Interstates doesn't give one much of an urban narrative. Suburbs are swell but they're of recent vintage. Get out of a vehicle in my part of the settlement and it's urban. It's been urban through a solid century of succession migration and even mighty Allina is just the new kid on the block. Big kid, granted, but it has welcoming neighbors. We'll get along just fine. You wait and see. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re [Mpls]: Robert Lilligren must go
Shawn Lewis fires a shot across the bow of the Good Ship Lilligren and there will be more cannon fire. What are we to make of Robert's firm opposition to the Access Project? Take a deep breath and think about the continuing controversy surrounding the quarter-mile spacing requirement for supportive housing. Now there are three substantive questions facing the council vice-president that resonate one way or another in both his geographic areas of electoral interest - the old eighth ward and the new sixth ward or, if one prefers, the old eighth ward and the old sixth ward. It's important to bear in mind that this city council and mayor have had to grapple with severe budgetary shortfalls in the management of the city's responsibilities. IMHO, they have been responsible stewards on the whole and for me that means that there's room for considerable disagreement on one or another issue. In fact, it's a pleasure to dialogue with these very approachable individuals - that's not always been my experience over the years - because the new leadership are good listeners on the whole and tackle their individual learning curves with determined enthusiasm. This is 2004, not 2005. Unless the judiciary decides that the council seats must be filled anew before the regularly scheduled municipal election cycle in 2005 and/or the judiciary decides that the new ward boundaries are unacceptable, either of which decisions could result in fundamental changes to our possible municipal future - and as someone enmeshed in one of those lawsuits, my lips are sealed - well anyway, it's early days to be loading the 24-pounders. There'll be time enough for that after the all-important federal election on our near horizon. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Why Would Anyone Settle In Minneapolis?
I haven't been following the discussion on this, but the question seems appropriate to list discussion. For example, I'm aware that folks migrate here for a variety of reasons - some because of push factors, others because of pull factors. Specifically I've many times called attention to the Twin Cities as a magnet for GLBT people and of the two cities I see Minneapolis as the friendlier. For GLBT individuals who have had a bad time of it in small towns, rural settings, or whole regions of the country and the planet generally that frown on GLBT diversity for cultural or religious reasons, this is no small matter. There are also arrivals brought by economic impulses, by a need to be near comprehensive medical facilities, by academic ambitions, by sheer happenstance - lots of possible factors. There are also larger entities - corporate operations, businesses that need access to a trained labor pool, mobile investment capital interests, and the like. We have a public life that runs the gamut from happy festivals to sometimes abrasive public encounters when controversy escalates. Minneapolis is rightfully perceived as a pleasant place to live but there are also plenty of arrivals and departures dictated by harsh necessity. I agree that vague bombast about some civic itch that can't be scratched can get old, but there's lots of life in this town and this list gives us quite the open forum. Perhaps restraint is the best medicine, not some harsh purgative. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Council votes 9-3 to endorse Access concept
Just a note to correct a mistake in my previous posts about this. CM Gary Schiff voted with the majority in support of the Access concept - my bad in lumping him with the minority and thanks to Wizard Marks for correcting me on this. To further clarify my own comment, I agree with what Andy Driscoll, David Brauer, and Lisa McDonald have written about the likely fate of the transit language. I'm also doubtful about the expansive mitigation notions - public funds are in notoriously short supply. However, the benefit of having Allina further attached to the Abbott complex will be a tremendous boon in the long run to payroll, tax base, consumer spending, and residential stability. The transportation aspect certainly continues major challenges but the significance of these other economic elements is indisputable. The devil, as always, will be in the details. Fred Markus, West Phillips REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Council votes 9-3 to endorse Access concept
I wrote in a while back to say that I could see significant benefits deriving from having Allina as an anchoring presence in the Sears building and now CMs Zimmerman, Lilligren and Schiff have voted in the negative. I avoided saying anything at all about the transportation aspect in my earlier comment, preferring to focus on possible economic benefits. I agree with the mayor and the majority of the council that the Allina connection is a good thing. It's impossible not to see the robust influence of the major construction going on in West Phillips. Quite frankly the line the City Council drew in the sand about the reservation of a proposed fifth lane in the 35W corridor for some sort of mass transit (a profile specifically shared unanimously by the Hennepin County Board) is about all the meaningful parochial language there is to bring to the larger bodies who will soon decide what happens on the transportation front. There are cogent arguments against some of the proposed commuter-oriented decisions and I am confident that the south side council members, including CM Niziolek who abstained in the key vote, will be very hands-on as this enormous project unfolds. Good journey to them, whatever their partisan political flavor. As a historical note, I was in favor of the large-scale Riverplace development when many people in my vicinity on Nicollet Island and in adjacent Southeast neighborhoods were passionately opposed to this definitive commercial riverfront footprint. Many years later and with some painful memories about the failed commercial enterprises involved, we nevertheless have experienced and are continuing to see positive evolution in land use all along that riverine environment. The Gateway Project in the Central Business District (CBD) also had its detractors but look at those tall buildings that have sprouted up since the Foshay Tower was the tallest spire around! Traffic remains an intractable problem but the economic significance of these large-scale developments is undeniable. We are blessed to have several divergent voices in our current municipal leadership because large-scale development visioning is complex, unavoidable, and these days accessible to more of the public because of mediums like this discussion list. Try not to shoot the messengers: be happy that their voices are heard far more clearly than was possible in similar moments of truth in the past. Fred Markus, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 1/19/2004 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Garbage
This is too good to resist - DZ's question is pure garbage! But wait - no, it's not pure garbage! There's gold in them thar hills! Untold treasures in the mountains of offal! Cautioning that Minneapolis is much larger than St. Paul, I'd say go for Eureka! on the name alone if they can handle the logistics at a competitive price. Fred Markus, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 1/19/2004 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] 35W Access Project and Futility
I've been told by one of the LNA PAC members that Allina wants firm written commitments from the various government entities before its board meets at the end of February to make a final decision on where to locate its corporate headquarters. Their other choice is in St. Paul and they apparently intend to decide one short month from now. This is forcing everyone's hand, but - candidly - having a large corporate anchor in that enormous building sounds like a plan to me. I can see Abbott's complex from my unit at Ebenezer Tower. They have a large footprint already and adding more functions (including a hotel in the Sears building, I guess) would provide Allina some economies of scale and essentially parallel Wells Fargo's expansion activity. A number of Wells Fargo folks were at a West Phillips neighborhood bash at the Zurah Shrine Center the other night and there are other obvious signs of "good neighbor" corporate activity, not the least of which are complete blocks of new housing. I also understand that nearby commercial nodes along Lake St. (Uptown, Lyn-Lake, Nicollet-Lake, Eat Street, and the mercados and souks) are benefiting from the consumer choices of these large employee populations and I imagine that this forecasts a similar positive mercantile future for Franklin Ave. Fred Markus, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.564 / Virus Database: 356 - Release Date: 1/19/2004 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] In defense of the skunk
I once met a skunk when I was walking back to home base after a harvesting session in the county woodlot. I had Swede saws, no noisy machines. Mr. Skunk and I were both on the township road - he crossing it and I traveling along it. I stopped and gave this rather grand-looking creature time to check me out. He was apparently satisfied that I was no threat to his domain and continued on his way with great dignity. To give this a local spin, my live and let live attitude also worked well with the woodchucks, beavers, and muskrats that were my quondam neighbors on Nicollet Island. Fred Markus, West Phillips, where I've seen nary a skunk. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.553 / Virus Database: 345 - Release Date: 12/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Location of Affordable Housing
Thomas Leighton has done a good job of illuminating the planning landscape re the location of affordable housing. This is a familiar vocabulary to many of us who have been championing the cause of housing affordable to folks at the low end of the income scale. I confess not to have read the many recent posts about PPL's motives - this is such old news to me and I'd rather be tracking on national stuff that will have a draconian impact on all our lives. However, do bear with me in understanding that there are still considerations of propinquity to services for certain kinds of affordable housing, competing with and complimentary to housing for people in their child-rearing years. I've moved recently to Ebenezer Tower Apartments, a senior high-rise in West Phillips owned and operated by a non-profit church agency. This is a great place with a mix of market rate and Section 8 units. There are many services onsite and it's a short walk to Abbott's pharmacy and for that matter Abbott itself. There's a rest home adjacent and a nearby funeral home. MTC lines (9, 22, 5) are also handy. Ebenezer's footprint includes additional residential facilities along Park Ave. and their parent agency is also headquartered within a stone's throw. There's also a large seniors' multiunit across Park Avenue and two public housing highrises on Fifth Ave. over by the freeway. I'm still pretty mobile, so I take the MTC to Cub and/or Rainbow or walk over to Uptown via the Greenway. Less ambulatory neighbors have the opportunity to be bussed to Kowalski's on Hennepin once a week. Dairy and produce are sold onsite weekly and there's also a small convenience store staffed by resident volunteers. We can cash personal checks for modest amounts and there is a popular onsite meals program. We all grow old, folks. Baby Boomers take note! Many thousands of Baby Boomers, in fact, and everybody's got to live someplace. Ebenezer and their peers can't service the scope of this demand and market-rate housing can't carry this burden either. >From this geographer's lips to the body politic's ears: I'm talking site AND situation beyond today's demographics and parochial opinions that focus just on siting. There are demonstrable economies of scale here at Ebenezer and astute planning will have to find room for several additional Ebenezers, so to speak, as my following age cohorts have to come to grips with their emerging need for supportive environments. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Floor mats as new affordable housing
Quoting from TenantNet: >From the most recent issue of Skyway News, reporter Scott Russell reports on City of Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak counting 251 new shelter mats as new production of 'affordable housing.' http://www.skywaynews.net/display/inn_news/news01.txt >From the article: The city's goal is to produce or preserve 650 affordable housing units this year, according to Mayor R.T. Rybak's city Web page. The city had produced 518 units by the end of the third quarter, or 80 percent of its goal. Plus, it has 1,161 units in the pipeline. However, more than half of those completed units -- 288 of the 518 -- are emergency shelter beds funded through federal Emergency Shelter Grants. That arithmetic doesn't sit well with some shelter providers, such as Allison Hoberg, men's shelter director for St. Stephens, 2201 Clinton Ave. S. The city counted St. Stephens' 35 beds toward the affordable housing goal. "I would hope they are not including shelter beds as increasing affordable housing in Minneapolis," Hoberg said. "We are only allowed to be open overnight. There are no people here during the day. We are bunks and mats on the floor. I definitely wouldn't call that affordable housing." My comment, also on TenantNet: 'Build' is right. It's like counting every sapling in the forest. Someone who participates in a land trust development is likely to have a stable domestic future, all things considered. Someone who benefits from a bundled Section 8 package that stabilizes an otherwise shaky existing multiunit location, or who gets to have a Habitat for Humanity house, or who finds an affordable niche in PPL or Alan Arthur products ... These are clearly countable units, although I urge TenantNet members to keep a beady eye on CM Lilligren et al who are drifting toward 80% MMI plans as a way to satisfy "affordable" housing goals. Check out the "affordable" slices of the various new development pies coming from former CMs Steve Minn and Jackie Cherryhomes, and - off the top of my head - developer Steve Frenzel's near-North plans, the Urban Village package for the Wedge, the new high-rise condo going up at Third Ave. and the river, the upscale multi-units near Uptown nearing completion, and the ever-popular mixed use residential/commercial packages being contemplated along the LRT and elsewhere on commercial nodes in Minneapolis. How many "affordable" units will be counted here? Counting 80% MMI units is clearly recidivist behavior and counting 60% MMI units (approaching $50,000 annual income these days) is truly distant from the motives of any affordable housing exercise meant to address the shortfall at 50% MMI, 30% MMI, or lower - a shortfall that runs into many thousands of units and that spills over into the suburbs as well. Counting floor mats is a form of persiflage and so is counting the high-end %MMI units. The hard work has to be done between these two extremes and hopefully somebody will figure out how to spread this production throughout the city (a nod to Jim Graham, who got booted from Minneapolis Issues for his overly shrill annoyance about this). I just don't think R.T. and the City Council should be permitted to dodge this bullet. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, West Phillips. Responding to Tim Bonham: Counting floor mats was tried once before, and it didn't pass the smell test that time either. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, West Phillips --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Wrath of Kahn: gunning for politicians' salaries to force early elect
Here's some precise numbers from down memory lane. Six and two were really big, one and eleven were really small. As of March 25, 2002 Old Wardpopulation deviation % deviation % white 1 26906 -2526 -8.58 80.86% 2 327933361 11.42 68.62% 3 29849 4171.42 47.90% 4 3074413124.46 51.07% 5 28749-683 -2.32 31.69% 6 333643932 13.36 42.40% 7 29624 1920.65 81.22% 8 29771 3391.15 42.71% 9 30088 6562.23 65.27% 10 28578-854-2.9 80.29% 11 26838 -2594 -8.81 86.19% 12 27353 -2079 -7.06 84.24% 13 27961 -1471 -5.00 93.47% sum 382618 Total population382618 ideal district 29432 population range 26838 to 33364 ratio range 1.24 absolute range -2594 to 3932 absolute overall range6526.00 relative range-8.81% to 13.36% relative overall range 22.17% absolute mean deviation 1570.46 relative mean deviation 5.34% standard deviation 2041.77 Fred Markus, West Philips, Old Ward 8-1, New Ward 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Counting affordable housing units
Is it really progress to go from 80% metro median income subsidies in the 1990s, to counting shelter beds as "affordable housing" units, to toying with 80% metro median income subsidies as a sensible future goal in 2004/5 and after as was intimated in the Ways and Means committee meeting? It troubles me to see CM Lilligren talking disparagingly (same Ways and Means on Nov. 20) about 50% metro median income households as less than desirable in Minneapolis' future housing mix. That's about $38,350 annual income these days, $19+/hr. Applying that income standard to the existing household mix in the either the new Sixth Ward or the old Eighth Ward would bring quite the cloud banks over the sun in near south Minneapolis, would it not? With the caveat that the NRP site is still using 1990 census data, consider the following MMI household incomes: Phillips ($12,254 = 16% MMI) Stevens Square/Loring Heights ($14,417 = 19% MMI) Whittier ($17,325 = 23% MMI) Central ($19,528 = 25% MMI) I imagine 2003 neighborhood MMI percentages would be more robust, but still nowhere near 50% MMI. It is common knowledge that the shortfall of affordable housing - say 12-15,000 units - is at the low end of % MMI, way below 50% MMI. So when Rybak staffer Takeshita blithely includes shelter beds, CM Lilligren denigrates the need for housing that his constituencies can afford, and CM Johnson wants to drain the affordable housing trust fund dollars on behalf of property tax relief (that would apply across the board, don't forget, not just to the benefit of low-end homeowners) ... It seems to me that mission drift in the City's leadership is alive and well in the affordable housing campaign. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old Ward 8-1, new Ward 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Green Party participation on the Redistricting Commission
State Senator Linda Higgins stated that there was no Green Party member of the Minneapolis Redistricting Commission. I don't think I'm departing unduly from the City Attorney's gag order in reminding the Minneapolis Issues list that I was duly appointed by the minority caucus of the City Council and served as the sole redistricting commissioner representing the interest of the Green Party members of that body. I was at the time an active and duly enrolled member of the Green Party of Minnesota. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old Ward 8-1, new Ward 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.537 / Virus Database: 332 - Release Date: 11/6/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Minneapolis school 'competition'
Thanks to Jeanne Massey for her detailed response to my concern about the possibility that charter schools might have a structural advantage over the public school system regarding challenges to educability. I'm reassured in that the percent students of color and percent students living in poverty in charter schools as Jeanne detailed them suggest a playing field comparable to those of the public school system. Probably higher percentages in the charter schools as she has enumerated them. While there may be additional divergences related to special needs students and issues created by language barriers, it strikes me as credible that properly supervised charter schools are a positive influence on our educational system. I should explain that my beginnings in Minneapolis date back to 1969 and the brief existence of the Phoenix School on the West Bank above Jonah's Whale, roughly across from the then location of the Electric Fetus on Cedar Ave. Ah, the halcyon days of yore. There were several "free schools" at the time and they all had a running battle with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul over code enforcement and other questions of legitimacy. Within a fairly short time, however, the initiatives that characterized the free school movement and many of the free school teachers themselves, for that matter, were absorbed into alternative education locations and offerings in the public school systems. This is a long time ago now and I'm painting in broad strokes but I'll never forget how rewarding it was to convey the thrill of learning and creative expression to kids who had been shutting down in the public school system for various reasons not the least of which had to do with social stigma connected to welfare status. I didn't continue in this experiential vein in the long ago, partly because the Phoenix School was closed down and partly because I found a new leadership challenge in the affairs of the Nicollet Island -East Bank Urban Renewal Area. I was also sliding down the slippery slopes of chemical dependency during those years, so small wonder that I got out of touch with the nature of alternative pedagogy later in the 1970s and early 1980s. Well, that was then and now I am glad to hear that there is a robust process in place that can, I should think, augment the public school system in constructive ways. No doubt there are able charter school spokespeople better equipped than I to flesh out this sentiment. Tony Scallon comes to mind, for example, as also the Little Red School House of the 1970s and a Native American charter school here after the turn of the century with which I've had a slender connection. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old ward 8-1, new ward 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.537 / Virus Database: 332 - Release Date: 11/6/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re: [Mpls] Minneapolis school 'competition'
Is there not an opportunity for charter schools to "cream" the population of school-age children? Per-pupil public money across the board sounds good but if the special needs and the thousands of ESL kids are concentrated in the public school system BECAUSE it is the public school system, if the charter schools can prefer to accept only children who exemplify less daunting challenges, the public school dollars aren't going to go as far "per pupil" as will the public dollars that make their way to a private system that basically has an easier row to hoe. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old 8-1, new 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.530 / Virus Database: 325 - Release Date: 10/22/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Re: A followup re the direction of voting technology
Amen to Jeanne Massey's statement: "Most important (for me [Jeanne]) to remember is that current MN law requires a paper trail and any new voting machine technology would need to meet this requirement, or the law would have to be changed. To repeat my point in previous postings, I believe we need to remain watchful about the evolution of DRE technology with respect to having the ability to produce a paper trail, and the State's decisions regarding updating our voting technology to comply with HAVA." One time, maybe 1996 general election, there were so many people voting that we ran out of registration cards several times, ran out of ballots, and had the ballot counting machine run out of tape. More supplies were delivered one way or another and we eventually caught up and ran the balance of the cast ballots - quite a few, some hundreds as I remember - through the ballot counter after the polls closed. Just imagine Tim Bonham's worst case in a paperless system. Whatever do you do if there's a power failure? We get these sometimes when lightning hits a transformer. Scads of people would be unable to vote! One doesn't even have to imagine pernicious intent. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old Ward 8-1, new Ward 6-7 (for now) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.530 / Virus Database: 325 - Release Date: 10/22/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email 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 City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Community Input on Projects
Per Michael Hohmann's description of a successful collaborative venture at 43rd and Upton that included a city planner in the mix, other agencies and such, I have long been of the opinion that having "journeymen" planners associated with functional groups of NRP neighborhoods would be a cost-effective way to give valuable experience to junior planners and bring considerable value to the central planning authorities who wouldn't be able to afford the number of experienced planners that would be needed to populate such a system even in prosperous years. This would also obviate the need to have a myriad of individual NRP operations each with staffers with planning responsibilities - Also unaffordable in this day and age. It's clearly important for grassroots initiatives to be compatible with city planning horizons AND it's important for those horizons to be sensitive to parochial concerns whenever feasible. There's no simple equation for this, but having trained planning personnel available at the grassroots level who are able to negotiate the maze of regulation, etc. at the municipal level because they are themselves municipal employees, however junior, will at least keep some of the more egregious neighborhood expectations from distracting expensive and time-consuming public processes. It will also serve as a check to municipal-level planners who are sometimes - ahem - unduly distanced from local needs and realities. Fred Markus, West Phillips, now Ward 8-1, soon Ward 6-7 (maybe) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.530 / Virus Database: 325 - Release Date: 10/22/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Re: [Mpls Voting machines in Hennepin County]
For a number of elections now, I have been a chair election judge in a large voting precinct in Minneapolis. As David Maeda explains, there is an iron set of procedures that we follow in the use of the optical scan voting machines. When a ballot is flawed for any reason, for example, the machine rejects the ballot and a printed explanation appears on the continuous tape that began (before the polls open) with a reliability check on the identity and status of the ballot counter and eventually ends with a printed report about the ballots cast. There are safeguards around every step of the process, including the exercise of replacing this primary tape should it run out during a busy day of voting. Voted, ruined, duplicated and absentee ballots are all watched over with great care. On one unhappy occasion, my fellow election judge and I mistakenly transmitted final totals before all the absentee ballots had been run through the machine. Wrong. We were required to rerun all the voted ballots - a thousand or more - through a different voting machine at City Hall under the watchful eyes of one of the supervisors who ride herd on us well-meaning amateurs. This is the real value of the paper trail - clumsy mistakes like ours can be corrected in a secure environment. There are actual artifacts in addition to the digital reports and every effort is made in the human environment to make sure that one party's representative is always balanced by the presence of a competing party's representative. IMHO, it would be very dicey not to have the paper ballots as a backup to the optical scan reports. Fred Markus, West Phillips, now Ward 8-1, soon Ward 6-7 (maybe). --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.530 / Virus Database: 325 - Release Date: 10/22/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] MICAH Affordable Housing Action Alert
The inflation of the term "affordable" has been the bane of the housing campaign rhetoric. Recall if you will the tensions between the Affordable Housing Task Force and the then City Council related to the parameters of this term and for that matter think back to the thrust of the City Council's and MPHA's initiatives in the mid-nineties that were laying the city's resources on the 80% MMI market segment and calling that good on the "affordable" front. There have been two applications in the world of percentages: one setting aside a small percentage, usually 25% or maybe 20% - I haven't been following this very closely lately - for the "affordable" slice, and then placing the "affordable" benchmark at 50% or in the case before the Council this morning, at 60% of metro median income. I give Sherman Associates credit for doing their best with these percentages. That's better than the earlier 80% escapades and reflects what is apparently feasible in assembling capital resources and looking ahead to cash flow requirements. But I agree with Bill Cullen that it is a dilatory use of precious public money at the still elevated percent "affordable" when the regular housing market is so soft and the neighborhoods involved are so very cross about what's being proposed. Council Member Samuels has quite properly put his marker down contra the River Run package and MICAH would be well advised to take a hard look at their policy underpinnings. Fighting for "affordability" that requires large chunks of scarce public dollars for such anemic outcomes isn't doing anybody much good! Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, Ward 8 for now, maybe 6 later --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.516 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 9/1/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Jennings withdraws
I also think there has been more heat than light in the response from some to the School Board's preference for David Jennings. This has happened in part because of the celerity with which the Board acted and in part because of the frankly shrill response from some. What do the school district's various constituencies think about this abrupt tempest? What lip-smacking might be going on in the "don't get mad, get even" crowd? I don't see much benefit here, only costs! Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, old ward 8, new ward 6 (so far) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Power of neighborhood groups
I'd like to second Jim Bernstein's remarks with the added comment that objectifying people fails to recognize how personal circumstances can change over time. Someone who may not be in good financial graces in the summer of one year may be a routine depositor at a bank a little further on in time. I remember a sad scene where someone was in credentials and thus financial limbo until their birth certificate arrived after a delay of several weeks. They were able to function informally in interim because informal alternatives have been around longer than banks. It's all very well to prefer good order in these matters but there are lots of ordinary folks who have to work with these challenges for reasons beyond their control. Chemical dependency recovery is a good example of this environment where someone has to rebuild their life and it can take a long time. Such people could be living just about anywhere and be invisible to their immediate neighbors - not that these matters are properly the business of such neighbors! It's a good thing we have ordinances and rules and commissions and such that are exercised in a public way because the tendency of a dominant group to want to micromanage their local setting can be pretty seductive. Fred Markus, West Phillips, old ward 8, new ward 6 (so far) --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] MEDIA ALERT: COMMUNITY REJECTS JENNINGS
Perhaps the presence of a high-profile Republican at the helm will redound to the Minneapolis School District's benefit when the time comes for heart-to-heart talks with the Governor and the Legislature. It might not be quite as easy to play "gotcha" with Mr. Jennings at the table. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower, Ward Six --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Some may still believe poor people deserve to live in "Concentrated Poverty Areas"
The notion that poor people are trapped in poverty by the "culture of poverty" has been debunked elsewhere and there's no need to preach about that. Look at the existing commercial renaissance along Nicollet and Lake Streets - marvel at the street festivals, powwows, local parades, religious life, community gardens, artistic expressions and the like - cheer on the gaggles of school kids trouping over to the Fair Oaks institutions. These are just as everyday as the social service activities that also abound hereabouts. We need more economic muscle in south Minneapolis, true enough, but hey! This is a work in progress! Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower Apartments, Ward Six --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] -Tracks- Add: Trapped
We had a serious problem in the north tip community on Nicollet Island when the old bridge over the railroad tracks at Nicollet Street became unusable for vehicular traffic. This meant that everyone had to wait interminably at the two grade crossings at East and West Island Avenues. Trains would just sit there for upwards of 30 minutes as I recall. The tracks that cross Nicollet Island were a major feed into the downtown marshalling yards. With a number of elderly and infirm residents in the old wood frame houses this was truly unacceptable and the railroad was eventually forced by a court order and a fine to rebuild the bridge. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower Apartments, Ward Six --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Re: First Avenue
I was out for a walk today and my path took me into Whittier via 26th St. As I had indeed recalled, the signage at First Avenue is as promised - orange thingies on the midline, directional arrows on both sides of the intersection with 26th, a two-way traffic sign on the east side of the street just north of the intersection. I want to live, so I too stopped and waited until there were no moving cars in any direction before making the dash across this perilous roadway. Part of the problem, I suspect, is that people are creatures of habit and have it in their minds that First Avenue is still one-way northbound. Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower Apartments, Ward Six --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] News from a local yokel
The bulletin: I've moved from Charles Horn to Ebenezer Tower Apartments on Portland Ave. in Phillips. The commentary: When I moved from Whittier to the public highrises south of Lake St. three years ago, my first impression was that I was heading into a war zone. Not so, as it turned out. Now I've moved into senior independent living in Phillips and one might think from all the usual brouhaha that I've once again moved into a war zone. Not so, as I explore my surroundings and see many new residential structures abutting the big commercial and/or institutional settings near me. These are park-like blocks. There are still some no-go spots - some of Franklin Ave.'s vicinity feels off-limits - but there are also some major facelifts going on like the spot renewal of residential lots north of this tower and larger developments elsewhere along Franklin. People are pretty old here, I must say, and I miss my many friends at Charles Horn; but I am glad to be in a safe and supportive environment that will stand me in good stead as I too move closer to "pretty old". Fred Markus, Ebenezer Tower Apartments, Ward Six --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.502 / Virus Database: 300 - Release Date: 7/18/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Once again, the demise ofofficial prejudice
What local impact will the Supreme Court decision striking down sodomy laws have in Minneapolis? Well, now, I feel personally validated and so do the jillions of others who will no doubt bring a great noise to this year's Gay Pride celebration in Minneapolis. I'll find my way to the parade with my adult tricyle, geezer that I am, because the sun has come out after stormy weather through all the years of my life. Never let it be said that our country is incapable of change. This is profound change, however couched in the language of sexual intimacy. This is how the Christians must have felt after Constantine saw the light. You had to be there, folks, and I hope others of my generation and older will stand a little taller and have a little more love in their hearts for what has happened. I do. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 6/18/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Community Gardens at risk
In the 1970s the notion of "vest-pocket" parks was in vogue and there are a couple of examples that come readily to mind. One is the corner lot at the intersection of Maple Place and Nicollet Street on the north tip of Nicollet Island, established during the early days of the Nicollet Island PAC and still available for that tiny neighborhood's routine use. Another is Clifton Field in the Whittier Neighborhood, tucked away on about a third of block between Clinton and 4th Avenue S. just north of E. 25th St. I don't doubt there are more of these multi-purpose postage stamps around the city. "Vest-pocket" parks are more intimate than the bigger parks and more conducive to interactive participation in some ways - the city mows the grass and whatnot at Clifton Field and in my time on the Island from 1970-1981, we residents kept up the corner lot, mowing the grass, maintaining a rock garden along one edge and a flower garden in one corner of the lot, tidying up after cookouts and the like. We also had a geodesic structure for a while compliments of the School of Architecture. Just last year, Charles Horn Terrace Peace Park was honored with a CUE award as also the Korean Gardens on the West Bank - two additional contemporary examples of the viability of this concept. My own experience over the past decade or so has led me to the belief that there ought to be room in the city's life for both vigorous espousal of affordable housing and also a touch here and there of the notion of vest pocket parks. These ought not be mutually exclusive agendas but rather sensible components of good urban design at the neighborhood level. Details will surely vary, but not every square foot of vacant ground need be either a house or a community garden or an "official" city park. MCDA should have some flexibility in the disposition of its inventory and community gardeners and neighborhood organizations could be a little less linear in their thinking too. These modest gestures might also be a little more achievable than moving in on the sacred turf of the city's regular parks. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.491 / Virus Database: 290 - Release Date: 6/18/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Where do you (not) buy your groceries?
Some of us remember when the North Country Coop was on somebody's porch, then in the basement of the People's Center in the church on Riverside, selling stuff out of burlap bags to near-penniless people. With my cat gone to feline heaven, I've lost the gossamer thread that would draw me back to the coops for the cheap catnip. Like thousands of others, I watch the ads and split my grocery money between CUB and Rainbow with an occasional stroll over to the IGA and KMart that straddle Nicollet Ave. S. I don't shop at the coops because their prices went up and my income didn't. I don't really mind that folks patronize unique boutiques, antique stores, and other upscale places of business - their money, their choices. Around here, we get in trouble for feeding stale bread to the wildlife but we share anyway. Some habits are hard to break. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.488 / Virus Database: 287 - Release Date: 6/5/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Clean Up of Franklin Avenue
"Mentally ill" is not a lifestyle choice last I looked. There's been such a mess since community mental health clinics haven't panned out as a replacement for the big residential institutions. There are lots more seriously distressed folks than the relative handful that live in supervised settings. Peace House and other such drop-in centers are a godsend. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.488 / Virus Database: 287 - Release Date: 6/5/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] A brutal death at 16th and Portland
When it is so easy and sometimes justified to abhor official violence by uniformed law enforcement and military personnel, the downside is the temptation to typecast police and soldiers as cruel oppressors. Life should be so simple! We have extensive contact with the police here at Charles Horn. We were aghast at the violent death of Officer Melissa Schmidt last August and deeply shocked and puzzled by the bizarre actions of Martha Donald who was herself killed in the exchange of gunfire. Ordinarily our interactions with law enforcement are a lot less stark and we have instead a reasonably warm and familiar relationship with those who protect and serve in our vicinity. Apparently we are to have cadets from the community policing program as replacements for Burns' guards falling victim to funding shortfalls in Minneapolis public housing. I don't know who thought of this as a remedy to our gaps in security coverage but they deserve our thanks. Not only do we get to breathe a sigh of relief on the merits of having continuing security coverage, we also get to know the new people who will be in close contact with communities (community policing, right!) and we have quite the diverse communities and many experienced "communitarians" as assets for these cadets during their training. Police Lt. Gregory W. Reinhardt and Nurse Michelle Gross show us that they are thoughtful and caring people in sometimes horrible circumstances. This is clearly a good thing - more, please, and let's do what we can to get rid of the horrible circumstances that test everyone's humanity. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.488 / Virus Database: 287 - Release Date: 6/5/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Crime Statistics and myth perceptions
Jim Graham states: "The problem with stats of police actions is that what they may also be measuring is levels of police enforcement and activity rather than crime." >From the perspective of the Charles Horn public housing complex, I can warn about sanctifying statistical reports. We are to lose security guards because our police blotter is quiescent compared to ... well, there's the rub. Compared to 1996, it's like heaven around here. Funded guards, funded volunteers, enforcement of lease provisions, funded community programs for teenagers, and until recently a robust economy have all contributed to this diminution in criminal traffic. Parenthetically, there's a strategy in the works that may ameliorate MPHA's projected guard cutbacks. The Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council's newsletter for June, 2003 makes mention of a proposed security pilot program which would replace guards in some buildings with students enrolled in the MPD's Community Service Officer program. This is good news because for Charles Horn, cutbacks in guard funding, defunding the Project Lookout program, sometimes tardy and/or erratic lease enforcement, defunding community programs for at-risk teenagers, and an abysmal climate for unskilled employment surely trump the rosy and utterly facile use of recent reports of a successful set of crime-prevention programs as a rationale to justify cutbacks in security brought about by federal budget cuts. Our resident population knows better than to buy into the "happy talk" use of the crime stats - I just want the rest of Minneapolis not to be led astray. We very much appreciate what the MPD and MPHA do to keep us safe - that's not the point. The point is not to be lulled into complacency by the spin put on crime stats. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.483 / Virus Database: 279 - Release Date: 5/19/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] The significance of Minneapolis Issues discussion list
List member Jim Graham says: "The "List" is the good witch. She gives us munchkins the courage to act like Lions and demand that the Democrats have a little "brains" and that the Republicans have just a little "heart". Does it magically work? NO, but it lights the fire! After a little "courage" we get a little more demanding and who knows what we get? Perhaps justice? Well that is a little ambitious but it just goes to show how demanding we might become with a little courage." Amen to that. I'm really glad to be able to sample the thinking around town and to pitch in when the spirit moves. Sometimes I mess up - and I routinely eat crow afterwards as do others who also sometimes stumble. Impulsive participation comes at a price. But this list is proof positive that quality of argument still matters and I have no doubt that public activity is more focused and better framed because of our various communications. Additionally, I have comments from time to time that have some weight and this list gives me the opportunity to direct folks to a website for more extended material. This is what I did when I ran for president of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council some time ago, when I showcased the CUE award-winning Peace Garden out back, when I put extensive explanatory material on line during my tenure as a Redistricting Commissioner, and will probably do again as part of the tension surrounding the need for adequate preventive security in the public housing highrises. If the list weren't here, who would know about these things? Particularly with reference to public housing matters, where the general public and even the policymakers are often disinterested - we are off the beaten track in a community of activist homeowners. This list gives us community-wide access. Anyway, writers love to write, right! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.483 / Virus Database: 279 - Release Date: 5/19/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Scott Persons' witch hunt
When somebody had spent too much time on the river, we towboat folks would recognize the intemperate condition - we had a name for this that can't be repeated on a family-friendly list - and the person involved, whether pilot or deckhand or cook, would have to go home for a while and have some shore leave for restoring equanimity. The charitable term for this might be "occupational fatigue". I commend the Access Project task force members for their commitment, stamina, and sheer duration of effort, but perhaps a little shore leave is in order. With so many shortfalls in budgets up and down the line, a good sense of humor is really valuable. Not always possible, and long-term list members will recall my vexation with Stonewall DFL some time back, so I'm no prize. But still, smiles are so much nicer than frowns. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.463 / Virus Database: 262 - Release Date: 3/17/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re: [Mpls] re CCHT
I am very glad that CCHT, with the approbation of the Elliot Park neighborhood and substantial participation by a number of funding sources, has undertaken to convert the five-story St. Barnabas hospital for use as a safe and secure residence for homeless youth. St. Barnabas is in the shadow of the Metrodome and what used to be Metropolitan Medical Center (MMC - a large private hospital incorporated into HCMC some years back). St. Barnabas was a classic white elephant - obsolete for its original use and standing vacant year after year. CCHT, to its credit, undertook to address the chronic shortage of suitable facilities for homeless youth by undertaking to rehab this structure with provision for affordable private living quarters for 50 youth and also provision for supportive services. The intended beneficiaries are young people who are old enough to be capable of independent living but in considerable distress for lack of stable housing, counseling, and a way back into the world of schooling and employment and trustworthy social relationships. There are hundreds of these kids in Minneapolis and only a handful of places for them to live. CCHT is not new to this effort. They have an established facility elsewhere in town and in general a solid track record with supervising agencies, funding sources, and neighborhood entities. Alan Arthur may be a bit forceful at times, but he is very good at what he and his associates do. As a former board chair at the now defunct Lambda Sobriety Center for recovering GLBT folks, I am very aware of the ameliorative effect of CCHT's initiative. Instead of a dead building in a development cul-de-sac, I see hope and a secure sense of belonging being offered to at least some of our very young "walking wounded". As a student of our urban scene, I'm glad to see a big old building put to a good use. Good for Elliot Park and good for CCHT! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Thinking outside the box.
No point in going back to the municipal anti-war resolution. The leadership isn't going there. No point in staying inside that box. Too bad about the redirection of precious federal dollars. What about the next box, the one that defines choices as having only to do with cutting services - the "no new taxes" paradigm at the state level? Well. The Minnesota League of Women Voters isn't buying that one: "As we face the deficit we know that some things are clear. First, a dollar spent wisely now will save us many dollars later. As a reflection of the value of community, this budget should be about prioritizing in order to prevent future problems and to save the very fabric of community. If we invest now to make sure that children get a good start in life and if we offer health insurance to those who need it, we will save many more dollars in the future and our community will not be endangered. Second, we get what we pay for. A healthy, well-educated people and a healthful, livable state come at a price. Any inefficiencies in government of course need to be corrected. But it is false economics to think that by cutting or scrimping on fundamental services and preventive programs now we won't have to pay, and pay far more, later." Amen to that. In the highrises, we are being asked to roll over for the demise of our crime prevention programs, the defunding of nutrition programs for seniors, measures that exclude immigrants from medical care, and the elimination of after school programs for kids. Then there are the proposed municipal cutbacks that mean fewer firemen, less access to libraries, fewer buses, and much more. I met a fellow recently who has a 15-year old niece that has to walk three miles at 6:00 am to get to her first class that starts at 7:15. We had better sense than that 50 years ago in my home town. Here's the ultimate box: this is a systemic failure of government. Why should our most vulnerable be asked to choose among these privations? This is the barbarian inviting me to choose who gets thrown off the cliff first. Not a box to be living in. Raise taxes. Government is good. Barbarism is catching. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Maintenance, Police, Firemen, Teachers: Casualties of I-35W Excess?
Yes - do we get to choose between opening Nicollet and the flyover ramp? Is it all right to slice away at our local economy and government while simultaneously welcoming the I35W changes? Is there any way to give police, fire, library, parks and local business and residential development pride of place? Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Piehl Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 9:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Mpls] Maintenance, Police, Firemen, Teachers: Casualties of I-35W Excess? This is truly amazing; significant budget cuts at the state and local level are targeting safety issues like police and firemen (city), and road plowing and maintenence (state). Educators may be asked to take pay freezes, education budgets are being cut. Where is the $200 million coming from that will be used to pay for the I-35W Access (Excess) project?? Can the city really afford to contribute the millions to the project that are included in the project budget? If not, no doubt the aesthetics of the project will be affected. The city is being asked to prioritize construction of a project to move suburbanites in and out of our neighborhood at the expense of public safety. Does this make sense? The only real outcome that I can see is that they will then reinforce negative suburban stereotypes of the inner city as public safety declines. Time to put the ax to the Access Project, and kill it! David Piehl Central --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Libraries
I can define my life with the libraries I have known, from the Carnegie-funded library in my home town, Portage, Wisconsin, to the library at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio (my first and forever love affair with the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary (OED), in 42 volumes), to the University (Law, Music, Philosophy) and city libraries in Madison, WI, to the New York City public library on 42nd St. and Fifth Ave. with the lions out front, the college library in River Falls, WI (History, Art), the University of Minnesota (Geography) and the St. Paul and Minneapolis public libraries (local history, government documents) and many decades now of science fiction, mysteries, and reading - and writing - GLBT material. What did I leave out - oh, poetry, drama, political science, how to fix my ever-dying vehicles, the Minnesota Horticultural Society library, periodicals, films, video and audio tapes, recordings, lectures, language resources ... Too late to turn back for me! I'm in my second half-century of hanging around these outposts of civilization. No more Uptown Library and severe cutbacks on library access elsewhere. So how do you suppose the next youngster will come upon all these wonders? Watching reality TV? Living in shelters and on the street? Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Nicollet/Lake Debacle
One hopes that neighborhood response to this benighted decision to pull the plug on Sherman Associates will send a wake-up call to Cms Niziolek and Lilligren - stunting this development will reverberate through the west end of the Lake St. corridor and failing to open Nicollet will perpetuate a long-standing traffic flow problem that will be made worse in the event the 35W ramp goes forward. Why is city hall willing to see these major hits to tax base growth potential? Why are the incumbent council members rolling over for this? I surely see more credibility in the Lake/Nicollet plans than in the financial black hole that the Sears Tower has become. In the dark corridors of the city's bureaucracy, is someone's "professional" reputation being salvaged at substantial immediate expense to the Sherman Associates firm and formidable future cost to the economic viability of scores of existing businesses in these corridors? What chilling message does this send to the aspirations of other city council members and their business and residential constituents in other commercial corridors radiating out from the central business district? Is this an example of a turf war that pits embattled big-ticket development bureaucrats against the leaner, more supple, more manageable products of local initiatives? We have a weak mayor system of government. Are we now to have a weak City Council as well? Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] FW: [Nic-Lake_Taskforce] How is it that MCDA doesn't cover all the bases?
I'm bemused as a member of the Lyndale Neighborhood Association who joined with the Whittier Alliance and the business community in seeing the opening of Nicollet as a sine qua non for commercial corridor development both north/south and east/west at the Nicollet/Lake intersection. I also see the value of the modest storefronts incorporated in the proposed layout for the anchoring store in the southwest corner of the superblock - good expansion destinations for the Hispanic and Somali retail businesses getting their starts in nearby mini-malls. This is not some half-baked notion. Here's more from my post to what must be a stunned task force. Note the confirmatory sentiment in the response that follows from another task force list member. > > I've been to any number of meetings, the most recent being the > Nicollet/Lake Businessmen's Association, at which Sherman Associates > representatives have talked knowledgeably and with every expectation > of success in their negotiations related to a succession anchoring > retail presence on the southwest portion of the superblock. Not > Kmart. But not nobody, either. Why is that understanding missing from > the negative pitch that Jim White made? > > Our neighborhood organizations are all for this and so are we at > Charles Horn. What's gone wrong here? > > It's not as if CMs Dan Niziolek and Lilligren are out of the loop > either. There is solid, solid support for opening Nicollet. There's > plenty of support for the new housing proposed on the north end of > the superblock. There's thoughtful incorporation of the Greenway > asset. There's ample support for the expanded Family Practice Clinic > and one of the Sherman Associates reps told me that if push came to > shove there would be no dearth of commercial alternatives for that > southeast corner of the superblock. There's the companion features of > state, metro, and county road improvements. There's related > streetscape improvements built into the highway package. > > This smacks of some kind of inept. Why continue the obvious and much > disliked closure? Think about the size of the downtown bailouts - > Kmart may dig in, but Kmart is a finite quantity a lot smaller than > the massive numbers the council has been willing to throw at downtown > development fiascos. A Nic-Lake_Taskforce discussion list member/eyewitness responded: "I was at the council meeting of the CD committee yesterday. You summed up the essence of the issue very well ..."inept". Or perhaps, "void of any vision, and a complete absence of any appreciation for the efforts of both Sherman and the hundreds of neighborhood committees and volunteers. "If, in fact, the real reason the city has lost interest in the project is because the city doesn't have the money, then be honest with everyone and tell us there is no interest because there is no money...not use as an excuse that the project needs to be delayed/postponed to revisit the validity/appropriateness of the concept." I can think of a number of descriptive terms for the crude handling of this decision: disingenuous and disrespectful come immediately to mind. It's certainly dismaying and it's going to take more than glib phrases to repair this damage. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Home Ownership Assistance Proposal
As it happens, there is an article in the current issue of Shelterforce (#127, Vol. XXV:1, Pp. 8-13) by Winton Pitcoff "Has Homeownership Been Oversold". He quotes various national sources and takes quite the cook's tour of this topic. Samples: "... houses affordable to low-income buyers are often older, in need of costly repair and located in depressed, crime-ridden neighborhoods with few jobs". "'Homeownership policy is being treated as an economic development policy, but it's really gambling,' says Anne Shlay, director, Center for Public Policy at Temple University. 'Low-income people are being encouraged to buy older homes with an unclear shelf life that may or may not appreciate in value.'" ... "Transaction and maintenance costs can negate low mortgage payments in some areas. Payments may remain constant over the life of a 30-year mortgage, but insurance, taxes, utilities and other expenses will likely increase. Lower-income families are more likely to borrow against the equity in their home, often at high rates, diminishing any accumulated wealth. Some studies have found that, setting aside the growth in home equity, low-income homeowners actually save less than renters and have fewer funds available for home maintenance or to cushion against income loss. With most or all of their savings in their homes, low-income homeowners are vulnerable to housing market downturns." Other tidbits: Foreclosures on FHA-backed loans have risen steadily as the economy as worsened; in 2000 tax adjusted housing costs as a share of income were 8% higher than 1999 while real income increased only 2%. "In the euphoria around homeownership, rental housing runs the risk of losing resources when it's already grossly underfunded relative to the needs of renters" says Eric Belsky, executive director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. Well, you get the drift. If the NRP Policy Board had not passed the set-aside without any upper limit on eligibility I'd be inclined to a more charitable impression of what seems at best a naïve impulse, given the literature on the matter. The author concludes: "Homeownership will never be right for everyone, and continued support for the rental market is needed as well. As constructed today, however, with limited research, obvious economic peril to a large population and potential for backlash that could have broad repercussions for the larger economy, the strategy of promoting homeownership for all seems dangerously short-sighted." Amen to that. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Leaders or Followers
I've got mixed feelings about way life has been going since R.T. took office. I agree with Jim Graham (that's twice in one year, Jim!) about the mayor's staff environment. Jim and I live in a real world where awareness and respect for cultural nuance comes with the territory. Mind you, I haven't had a lot of contact with the mayor's staff, but what I have had hasn't left me with a feeling of confidence that R.T.'s personal efforts to empathize and work through the rough spots is way up there near the top of the list of things to do when it comes to his staff. Now maybe there are some really delicate and complex affairs of state that I wouldn't know about and somebody has to mind the store when Hizzoner is out and about being visible and accessible to the best of his considerable ability. But ... In this diverse city with one of the largest Native American urban populations in the United States, you would think that there'd be better focused attentions on these cultural wheels that have been squeaking since I got here three decades ago. My cultural studies as a geographer and my personal explorations over my many years have taught me that there are abrasive realities regarding the First Americans that go back to the very beginnings of European immigrant settlement in these parts and continue through the historical life of the city to the present day. I trust the mayor's good intentions and I'm relieved to read Tony LookingElk's calm and measured words. I'm not surprised that Council Members Zimmermann and Lilligren are in the thick of things - they are superlative examples of right-thinking behavior in these prickly situations. Pity there's no one that measures up to that high standard in the municipal chief executive's office. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.455 / Virus Database: 255 - Release Date: 2/13/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: Re: [Mpls] Raiding NRP
Responding to list member Bill Cullen, who understandably wants more information before loading up and riding out ... The particular points in Gretchen's post that I noticed and responded were that the NRP Policy Board "D. Did NOT specify that funds would be used for families with incomes at or below 50% MMI (targeted to low income), or would be targeted to specific sections of the city." "E. Did NOT respond to the purpose and intent of the fund which was to create new affordable housing units." Remember the 80% MMI "affordable" housing subsidy gesture the Council made in the 1990s? The problem with failing to target at 50% MMI or even more tellingly 30% MMI is that performance zooms right up to the upper limit %MMI whether new housing or turnover of existing housing. A mortgage guarantee for someone at 30% MMI is only meaningful for a purchase within that spending capacity and is meaningless if the market doesn't offer anything that cheap. Ditto at 50% MMI. My premise is that performance gravitates to >50% MMI and fails to address the very purpose for which the money was put in place by the city, namely as Gretchen points out, the production of new housing that lower-income folks can afford. Feeding mortgage guarantees into market-rate housing by-passes the whole thrust of the city's affordable housing initiative and throws an embarrassingly small bone to people who may be finding their cash flow stressed by the downturn in the economy but who are likely far more prosperous than the originally intended low-income targets. A more detailed answer to "qui bono" [who benefits] from this abrupt decision is certainly in order because new rental housing is also an important public good and mortgage guarantees bypass this goal. Fred Markus, horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.455 / Virus Database: 255 - Release Date: 2/13/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Raiding NRP
Looks like we don't have to wait long for the vultures to land. NRP was grievously wounded by the Legislature when TIF financing was taken away, then denied a transfusion when the city shied away from the MHRA levy, and now the poor thing staggers from a huge bite taken by folks on the NRP Policy Board who apparently could care less about the low-end housing shortage. This irresponsible opportunism will be the death of more than just NRP because inadequate housing helps drive underachievement in the schools, pushes more people into the gray/black market looking for housing dollars, and further abandons already terribly weakened public capacities to intervene positively in the legitimate economic life of the 40% poverty zones of the inner city. This casual disenfranchisement of the poor by the County Commissioners is particularly galling - R.T. and Council President Ostrow have been doing their level best to response to the affordable housing needs of their constituencies and one would think that their regional counterparts would show greater restraint given that affordable housing shortfalls don't stop at the city's borders. I suggest that the still surviving core of NRP - the NRP neighborhoods themselves - head for their financial bunkers. The barbarians are at the gates. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.455 / Virus Database: 255 - Release Date: 2/13/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Local coverage of the protest march
When one of the local channels played an extended interview with a supporter of the president as balance contra the obligatory video of the marchers, I had such a feeling of been there, done that. Even as the protests against the Vietnam War grew in strength and diversity in the late sixties, the media did exactly what I saw yesterday: blew off the sheer magnitude of the opposition to official policy by interviewing one or a few pro-war stalwarts as if those solitaires were of equal or greater significance than the massive messages being conveyed in the public square. Then as now, one saw white hair and heard about previous military experience. Then as now, there were official crowd size estimates widely at variance with perceived reality. Then as now, pro-war commentary and spokespersons dominated much of the media until public sentiment against official Washington was too steady and too broad to ignore. Then as now, one must search far afield to find substantive reporting of sentiments not bound slavishly to official Washington. Then as now we had a mayor and city council leadership whose response to this opposition was refusal to make use of the city's official voice other than as expressed by law enforcement. I didn't march yesterday. I have to watch my health. Instead, I wrote a bit about the value of preventative crime and safety strategies that are threatened by the budget cuts raining down around us. In the 1960s as now, I prefer law enforcement that prevents crimes, not that stifles dissent. I do not share the opinion of the city's current leadership that official silence should greet the anti-war resolution that the new guard on the City Council would have our city embrace. It is far too possible that enforcement will become an unmanageable tool as the great weight of the Patriot Act and the militarization of law enforcement are brought to bear on the voices of dissent, however steadier and broader the cries for restraint, indeed more global the collective warnings about chaotic outcomes, than was the case in the 1960s. All politics is local and we need all our local voices on every side of this distressing situation. There is no way that I can separate out what is just municipal and what is beyond our agreed municipal ken on this discussion list. Apart from my admitted willingness to pontificate at times, when I and my neighbors are threatened, I get to squawk and I expect the government in my vicinity to get involved in our defense, not to look around for some basins for obligatory handwashing. Take a good look at the civil liberties challenges being documented and imagine what this must be like for our thousands of immigrants. What a mess! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Slicing and dicing or how budget cuts can roll the clock back
Here's a constellation of real possibilities: Take away SAFE. Never mind that SAFE is coming to Horn on March 6 to talk about personal safety at the apartment door after someone posing as a homemaker/helper got a vulnerable adult to open an apartment door in error. The point: we are used to CCP-SAFE officers helping us with crime prevention strategies. The ounce of prevention, rather than the pound of cure. Take away the security guards. Never mind that they routinely keep outsiders from barging into the building; that they document non-residents' precise destinations within the complex. Never mind that they are in fact first responders in a variety of non-violent situations including medical emergencies. Never mind that they often serve as bridges between cultures and in general know who we are. The point: the people wearing those uniforms prevent bad situations from happening and make positive contributions to our quality of life. Take away Project Lookout funding. Never mind the value of training a cadre of volunteers who prevent crime by being purposely watchful and prepared to report suspect behavior. Take away the "Clinton cops". Too bad that police personnel will be stretched, that response times may suffer, that dependency on reactive enforcement may increase. Sorry to bring in this national stuff, but the Administration's new budget submission removes just about all the funding for this initiative. Take away the after-school enrichment programs (the ones meant to address the times of peak juvenile mischief). Take away the summer programs too, while you're at it. Nothing so synergystic as whole neighborhoods full of bored, unsupervised penniless kids and a busy street life based on illegal thises and thats. Take away these preventative strategies and see how much more expensive it is to pick up the pieces after nasty habits re-emerge. Or ... accept that some cuts can be too deep, especially if taken by different levels of government as if in isolation from one another. Some cuts are inevitable, but removing all prevention strategies would be downright feckless. Don't go there! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
re:[Mpls] response to Goodman, Lane, and Benson
A few thoughts after a quick look: This response demonstrates an outcome of the NRP experience to date; namely, the acquisition of parity in municipal vocabulary. No doubt about it, the folks out there in the 'hoods can talk the talk and walk the walk just like the folks behind the counters in city hall. Now the hard reality is that even with everybody speaking the same language there aren't enough financial eggs around to make a full dozen by anybody's count. So how do we stretch the recipe when there aren't enough eggs? For one thing, we can try for cooperative/collaborative effort. Working together is so much more cost effective than working at cross-purposes. This is what lies ahead in my world: Federal and likely state funding cut-backs are impacting MPHA in the current fiscal year and this is the easy year. Next fiscal year will be very spare indeed. Ditto for my neighborhood organization. Ditto for the service economy. Ditto for every level of government above my head. Fluency in process, to take a lift from the United Nations Security Council discussion, is not the same as plenitude in substance. I have to work with others because however few the eggs, hungry mouths abound. No point in complaining about the shoo-fly pie. The folks who went through the Depression know about economizing. The folks before them could marvel at a single orange this far north. The folks before them joked about rock soup and pine needle tea. The folks before them ... Premising that NRP is legitimate governance, what are to be the irreducible tasks of government? Hungry mouths abound everywhere, not just in public housing. So do hungry minds. Dismissing after-school programs doesn't erase the kids. Art and music and dance will out and so will desperate acts by desperate people. I think we're going to have to revisit that social contract we've been taking for granted and relearn how to do more with less. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re:[Mpls] Policely speaking
The MPHA highrise at 2019 16th Ave. S. will be renamed in honor of Officer Melissa Schmidt next Friday, February 14, at 1:00 pm. There will be many people there who wish to honor Melissa and I for one simply want to be there. Sometimes words are superfluous. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Learning from Black History
Welcoming words I wrote for our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration banquet at Charles Horn Terrace: Dr. Kings birthday is an opportunity for reflection on many fronts: respect and gratitude for his vision, grief for the nature of his passing, renewed conviction to carry his message forward. We are privileged to live in a community that lets us put Dr. Kings message into practice in our daily lives, our dealings with others, and our own visions for the future. When our history is written, how often will the scribe take note of our welcoming practices and our willingness to learn from one another? How often, sadly, will we be observed as cruel and intolerant, wrapped in false pride or mesmerized by the allure of power? Will we be seen as showing our wounds to passersby, begging for alms, pleading for scraps from the tables of the more fortunate? Or will we learn to bring Dr. Kings dream to our realities. In his words, everybody can be great, because everybody can serve . You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love We are blessed with a great storehouse of possibility here, coming as we do from so many walks of life. We have our hard days, when sickness takes our strength; but we also have one another and our lives are surely not long enough to exhaust the love we can have in our everyday relations. I believe this is Dr. Kings faith in action. Our differences become our strength as we learn from one another and together find ways to realize our hopes. We help ourselves when we do this, and by our example, we help others as well. If there is an enemy among us it is intolerance and every day brings us to moments of choice. We can close ourselves off and judge others accordingly or we can embrace Dr. Kings message of humility and let go of that pretension. This is true charity, as many religions show us, and in the life of Martin Luther King we see how to bring such love into our personal lives. Fred Markus, President, Horn Terrace Resident Council, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] The significance of redistricting
While the glow of a well-deserved victory in the old Third Ward is still bright, it is important to look at the new Third Ward with an eye to the shift of neighborhoods and voting populations. The existing redistricting decision takes Jordan from the Third Ward and puts it in with a new Fifth Ward that has lost its downtown precincts along the west bank of the river (the new "gold coast") and on the east bank extending into Marcy Holmes. The new Third Ward has only McKinley and Hawthorne left on the west bank of the river, loses Columbia, Marshall Terrace and Holland to the new First Ward, and gains the neighborhoods along the east bank including St. Anthony East and Beltrami taken from the old First Ward and Marcy Holmes taken from the old Second Ward. The center of demographic gravity in the new Third Ward is meant to shift to the east and south away from Bottineau and St. Anthony West and the Northside territory where Third Ward Council Member-Elect Don Samuels did so well. Marcy Holmes, the anchoring presence in this intended shift, was very unhappy with having been taken away from the Second Ward, wanting to continue a long-standing relationship with the other neighborhoods immediately surrounding the University of Minnesota campus. Neighborhoods that have been collaborating in plans for the Mississippi riverbanks north of Nicollet Island may also be finding the new ward boundaries indifferent to their interest and will be keenly interested in CM-elect Samuels' energies in this regard. My own personal interest dates back to the plans drawn in the 1970s for the Island and the adjacent East Bank within the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and is piqued by Don's win in St. Anthony West. He and CM Natalie Johnson Lee share an interest in Riverplace and its environs just to the east of the east bank area where Don has made his mark. I hope that the commercial and residential developments in the core of the old City of St. Anthony will find further appropriate expression across the river to the west. Don and Natalie will have a lot to say about hoped-for renewal along Broadway. Back on the east bank, old Second Ward Council Member Paul Zerby and newly elected CM Don Samuels share the product of former CM Steve Minn's efforts in Marcy Holmes where new high-density housing is emerging. Diversity in the population in this part of town is challenged by gentrification and I hope my long-ago interest in heterogeneous cultural and income mix for the Nicollet Island-East Bank urban renewal project area - and the St. Anthony Falls Historic District by extension - will continue to be a goal for all concerned. St. Anthony West made a good start along these lines by voting for Samuels and I wish the new Council Member well in carrying his message from Jordan on the west to Marcy Holmes on the east. Quite a stretch of territory with cultural and income diversity aplenty. As always, the challenge comes with competition for prize locations. I feel strongly that the forces lined up in CM Samuels' column - Greens, Republicans, Independents, and progressive DFLers - are more likely to pursue an egalitarian vision than those who tried unsuccessfully to continue business as usual. Don Samuels' election is a refreshing change just as was the election of Mayor Rybak. I certainly hope that the grassroots folks who carried the day for these worthies keep up the good work! Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
