Post in Minneapolis Pension Levies

Mar 30 16:01 UTC

Michael Katch says in his post to the Minneapolis Issues:
- "There is really no need to sugar coat how screwed we are. I have torn the
city budget apart, and this administration may not be completely to blame, but
I get the feeling that our city is Enron and its late 2001."-

Michael Katch is correct we, the taxpayers, are going to be screwed by the
mismanagement of our Citys elected leadership.  Just as importantly the attempt
by that leadership to cover this up and steal from Peter to pay Paul
exacerbates the screwing of the citizens of Minneapolis.  It creates a
pettiness among that leadership.

Instead of taking real leadership in openly addressing the problem they resort
to the Pawlenty method of hiding regressive taxes on the poor as fees and
additional street improvement assessments.  Instead of actual citizen
empowerment they create Communication Departments to do damage control and spin
that would do justice to Karl Rove.

To cover for City Leadership mistakes they seek to undercut Citizen Empowerment
and Citizen Participation by attacking NRP.  In an attempt to cover
mismanagement on the Target Center the Council attach it to NRP at the
legislature.  Seeing that NRP had momentum they attempted to slide in little
bailout.  But make no mistake, this was not support by City Leadership for NRP;
it was a naked attempt to bail out another mismanaged investment.

Of course if that is what is necessary to continue the most successful
investment of tax dollars in Minneapolis history then OK.  And I am also glad
they offered it because it gave perspective on the values of the Citys
leadership.  They value a sports facility more than they value the improvement
of the neighborhoods of Minneapolis.  They value the welfare of a few
multi-millionaires over the welfare of hundreds of thousands of Minneapolis
residents.  But if that is what it takes to insure the continued investments in
Minneapolis families and communities then so be it.

The Council and Mayor know if they openly kill NRP by cutting off the head of
citizen participation in one fell swoop they will be pilloried politically.  So
they have been frightened out of their wits (and their evil designs) by what
they fear would be retribution.  Instead they have attempted to surreptitiously
kill Citizen Empowerment by a death of a thousand small cuts.

Michael is also correct; this situation is very much like Enron. The Board of
Directors in this case called the Council and Mayor are seeking to cover up
mismanagement.  I think this bothers me more than their mismanagement.  The
only way to address this situations problem is to bring it out in the open,
admit past mistakes, and start the process of fixing it.  Trust the citizens
and taxpayers of Minneapolis to be partners in solutions for the future,
instead of smiling to their face hypocritically while attempting to stab them
in the back to cover up financial ineptitude.

Jim Graham,
Ventura Village

- The rarest of gems, with the greatest clarity,
and with the greatest brilliance is not the diamond.
The rarest of all gems is the truth.

Yet as scarce as truth is, the supply has always far
exceeded any demand for it.  In fact it may well be the
lest desirable commodity in the Universe.

Ask any politician. -
  -Gem