[Mpls] RE: Critique of Neighborhood Association priorities

[Barbara Lickness]

Gina - You bring up an excellent point. Currently,
neighborhood associations across the city perform
significant and time consuming services on behalf of
the city for zoning, planning and regulatory issues
for which they do not get paid. Neighborhood staff
often times is forced to spend a great deal of time
working on these issues while NRP or the MCDA Citizen
Participation dollars provide the funding. 

If neighborhood associations didn't do the work on the
zoning, planning and regulatory issues these things
would just happen in neighborhoods without people
having an opportunity to give input. That makes the
services neighborhood associations perform on behalf 
very important.   

If you and your neighbors believe the critical parking
permits are an important issue than I suggest you all
attend the monthly committee meeting the neighborhood
association holds and make it a priority for the
neighborhood association. Generally, it is the
volunteer board of directors that determine what the
issues are that neighborhood associations work on. The
issues are most likely prioritized by the committees
providing feedback to the board.  

Barb Lickness
Whittier

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead