[Mpls] So Called "Green" Campaigns: Johnson Lee and Zimmermann

[Eva Young]

Natalie Johnson Lee has some TV ads.  They give absolutely no information 
about the candidate and where they stand, but is just a song "Vote for 
Natalie" with photos of Natalie Johnson Lee.

I have decided to vote for Don Samuels on Tuesday.  I had concerns about 
both candidates.  I've always liked Samuels message about personal 
responsibility.  I've thought his vigils were grandstanding.

Don Samuels is a democrat, but he made the effort during both of his 
campaigns to reach out to Log Cabin Republicans.  He stopped by one of our 
meetings in 2003, and he came to our fundraiser a few weeks ago.  I 
appreciate the Democratic politicians who make an effort to reach beyond 
the partisan democratic base in Minneapolis.  Samuels was very impressive 
when he was a guest on David Strom's show on the Patriot.

I've heard from NJL supporters that part of the reason to vote against Don, 
is that voting for Don would be bringing Jackie Cherryhomes back to city 
hall.  I don't agree with this.  While I felt Jackie Cherryhomes deserved 
to be defeated 4 years ago, the reason was that she was part of the 
irresponsible fiscal management of the city - not the venomous bile that 
was directed towards her.  Jackie Cherryhomes did host a fundraiser for Don 
Samuels.

Margaret Martin (David Strom's wife) from Ourhouse blog describes a visit 
from Natalie Johnson Lee's husband, Travis:

http://www.ourhouseblog.com/?m=20051015

The things Travis told Margaret Martin were similar to the things he told 
me.  I did verify from another council member that Don Samuels does have a 
low attendance record - and that is something I hope he works on during the 
next council.

Ken Avidor has a piece on Lloydletta about Dean Zimmermann's claim that 
Heathrow Airport is in Scotland:

http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/11/heathrow-in-scotland-by-ken-avidor.html

Fellow Green Party office-holder 
<http://pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1056>Annie Young once voiced dismay 
over Dean's obsessive PRT collaboration with right-wing Republicans like 
Mark Olson:

"Zimmermann’s party, the Green Party, is however, apparently distancing 
itself from Zimmermann." Annie Young of the party said, “This is not a 
Green Party issue; this is Dean’s project. I’m concerned about his 
relationship to Taxi 2000, and about the time he’s spending on the project 
and whether he’s meeting the needs of the people in his ward. There are 
potentially some good things that could come from it, and I see what the 
point is but I’m not sure the timing is right. There are also a lot of 
questions about it, like why are the Republicans so interested in it? There 
are a lot of good alternatives that we should be working on, and there are 
so many transportation needs to be addressed. I’m just not sure this is the 
best one."

Zimmermann's eagerness to work with anti-transit, pro-highway, 
right-wingers confirms what some critics including myself have said that 
Zimmermann is anti-LRT, anti-transit and pro-highway himself. Zimmermann 
did not get the Sierra Club endorsement this year mainly because of his 
many anti-transit statements. Zimmermann's promotion of PRT has consumed a 
<http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2005-October/046256.html>large share 
of his first term in office. Zimmermann has even traveled to suburbs to 
promote his PRT plan.

Unfortunately, the FBI raid on Zimmermann's house has dominated the 6th 
Ward campaign. Zimmermann has gotten a lot of sympathy from well-meaning 
people who feel that Zimmermann is being "persecuted". The investigation 
has allowed Zimmermann to avoid explaining his support for PRT and his 
anti-transit rhetoric. For much of his campaign, Zimmermann has been 
uncharacteristically quiet about PRT.

Dean Zimmermann's campaign has just released a 
<http://votedeanzimmermann.org/news.php?action=fullnews&id=56>position 
paper on transportation that repeats the standard anti-transit 
disinformation that PRT proponents repeat on their web sites and in their 
pamphlets:

"Light rail is great, but costly to build. And buses – well, as a friend of 
Dean’s says: “I believe in mass transit­until then I’ll take the bus.” 
We’ve done better in the past, the street car system was really good, but 
we need practical, lower-cost alternatives for the future."

"Council Member Dean Zimmermann advocates for PRT­Personal Rapid Transit. 
Like a car, it goes where you want, is available when you want it, and is 
as private as you want it to be. Unlike motor vehicles it doesn’t burn gas 
and it doesn’t add pollution to our urban air.

"And it’s not some pipe dream Council Member Dean Zimmermann cooked up. 
Just this month, Heathrow Airport in Scotland signed a contract to build a 
PRT system using a technology developed in Wales."

Besides misstating where Heathrow Airport is, the Zimmermann campaign 
states that there is a contract to build PRT at Heathrow. The British 
Airport Authority announced only a "agreement for the development" of the 
ATS "ULTra system "dependent on agreed milestones being achieved." This is 
hardly a "contract to
build."

There is a lot to suggest that ATS's Ultra is not PRT, but an Automated 
People-Mover (APM) similar to an existing system called FROG. FROG is far 
from being a technological breakthrough... it runs on batteries and has a 
top speed of 12.5 MPH. I have the details about PRT in Heathrow and Dubai 
on the <http://www.roadkillbill.com/PRT-NEWS.html>PRT Skeptic Web site.



Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
lloydletta at gmail.com

Lloydletta's Nooz
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
Dump Michele Bachmann
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary 
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759,
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1381.html