About That House
The house that the Park Board built for Theodore Wirth in 1911 and occupied by subsequent Park Superintendents was vacated when Superintendent David Fisher moved out in 1996. The Wirth house was the last remaining Park Superintendent's residence in the upper midwest.
In Decmeber, 1996, the Park Board negotiated a most unusual deal with the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association (MRPA), headed by executive director Jon Gurban. The MRPA was excited about occupying the Wirth house, according to Gurban. "Minneapolis is probably the most famous urban park and recreation system in North America," he said to a Southwest Journal reporter. "It's important that that history continues to exist."
Gurban said the MRPA would use the house's main floor for a historical display open to the public. The house is not open to the public today, and in fact, the MRPA has done everything it can to keep the public out it seems. Gurban himself has rudely thrown the public out and locked the door, half an hour before the end of contracted public open house -- a contract Gurban signed himself.
Prior to signing the lease, the Park Board said the MRPA would pay for renovations. Instead, the MRPA contributed a piddling $5,000 to a renovation that cost the tax-paying public over $200,000. Then to add insult to injury, the Park Board leased the 5,000 square foot mansion in the East Harriet neighborhood to the MRPA for a measly $750 a month, and the Park Board picks up the cost of the utilities.
"We'd be good shepherds," stated Gurban.
With shepherds like Gurban and the MRPA, we might was well let the wolves have the entire flock.