You say in your September 20 post that the
Park Board managed to find $400,000 out of the general budget to mess
with the light rail.
Exactly what do you mean by that statement?
Arlene Fried
Bryn Mawr
On Sep 20, 2017, at 8:58 AM, Devin Hogan
<<email obscured><mailto:devinhogan@gmail.com>> wrote:
Nearly every rec center has some sort of small container garden they use to
teach kids how to grow food. They seem to be weeded and kept well just
fine. These are run by individual rec staff. We're already paying ground
staff to grow show flowers without pesticides, so the marginal cost to add
tomatoes to the mix is small (the real issue here to address here is years
of deliberate understaffing!). In addition, the county runs the master
gardener and Extension programs, chock full of volunteers willing to do
this kind of work. What's missing is building the relationships to make it
happen. The "what" we grow is dictated by what already works - again, where
AFC, Youth Farm and Farm to School have the expertise. The scale takes time.
Carol, I look forward to working with you to get the details right, but for
now the "show me the money" argument is specious at best. The present Park
Board managed managed to find $400,000 out of the general budget to mess
with the light rail, causing our esteemed governor to spike a further $3.77
MILLION in state funding
<https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2015/01/dayton-plays-hardball-minneapolis-parks-board>
We are paying private companies $200,000 a year to perform background
checks when we used to pay our own staff HALF to do the same thing. Sea
Salt generates $500,000 in revenue a year for the parks, yet we are
charging kids $4 for "open gym." We can easily find more ways to generate
money through concessions, especially at the Sculpture Garden, Wirth Park,
Golf Course clubhouses, riverfront developments, etc., and we can find more
money from organizations salivating to give it away (State DNR, for
example).
[image: Devin Hogan Ph: (630) 308-6624]
<http://myesig.com/esig/link-542436.php>
<http://myesig.com/esig/link-542288.php>
<http://myesig.com/esig/link-557402.php>
<http://myesig.com/esig/link-542437.php>
<http://myesig.com/esig/link-542438.php>
Devin Hogan (630) 308-6624
On Wed, Sep 20, 2017 at 7:43 AM, Lisa McDonald
<<email obscured><mailto:lisamcdonald5518@msn.com>>
wrote:
The biggest question is: Who will have to weed?
Lisa McDonald
East Harriet