St. Paul Topics - This Week: Light Rail http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul-topics -----------------------------------------
It turns out that there are just other ways of doing things, and that the world doesn't operate along a list of choices that starts at A and ends at B and damnit that's it.
I think that centrism is first and foremost about a government that is customer oriented. The customer is often hard to pin down at times, but when we know exactly who we're dealing with we want to make the experience as pleasant as possible. If you're LIEP, that's one-stop liscensing. If that's Parks, that's making sure you do what you can to meet the needs of park goers.
We're done a lot of that in Saint Paul, and it's one of the reasons Saint Paul is such a great place to live. There are gaps of course -- following "The customer is always right" is not something I expect ISD 625 to ever get into -- but it explains a lot of what we do.
This focus on the customer is more than just service, tho. It's about anticipating needs either by asking them or looking at a lot of data. It's about keeping taxes low. It's about always finding ways to stretch those dollars to provide the service people want.
Mostly, tho, it's about a government that people know they can depend on.
That's the real focus, IMHO. To me, centrism is about finding new ways to do things, but really it's about a few core principles that demand we always find new ways, and make it possible for people in positions of authority to do that.
Erik Hare [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.comcast.net/~wabbitoid/ Irvine Park, West End, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, North America, Earth
Fine Amish furniture, cedar chests, and crafts http://www.harmonycedar.com
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