Budget
This week the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will celebrate Sunshine Week* (www.sunshineweek.org) by retreating from transparency and public oversight. In a move that boggles the mind, the Park Board, after its regular meeting this Wednesday, will hold a Committee of the Whole meeting off-camera.
By Chris Steller, special to the Daily Mole
“Change” may be the watchword for U.S. presidential candidates, but it’s also in the air at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, where this month commissioners reorganized themselves under a new president, electing first-termer Tom Nordyke [pictured] to lead the city’s independent park board and raising hopes for a sharp turn toward good government and fiscal responsibility.
By Dale Hulme, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder via the Twin Cities Daily Planet:
What’s the Park Board thinking when we already have too many idle youth?
Parks Notebook
BY MARY O’REGAN Superintendent’s budget recommendations approved
From the December 17th issue of the Southwest Journal
The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) Administration and Finance Committee has approved Superintendent Jon Gurban’s 2008 budget recommendations amid public outcry over increased fees and ice skating rink closures.
Reporter Steve Brandt writes, in a Dec. 13 article on the Star Tribune website, in part:
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board agreed Wednesday to increase fees and cut some services...
Subtitled: "The proposed budget includes raising or instituting fees for park services and the elimination of some ice skating rinks."
KSTP Channel 5 is also reporting on the Park Board's proposed fee increases. Their website article opens with the following:
Pinch Flat News is reporting the following item on their website:
Some disturbing info just in from Gentle Stove:
"The Mpls Park & Rec approved their 2008 budget last night, which included an addition of a yearly fee for anyone who rides off-road at Theo Wirth.
Reporter Steve Brandt writes:
Some of Minneapolis' showpiece charity events will pay lots more to play in the city's cash-strapped park system if a proposed budget goes through.
Commissioners Walt Dziedzic, Bob Fine, Carol Kummer, Mary Merrill Anderson, Tracy Nordstrom, Tom Nordyke, Scott Vreeland, Annie Young and President Olson.
Date: 12/12/2007 Time: 5:05 p.m. Type: Special Location: City Council Chambers Address: City Hall
The Superintendent of the Minneapolis Park Board has proposed increasing 2008 fees for Major Permit Events - some by as many as 400%, which will ultimately hurt the work of local nonprofit organizations who use Minneapolis Parks for their special events, such as the Pride Festival.
