[Mpls] Welcoming Business

[gemgram]

Much of what Barb says is absolutely true and the City of Minneapolis has 
gained a return on its investment of NRP dollars that makes other City 
investments look very, very bad indeed.  This is perhaps the source of the 
politicians antipathy to NRP.  Not only does it empower citizens to believe 
they have the ability and can make decisions about their own lives and 
communities, but it simply makes politicians look bad and terribly inept in 
comparison, because a bunch of supposed "amateurs" do a far better job than 
the supposed "professionals" downtown. I say supposed because it is a well 
known fact that the community organizations draw on both a professional 
staff as well as volunteer professionals that beggar the City 
"professionals" by comparison in both its mass (quantity) and in particular 
in quality.  A Met Council person once commented that a neighborhood's plans 
and what they cost sure made the City of Minneapolis' efforts look "awful 
weak and lame in comparison".

I truly laughed when I saw a thing about the "professional" City staff going 
out to communities to help and direct the well meaning "amateurs" do 
community planning and development.  The opposite is true!  City Hall should 
throw open its now locked mental doors and have communities help and direct 
the "professional staff" to do community planning and development.  A good 
example is the SUPPOSED  "One Stop Shopping" for development.  One Stop 
Shopping as conceived in a couple of other Cities is walking in with 
community approved plans and a City prepared check list of ALL requirements, 
plopping them down on a desk and having the City "professional" put together 
all needed material and issue all needed variances, zoning changes, permits 
and plan reviews at one "STOP".  "ONE STOP" as in ONE time at ONE place. 
Minneapolis "One Stop Shopping" presently should be labeled "101 Dalmatians" 
every time you turn around there is another puppy with new spots that has to 
be accounted for.  Just a suggestion for the Mayor, and interested Council 
Members, have the true "professionals" in such things, (the people who have 
to jump through the hoops and count the puppies), simplify it for you.  Have 
the contractors and development "Customers", the homeowner or small 
businessperson (who have to get through your Gordian knot), redesign it for 
you.

While Mayor Rybak was well intentioned the McKenzie report has been used to 
take very justifiable calls for simplifying and streamlining City Government 
in the exact opposite direction than what was called for.  Bureaucrats  have 
made City Departments even more complicated and less open to citizens than 
before.  Calls were made for more "openness to communication" from 
residents.  What was created was a "Communications" czar, a professional 
position  whose job it was to handle all communication "From" the City, and 
to "Spin Doctor" such communication to put it in the best light possible for 
the administration.  No longer were City employees and police to 
"communicate" with residents.  In these and several other areas RT Rybak was 
well intentioned and was fulfilling pre-election commitments.  Unfortunately 
his professional staff took well intentioned ideas out into deep water so 
they drowned.  The problem is not with Mayor Rybak, it is with those who 
have been appointed to run the City for him.

The call was not for MCDA to be incorporated into the City bureaucracy,  the 
call was to have MCDA freed from it.  What was needed was to have it run by 
community members; not the Council.  Calls to change the politicizing of 
MCDA decisions were answered by abolishing MCDA and making it an even more 
unreachable City Department. Though it is more honest, (the Council can no 
longer hide behind the fraud that MCDA was an "independent" organization) it 
certainly did not solve any of the problems that were being complained 
about.

The problem may also be a City Council that has forgotten that we in 
Minneapolis have a "Strong Council-Weak Mayor" system for a reason; so we 
will have MORE citizen input into City decisions and policies.  The Council, 
with all its new members and its infatuation with the new polished young 
Mayor, allowed itself to be lead along so that it forgot who has the real 
power in Minneapolis.  Hopefully, the new Council might change that..  Also, 
hopefully the present Mayor (if re-elected) will have gained the wisdom to 
replace many of his present appointees with those who have an interest in 
making the City more friendly and customer directed, rather than ones who 
attempt to insulate the Mayor from the communities. Cut the unnecessary 
bureaucracy. That is the way you "Welcome Business".  At the present time 
there are legitimate developer business-people who say they are not 
interested in doing business in Minneapolis because it is to complicated and 
costs too much, it has become an "unfriendly" place to do business.

The Mayor is indeed personally open to people and their concerns.  The 
problem is a staff of "professionals" who insulate him from action to a 
degree that is unprecedented in Minneapolis politics.  Mayor Sharon Sayles 
Belton' office was rightfully criticized for being insulated from the 
public.  But I am here to tell you her office was a wide open door compared 
to how Mayor Rybak's office is run.  Even her enemies (such as myself) could 
make an appointment, see her, and get some action.  Even R.T.'s friends (and 
there are many more than me) have trouble getting through his present staff.

Well off of beating the dead horse and back to Barb's post.  Barb's post 
needs to be corrected, or at least enlarged upon, about a couple of things. 
Eat Street was not created by NRP. NRP re-did the Street and facade.  The 
Asian small business people, through buying up old under priced buildings 
and hard-work, had already moved in and redone Nicolett before NRP came 
along and put some frills upon it. Also, while AINDC was involved in 
changing Franklin Avenue the Indian organization with the greatest input 
into that "renaissance" was American Indian Community Development 
Corporation.  AICDC was directly involved in both the planning and 
development from the beginning as an actual  "community member", not just as 
one more business along the Avenue. AICDC continues in those efforts to 
serve as the infrastructure support for Ventura Village as a community 
member, not just a business.  Much of AICDC's staff actually live in the 
community, not just do business in it, so that it is indeed "their" 
community.

Barb says, "Everyone is talking about the renaissance on Franklin. That did 
not happen without significant citizen involvement or without NRP funds as a 
major catalyst."   A great deal more than "significant citizen involvement" 
was in fact involved.  The entire process was citizen originated, citizen 
planned, and citizen driven .  This area asked to be declared a "National 
Disaster Area" because of crime and blight.  Seeing that no assistance was 
going to be coming the citizens committed to "Help themselves".  When the 
Cities own marketing documents  had written off Franklin Avenue saying the 
prospects for ANY development on Franklin is "Bleak", they residents seized 
NRP dollars and began to drive the process to change their own community. 
Seventy thousand to start the redevelopment planning, and ten thousand to 
partner in creating the "Franklin Safety Center", less than a million to 
renovate over a hundred homes and build a bunch more.  Pretty paltry amounts 
to create over a hundred million dollars in development!  Almost all the 
politicians and administrators have taken credit for the "renaissance", but 
the engineers and the driving force was the citizens.  I would invite Vicki, 
or anyone else, to show us even one instance of the "professional" 
politicians making such a wise and profitable use of "our" public dollars. 
Could it be "Target", Saks; etc, etc, etc.? Nope, just do not think so.

The Mayor even held his "Re-election" announcement from one of those NRP 
projects, the Franklin Art Works. A building where the neighborhood seized 
NRP dollars to renovate the old Franklin Avenue Porn Theater into the "NEW 
FRANKLIN THEATER" that its hundred year old stained glass proclaims.  I 
wonder if during his announcement the Mayor pointed out that the "Theater" 
was done with NRP dollars by the community residents of a "blighted, 
"National Disaster",  who had decided to help themselves with NRP dollars; 
and not by his office?  In his speech did Mayor Rybak thank the Ventura 
Village Neighborhood residents for standing in that flood of blight when it 
surrounded them all around with drugs and death.  I hope so!

Jim Graham,
Ventura Village

"If you board the wrong train it's no use running down the corridor in the 
other direction"