[Mpls] 8th ward - Marie Hauser

[Svattheriver at aol.com]

My Park District has three precincts in the 8th Ward so I have  attended the 
caucuses, debates, and watched the council process with  interest. I care what 
happens in our parks and our city. 

I lost to Marie Hauser in the 2001 District 3 Park Board  election, so any 
comments I make should be seen through that lens.
I am sure that others could observe the same things that I see and might  
come to different conclusions, but I don't think Marie Hauser's work on the Park  
Board has been all that stellar.
 
I will give much credit to how hard Marie Hauser campaigns and  the amount of 
door knocking she does. But now that she is Commissioner she  doesn't seem 
that interested in the job. She doesn't seem well prepared and is  the first to 
limit debate at Park Board meetings.
 
Since the last park Board election there has been a majority  of 5 that is 
inclined to run roughshod over citizen participation, transparency,  and 
accountability. Marie Hauser has been in that group.

 
What initiatives has she championed? What can she point to in more than 3  
and a half years that gives an indication of leadership? She is a follower  of a 
majority that has been allergic to citizen inclusion with a focus on adding  
commercial developments on park land.
Marie Hauser's union connections have served her well and have financed her  
campaigns, but under her watch there is a whole new layer of expensive  
supervisors and less union jobs at the front line. The Majority has made a  
commitment to outsourcing with "value added" commercial developments on park  land. 
 
She is chair of administration and finance-
on her watch The MPRB has failed to make its annual budget available  to the 
public and then issued a budget that listed almost nothing but personnel  
expense. The current budget process is a terrible way do public policy and has  no 
connection to a strategic plan. Ideally in a budget process you look at  what 
you want to do and define your core missions, you then design your system  
and structure to fit that and then fund and fundraise to accomplish those  goals.
 
It is this vision that is lacking. I was in the audience when the board  
hired now Superintendent Gurban. Commissioner Hauser gave a speech about  how 
vision needs to come from the superintendent not the board. I totally  disagree- 
it is the board's responsibility to define the vision and set a long  term plan 
(which they haven't done, unless you count seeking added value  investments 
on park land as the primary mission of the park board)
 
 
 I don't think Commissioners should be standing on the  sideline waiting for 
staff to come up with ideas. This misconception about  the responsibility and 
authority of the elected board is a real problem for me  because it not only 
indicates a lack of vision of a city council candidate, but  it also explains a 
number of problems with the staff deciding policy instead of  the board. The 
ban on campaigning in the parks and the ignoring of legal  requirements of 
citizen participation are clear examples of a policy board not  doing its job.
 
If the Park Board is a stepping stone to higher office, we should look at  
the footprint.
 
Thanks,
Scott Vreeland       Seward
candidate Park Board District #  3