[Mpls] Minneapolis Parks, Brought to you by ______________________

[Jason C Stone]

The Park Board recently contracted Idein, LLC for $15,000 to investigate further vendorization of
park amenities. They have four sites in mind for new restaurants including Lake Harriet, Loring
Park, Theodore Wirth Park and Minnehaha Park, with the hope of building on the revenue generation
of Tin Fish, on Lake Calhoun (http://www.skywaynews.net/articles/2004/12/30/news/news10.txt).

While I appreciate an “upscale chain dining” experience as much as the next guy, I have concerns
about selling off park services.

I am not confident in the Park Board's ability to be 'entrepreneurial'.  Entrepreneurship implies
having the business expertise necessary to manage risk and the Park Board has two recent problems
with risk management:

- $2.5 million in liens filed against The Fort skate park
- $120,000 disappeared from lake concessions (~ 2001)
	
and other general management problems:

- $75,000/year loss at $14 million Neiman sports complex
- $100,000 for a new putt putt golf course during a budget crisis
- $45,000 invested in a sham Superintendent Search process 
- funds reserved for land acquisition and recovering from natural disasters depleted in order to
purchase the new HQ or used under the radar on architectural plans for expansive capital projects.
 
- public distrust due to lack of openness

At one point the Park Board was able to make money off concessions or at least break even.   It
seems that the disappearance of concession money gave way to a knee-jerk reaction to ditch
responsibility.  A failure in managing operations effectively should not be confused with an
inability to generate revenue from concessions.   If we consistently applied the strategy of
selling off everything that is struggling, we would turn our eye to the Neiman Sports facilities.

As an aside, as a former football and baseball player I would dislike playing at the Neiman Sports
Complex @ Fort Snelling.  It is high on a hill and completely exposed to the elements.  And while
it is a convenient location for me, it must be extremely inconvenient for those living in North
and Northeast.

Regards,
Jason Stone
Diamond Lake