[Mpls] It seems history is -- well, it's history! con't.

[Fredric Markus]

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