[Mpls] "...And Will My Right Honorable Friend Join Me..."

[Anne McC]

>I am simply unable to understand what would motivate an incumbent to 
>abandon his seat to challenge the only other minority member on the 
>council.<

Don didn't 'abandon' his seat.  The ward boundaries were changed.  Should he 
not have run at all the first time?  We would still only have one African 
American Council person at the end of this election.

I know we lilve in a throw away world, but the Samuels have a lovely home 
and close ties in the neighborhood, just like the rest of us.  For them to 
sell their house and move to an entirely new area would not only be 
disruptive to their two small children, but would give his political 
oponents even more fodder to throw at him.  You are blaming the wrong 
people.

Neither Natalie or Don wanted the new boundaries, let alone anyone in North 
Mpls. The critisiam should be thrown at the people who drew the lines.  The 
redistricting affected the Fifth Ward in more important ways than the fact 
that we have two African Americans running against each other for the same 
job.  The redistricting took away the most valuble property in the Fifth 
Ward and gave it to a ward that was already one of, if not the richest wards 
in the city.  Money is power, so the rich got richer and more powerful and 
the poor got poorer and less powerful.  If people in the Fifth Ward want to 
be angry about anything it should be that the land on which the new stadium 
is to be built on, along with a whole lot of other expenisve development ( 
non-affordable housing by most people's standards)  is  no longer in the 
Fifth Ward.  Don't worry, though, the city is right behind us when it comes 
to building 'affordable housing' in our ward.

I'm with you on the debates, however.  We need serious debates between these 
two candidates.  They need to show REAL plans, not campaign promises and 
pie -in-the-sky,  for bringing meaningful, job producing development into 
our community.  They also need to show what they have both accomplished, 
emphasis accomplished, since they have been on the council and how they are 
going to get better city services into our community.  If you drive down our 
alleys today you see more crap in them now than ever before.  These are 
issues that need to be worked on.

When peoplpe live in an area that is run down they see no reason to treat it 
with respect.  If you don't respect your home, you don't have any 
self-respect.  If you have no self-respect, you become a failure and ofter, 
a bully. THEN you become a police problem.  There is a lot that can be done 
before we have that last step and our councilmember needs to be with us on 
this and a fighter for this.

Let's stick to the issues and get the best qualified council person for our 
ward.

Anne McCandless
Jordan