The Minneapolis Story — Columns 2012 Quarter 2

The Experience of Ron Edwards

A Renaissance Black Man in a White Man's World

A Beacon for Freedom in the City

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Quarter 2: April thru June ~ Columns #14 - #26

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June 27, 2012 Column #26: A Sports Authority chair who understands the Black struggle
Kelm-Helgen’s family civil rights history is a rich one

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

June 27, 2012
"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues" A weekly column by Ron Edwards Featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

There are names and families that remain strong in the pantheon of the civil rights struggle for freedom and liberty for all in Minnesota, including such names as Newman, Johnson, Humphrey and Childress.

Governor Dayton’s June 15, 2012 announcement of his three Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority members reminds us of another name and family of Minnesota Civil Rights Pantheon, that of Elmer Kelm. The governor has appointed Elmer Kelm’s granddaughter, Michele Kelm-Helgen as Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chair (Star Tribune, “New stadium head has deep political roots,” June 16, 2012).

Michele Kelm-Helgen’s grandfather, Elmer Kelm, managed Hubert Humphrey’s first successful mayoral campaign, was chairman of the Democratic Party when it merged with the Farmer Labor Party in 1944, had a very long relationship with both Cecil Newman, the founder and publisher of this newspaper, and with Nellie Stone Johnson, one of the great political leaders in the history of this state.

Elmer Kelm and Nellie Stone Johnson, with Hubert H. Humphrey’s blessing, were two of the signatories of the Farmer Labor Party/Democratic merger in 1944.

Along with encouragement from Minnesota millionaire and longtime political activist Charles Horn, this group of Minnesotans became quite an item for the fight for civil rights in Minnesota. This group of African Americans and Tom Kelm and Charles Horn helped groom a bright new political star by the name of Wendell Anderson.

They became a powerful trio helping Anderson to become governor of the State of Minnesota, and later U.S. Senator, and were all active in the fight for full inclusion of African Americans within the Minnesota political arena, championing a place at the table for all groups fighting for full participation and opportunity to enjoy the wealth and finances of a progressive and liberal Minnesota.

I still remember another tremendous effort of this hard-hitting and committed group, involved and on task to elect the late Elmer Childress to the office of Minnesota Secretary of State.

Kelm, Johnson, Humphrey, Newman, Anderson, Childress and now Kelm-Helgen: great civil rights pedigrees. Through the veins of these individuals flows the understanding of the importance of inclusion of all. With the power that has been invested in Sports Facility Authority Chair Kelm Helgen, and given the rich history of involvement of her family, we find a person who has deep political roots and vision for full participation and opportunity for all, irrespective of race, creed, color, or national origin.

Michele Kelm-Helgen has seen and been a part of the great struggles to achieve inclusion and full participation in the economic vitality of Minnesota. She will now oversee its exercise with the construction of the largest pubic works project in the history of the state of Minnesota. That is why it is so important that leaders within the African American community bring forth their plan and recommendations for the authority to consider.

The City of Minneapolis is late in submitting drafts of a Master Agreement, including a Stadium Equity Plan (preliminary plans are to be presented to council and appropriate committees no later than June 29, 2012). The least that can be done from our African American community is for a comprehensive plan of expectations and participation, particularly from the organizations named in the stadium legislation, the Urban League and Sabathani.

The provisions of the Stadium Bill called these organizations and leadership to arms. All others who claim to speak for the African American community should submit their recommendations as well. With Kelm-Helgen, we know they will all be well considered by the Sports Authority.

As a Minnesotan with historic ties providing a unique understanding of and commitment to the struggle of the communities of color, especially the African American, as seen in Kelm-Helgen’s longtime conferring with the great civil rights activist, Josie Johnson, we strongly feel that the discussions they had over the last year rekindled the recollection of those historical moments that started 75 years ago and continue to this day, as she continues the legacy of the great Minnesota civil rights names: Kelm, Johnson, Humphrey, Newman, Childress.

She will understand the columns we have written about the Disparity Compliance Studies and the task ahead (Solutionpaper #46, DisparityCompliance.html) and how its fits into the overall struggle of liberty encoded in the history of this country’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
We wish Michele Kelm-Helgen success as she faces one of the greatest challenges in the history of Minnesota and its legacy of civil and human rights.

Stay tuned.

Columns are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Also ear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development and his “web log,” in the archives.

Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2012 ,5:06 a.m

Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm; and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).

June 20, 2012 Column #25: Segregation again: Black educators are being purged

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Richard Green was the first Black superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools who later became Chancellor of the New York City Schools. He was an educator’s educator. He earned respect and affection of all involved with education, educators, students and parents. He was honored when Central High School was renamed Richard Green School.

Green was a native son, born and raised here. The failure of subsequent superintendents to live up to the standard he set has caused serious consequences for our schools and, thus, for Black teachers and Black students.

A high-school education is the first key to success in our society, as it leads to the second key, a job. Richard Green would be saddened, were he still alive, to witness the controversy and education reversals surrounding his namesake school. This controversy was exposed at the Minneapolis School Board meeting June 12, when a delegation of African Americans appeared before the Board of Education to protest new segregation and continued purging of African American educators from the Minneapolis Public Schools.

The controversy? The district is not only violating its own policies on teacher tenure, but it has also created an atmosphere of disregard for the African American community itself. The unkindest cuts? Those by Blacks of Blacks.

The demonstration caught the MPS Board by surprise. I was not surprised, based on the events between May 24 and May 27 involving Superintendent Johnson’s administration. Even the head of the teachers’ union was shocked by the cover-up and the possibility of being charged with complicity by representatives of the teacher’s union for violating conditions addressing tenure and job security for qualified African American educators.

The very respected president of the Minnesota Black Educators Alliance was present and spoke directly to the board and to the superintendent, expressing concern and disappointment with this far-reaching practice to reduce the number of Black educators in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

For example, on April 9, 2012, the Latina principal at Richard Green School indicated to a top-rated Black teacher that she had no intention to sign off on her tenure despite her great ratings, credentials (including a master’s degree), the educational development of her students and appreciation of their parents.

Why was the board only now stunned by the evidence that principals had been orchestrating these kinds of decisions against African American teachers? How the district deals with this as well will have serious legal implications for future relationships between the board, the superintendent, and the educators and their union, as well as all parties within the African American community.

It is no coincidence that in the last two weeks, 21 teachers have requested to be transferred out of Richard Green School, 21 excellent educators concerned with the education of African American children.

This situation, under any circumstance, is unacceptable. We are watching a reversal of history, the re-segregation of schools, and the purging of Black educators that taught in them. Only this time, the purging and re-segregating is being done by Blacks, not just by Whites.

If this continues it will be a sign that we are truly returning to the period before Brown vs. Board of Education, and if this occurs, God help the children. As Nellie Stone Johnson always said, no education, then no jobs, then no housing.

At stake is not just the future of public education in Minneapolis and, by extension, Minnesota. At stake is the principle of a seat at the table for everyone, as that is the first step to turning around the economy of the entire state. And as Minneapolis goes, so goes the state.

BULLETIN

On Monday, June 11, the brother of Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan was arrested after an altercation involving an individual who is the friend of Chief Dolan’s brother’s ex-wife. Police reports indicate that a knife was involved, but that the appropriate report of the incident cannot be found.

Nor has the Star Tribune, as of this writing, reported it, as it again has chosen not to report events immediately that could negatively impact the prominent and elite of our city, putting tremendous pressure on a female acting sergeant of the MPD called to supervise the June 11 alternation. I’m told it was not a pretty picture as police struggled to keep it under control.
Acts like this hurt the credibility of the police and the City.

Stay tuned.

June 13, 2012 Column #24: Requirement that stadium builders ""make every effort" to hire minorities is a cruel joke.

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

On the road to creating the Minnesota Sports Authority, the entity that will control and manage the construction of the Vikings stadium, the Minnesota legislature caused a second violation of the Minneapolis City Charter.

The first charter violation, this one by the mayor and city council, was not holding a required referendum on stadium costs of over $10 million to the City.

The second violation, this one by the state legislature and unopposed by the City, decrees sole authority to the mayor to appoint the city’s two Minnesota Sports Authority members.

The charter purposefully states that Minneapolis city government is to follow a strong council/weak mayor model, a perceived strength and cornerstone of Minneapolis democracy that reduces the chance for one-person boss rule.

The State, recognizing that the City already violated its charter, knew the mayor and a simple council majority would not protest this second violation (which raises the specter of a potential lawsuit that would further delay construction). Under the stadium bill, 473J.07: “The Mayor of the City shall appoint two members to the authority,” with the city council having no role, as seen in the clear and precise language under 473J.09: “Powers and Duties of the Authority.”

I raised this question with four council members, two who voted for and two who voted against the City’s stadium bill. Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, Democrat, 8th Ward, confirmed that the mayor had sought neither consultation nor recommendations from the six members who opposed the Vikings stadium package. I wait to learn about the winning seven.

These alarming and dangerous city charter violation precedents are made more alarming by major media ignoring these violations through a plague of silence, especially the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as major media have so far declined to touch on the significance of these charter violations.

Why don’t the mayor and the seven pro-stadium council members mind that the Minneapolis municipality will now be run by the Sports Authority, which will now assume the powers of “a municipality within a municipality,” as spelled out in other provisions of the legislation? As we used to say about the good ‘ol boys down home, and now about the legislature and the mayor-plus-seven, “They went hog wild.”

In terms of municipal activities, the legislation crafts the creation of a Stadium Implementation Committee that dictates the City’s timeline: “The City Council shall not impose any unreasonable conditions on the recommendations of the Implementation Committee.” This is clearly a reflection of the new reality: the great reduction of authority and power of the mayor and city council.

The legislature went to great lengths to redefine the City’s role as more an advisor than a government. Its role in the decisions and process of the construction and operations of the Vikings stadium and its surrounding development and infrastructure is now toothless.

I point out these particular legislative features in order to expose the false declarations that there will be participation/inclusion of the African American community. There is no mandate that will require or position the involvement of the African American community in any aspect of the construction and maintenance and operation of the Vikings stadium.

The Minneapolis Civil Rights Department, upon the appointment of the five-member committee of the Sports Authority, will enter into negotiations to monitor that the authority is in compliance with minority hiring employment requirements, but only as a guest advisor of the authority, as set out in 473J.12, where the language states: “The authority shall make every effortto employ and cause the NFL team, the Construction Manager, and other subcontractors vendors, and concessionaires, to employ women and members of the minority community when hiring” (emphasis added). Take “make every effort” to your nearest attorney, and learn it is advisory, not mandatory. If there are none available in Minneapolis, none from Minneapolis will be hired.

Here is the cruel joke: Minnesota labor leaders, Black and White, have let both Black and White laborers down. Arguing over the number of workers from Minneapolis or from Minnesota outside Minneapolis is arguing over ghosts, as the State and City don’t have the number of “stadium skill” workers required.

Lacking these stadium-related specialty skills, expect more than half of the workers to come from out of state. You’ll be able to tell from the license plates on their cars and trucks at work sites. Instead, how about labor training leaders, Black and White, join together now so Minnesotans can be ready to work on the stadium?

Stay tuned.

June 06, 2012 Column #23: Stenglein takes on task of making downtown safe for all

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Will "The Four" governing bodies coordinate Minneapolis prosperity or uncooperate to Minneapolis decline?
The Four:
(1) The new Minnesota Sports Authority (the "municipality within a municipality");
(2) The Minneapolis Downtown Business Council;
(3) The City Council and City departments (especially the Department of Civil Rights); and
(4) The Vikings (top developers who are putting up half the stadium money).

A May 30 Star Tribune article, Stenglein builds on strengthsannounced Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein becoming CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. (“…some 300 downtown businesses and large regional companies,” “movers and shakers,” with “a new plan for a vibrant and livable 24/7 downtown that can house double the 34,000 people who now live there.” It “will help forge public-private partnerships at a time of limited government funding”).

Stenglein “has the reputation of seeing the importance of investing in the Black communities’ economic growth,” as seen in “his African-American Men Project, an effort to rethink county policy to get more young black men employed and out of trouble.”

Unfortunately, the documentation/statistics/lack of jobs shows good intentions were not met, as the African American community gained little financial stimulus. Recall the statement of former Minneapolis Civil Rights Department Director Michael Jordan, about five years ago, that Minneapolis can meet its diversity hiring goals without hiring a single Black person.

Reaction? None. Government and corporate Minneapolis silently endorsed a doctrine of intentional neglect of economic uplift for the African American community.

What now? There are four actors who will determine Minneapolis’ prosperity or decline: (1) the new Minnesota Sports Authority (the "municipality within a municipality"); (2) the Minneapolis Downtown Business Council; (3) the city council and City departments (especially the Department of Civil Rights); and (4) the Vikings (top developers who are putting up half the stadium money).

These four will choose between community common purpose of inclusion and prosperity or community exclusion and continued decline. The future’s focal point: the new Vikings Stadium.

We congratulate the Wilf ownership group for exercising extreme patience rather than be intimidated to bolt to Los Angeles by those I listed in my 2003 and 2005 Roll Calls, who, since 1997, have advocated for the Vikings to leave.

We are heartened by reports that our Roll Call, our Chapter 15 on the Vikings in our 2002 book, and our columns and solution papers on the Vikings since, have helped influence fence-sitters in both legislature and city council to vote for the stadium deal.

So what’s next? The Stenglein piece notes “the nagging perception — true or not — that downtown, especially the Warehouse District, isn't entirely safe.” The big task, Stenglein said, will be "integrating residents into downtown."

Over the Memorial Day weekend, a state of near emergency existed downtown. Groups fought. People were shot, stabbed and beaten. Police were almost overrun. White media didn’t tell you. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Police reports confirm what happened.

Question #1: Will Minneapolis repeat its 1960s civil uprisings that briefly caught the attention of Big Corporate in Minneapolis until they developed a plan to compromise and eliminate aggressive Black leadership so they could get back to their exclusion business as usual?

Question #2: Where did all of the financing go for training programs that were “going to get more Black men employed and out of trouble”?

Question #3: Where are the skilled workers these programs were supposed to produce?

Question #4: Why was there so little Black participation on the Twins and Gophers stadiums?

Question #5: Do Great White Dreamers realize that not allowing for Black dreams as well results in nightmares for both?

Question #6: When will silent Minneapolis media stop contributing to our decline by ending their cover-ups and propagandizing?

Question #7: Will the “Big 4” heed the diversity/inclusion vision of former Urban League and NAACP leader Nellie Stone Johnson: equal access and equal opportunity in education, jobs and housing for all, Blacks and Whites?

Since 2002, in my books, columns and papers, I’ve asked, “Where’s the Plan?” No plan equals no hiring equals more hopelessness among young Blacks. The October 2010 “Diversity Report” stated 2.54 percent availability of and .15 utilization of Black Americans. This is an indictment of the City and of training programs of OIC, the Urban League and others.

Diversity/inclusion is possible. I call on the “Big 4” to adopt the prosperity diversity/inclusion model of the Metrodome from 35 years ago. I worked with the head of the Metrodome construction project. He discovered that Minneapolis had a shortage of White skilled workers as well, so he arranged for skilled workers, White and Black, to be brought to Minnesota from around the country in order to complete the Metrodome project, meeting compliance requirements in doing so.

We wish you the best, Mark. We look forward to seeing how you “Big 4” get it turned around.

Stay tuned.

Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Also ear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development and his “web log,” in the archives.

Posted Wednesday, June 6, 2012 , 12:08 a.m

May 30, 2012 Column #22: Tensions within the MPD revealed in the case of Lt. Michael Keefe.

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Pull Quote: It appears a number of law enforcement officers previously assigned to VOTF are attempting to head off federal prosecution, and to specifically head off having their questionable conduct revealed during the course of the trial involving Lt. Michael Keefe.

For months tensions within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) have been building over internal issues due to actions of the VOTF unit (Violent Offenders Task Force) over the past six years.

This column first sounded the alert about VOTF and the conspiracy within the MPD to destroy Black officers and their Black Police Officers Association in 2007. I have written over 60 columns detailing the culture of the MPD since 2007, and over 100 since 2003, including my reporting on the implosion of the VOTF (once the pride of the department), columns detailing the internal corruption and the lawsuits against the department by Black police officers (see my July 14, 2008, Paper #31, updated May 2012, on "....Discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department").

In December 2007, five African American officers — Arrodondo, Harris, Edwards, Adams, and Hamilton — filed suit in Federal District Court of Minnesota. In May 2009, the City settled for $750,000 for those five officers. Michael Keefe, a White lieutenant and one of the most respected police officers in law enforcement in the State of Minnesota, who broke the case wide open in early 2007, will shortly finally get his day in court.

It was Lt. Keefe who had been appointed commander of VOTF, after a distinguished career in the Homicide Unit, who called attention to the very questionable conduct of VOTF officers and of the conspiracy to end the careers of a number of Black officers, which then led to their attempt to end the career of Lt. Michael Keefe as well, in what has become the longest discovery process of a pending case in the Federal District Court of Minnesota.

Depositions taken have increased tension within the MPD. One of the examples of that tension took place over two weeks ago, at a going-away ceremony for the outgoing inspector of the First Precinct, who had been promoted to Deputy Chief of Patrol. Sgt. Pat King, one of the alleged ringleaders in VOTF’s undermining of African American officers and Lt. Michael Keefe, made an attempt to approach Lt. Keefe, who was an attendee at this ceremony.

Unbeknownst to Sgt. King, it now appears that a surveillance operation was being carried out at the ceremony, which may have included electronic intercepts and the wearing of a wire. It appears that someone within the federal system, with access to a website known as Pacer.com, has been delivering a blow-by-blow description of many activities, courtroom drama, Federal surveillance of law enforcement officers, and the discussion of statements given by former VOTF members.

It appears a number of law enforcement officers previously assigned to VOTF are attempting to head off federal prosecution, and to specifically head off having their questionable conduct revealed during the course of the trial involving Lt. Michael Keefe (who, as a result of his reporting, was demoted to sergeant), who is suing the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Those providing information to Pacer.com obviously have deep knowledge of surveillance results going back at least to 2005 if not earlier, making for juicy listening, particularly when, according to reliable sources, it provides evidence of the conspiracy developed against African American officers in the department and the African American community in general.

This reflects a department out of control, a city administration giving aid and comfort to these actions, many of them illegal according, again, to the information being posted on Pacer.com. This situation has the Star Tribune shuddering, as they await a federal judge’s decision on whether or not to compel their reporter or reporters to reveal their sources of information that led to the destruction of the Black Police Officers Association and to the capping of then Lt. Michael Keefe’s career.

Federal sources indicate a decision may be forthcoming within the next 15 days, if not earlier. I am not surprised. In 2007, I filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of the Black officers and on behalf of Lt. Michael Keefe, complaints relevant to the violations of their civil rights by the VOTF, whose officers sabotaged them with malice aforethought.

The public has a right to know, especially the Black public, that this dark hallway of racial animus and corruption is still in existence. The public should insist on transparency and full disclosure regarding this dark episode that has seriously jeopardized future fairness regarding African American recruitment, hiring, and promotion within the MPD.

Stay tuned.

Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives on this www.TheMinneapolisStory.com site.

Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2012 , 5:44 a.m

May 23, 2012 Column #21: We see a stadium bill — but where’s the inclusion plan?

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

We Await the Diversity Plan from the Civil Rights Department For the Vikings Stadium, Planning, Development, Construction.

We saw several things as Minneapolis prepared to pay its $150 million over 30 years for the Vikings Stadium”

• We saw the $150 million figure climb to potentially $1.170 billion.
• We saw the Governor’s and Mayor’s People’s Stadium become a private stadium.
• We saw both Black and White leaders organization turn their backs on diversity (the inclusion of African American contractors and workers in stadium planning, contracting, and construction).
• The stadium bill (No. 2958, 2nd (and Final) Engrossment - 87th Legislative Session (2011-2012)), discusses “minorities” but doesn’t include “African American.”

Minneapolis tax payers could be out $1.170 billion over the next 30 years. Here’s how:

• $338 million: when capital and operations over 30 years are added to the original $150 million (Star Tribune, Minneapolis' slice of stadium funding could jump, May 1, 2012).
• $675 million: when interest costs for 30 years are added (Council Member Gary Schiff, KSTP, May 13, 2012). [Update, 5-23-12, Star Tribune, Gary Schiff: Send Vikings bill back to Legislature: "The minimum cumulative cost to Minneapolis sales taxpayers will be $675 million, while another clause in the deal allows the subsidy to swell to $890 million. Minneapolis is being given a white elephant -- with horns.”
• $890 million: Star Tribune analysis (Minneapolis' slice of stadium funding could jump, May 1, 2012).
• $1 Billion, 170 million: when our estimated $280 billion, The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes, p. 132, cost over run is added, based on the July 2000 issue of the Journal of The American Planning Association on cost overruns: 28% the average cost over run for the 20th century (1910-1998, with transportation 45% over in costs). The bill says the Vikings pay cost overruns (a license to steal). Hard to believe. What is really going on here?

I again ask: where is the diversity hiring plan outlining how the city and state will ensure rules, statutes and laws on the books are upheld regarding diversity compliance, specifying “African Americans” under the term “minorities”, not just the Vikings stadium bill language to “make every effort.”

We have not forgotten the hard fought battle by the African American community in 1967, that catalyzed the creation of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department and Commission. The African American community’s high expectations to be included in the planning and construction of the stadium have not been met. So we again ask the question of Velma Korvel (Director, Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights) and Kevin Lindsay (Commissioner of Minnesota on Human Rights Department): where is the plan.

We have heard the Vikings and Governor say the new stadium will guarantee the economic rejuvenation of downtown Minneapolis, with capital improvement and significant investment in all communities, irrespective of race, creed or color. The city’s record, in full view last fall: non-compliance. I see “try” words but no “will do” words, nor words of accountability nor words of sanctions for not being in compliance.

My uneasy feeling is because, as of this writing, there is no plan for the full and meaningful inclusion of the African American community, of commitment and the opportunity for diversity that includes race, not just the group catch-all of “minorities”.

The only way to ensure compliance is to have the City Council not vote on the city’s financial obligations for the construction of the new stadium until the full costs picture and a diversity plan have been distributed. A diversity plan should be voted on by the Minneapolis City Council, sending a signal to state and team of the city’s tenacious commitment to diversity, a commitment demonstrating Minneapolis knows how to be fair and right. It is time to open, not close doors of opportunity. Once the bill is approved, Minneapolis will be run more by the 5 man authority than the City Council (the power of a municipality within a municipality).

The time to put together an inclusion plan for this largest public works project in the history of the state of Minnesota is now. Exclusion would be tantamount to approving the shredding of civil and human rights, and once again not living up to the goals and expectations of inclusion, just publish pretty words with no action, such as the Star Tribune’s three week series on race, June 10 – 24, 1990.

Recommendation: that Civil Rights Director Korvel and Commissioner Lindsay be requested to make a joint presentation to Minneapolis City Council, in open session, before any vote on supporting the Vikings construction Bill takes place. It is the right thing to do. It is the honorable thing to do. It is the type of commitment that Hubert and Cecil and Nellie would expect.

This is a significant, historical occasion for opportunity and commitment. It will have a lot to say about the peaceful future of race relations in this city and in the state of Minnesota.

Stay tuned.

Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2012 , 11:39 a.m.

Columns referenced above are archived here.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives on this site.

May 16, 2012 Column #20: Our Vikings appear to be saved. But did legislators still leave the exit door to L.A. open?

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Because of our decade of columns and solution papers on saving the Vikings, especially in the last two years, I have received calls saying my column was instrumental in helping change anti-stadium votes to pro-stadium. Who can say?

We are pleased the House and Senate bills for the new stadium are in conference, soon to be sent to the governor to sign into law. But it is not over yet.

Credit the Wilfs for doing the real heavy lifting, honorably resisting efforts to kick the Vikings to L.A. (efforts begun in 1997, two ownership groups before them).

Still missing is a commitment to diversity (African American inclusion) in the stadium work: planning, constructing, and operating (see our solution paper on line, Diversity and Compliance Studies, detailing our columns on how Minneapolis purposefully practices disparity and avoids compliance).

Four conclusions from this stadium process so far:
1. It may still not go through.

2. After squandering 17 years available for getting it done, the deal was purposefully done in secrecy with purposeful moves to ensure closed meetings.

3. Minnesota acted in bad faith and dishonorably, trying to get the Vikings to swallow poison pills that could have caused them to move. Will official Minnesota again dishonor its word and attempt pushing Vikings’ costs even higher?

4. State, county and city officials fragrantly omitted the inclusion of minority (African American) contractors and laborers. Construction and other relevant unions fought hard for their White Brothers but not their Black Brothers. Local Black organizations fought for training dollars but have done nothing to ensure “graduates” work on the stadium.

We urge the Vikings to insist on inclusion (African Americans) if our elite “leaders,” White and Black, again refuse to do so. We urge the Vikings to stand up for its minority-worker fan base too.

We encourage compliance with the law regarding the inclusion of minority contractors and workers, especially African Americans, insisting on training to the level where they actually qualify. Or we urge a plan to import qualified minority contractors and workers if local training efforts fail.

To get a deal and be able to stay, the Vikings have reluctantly agreed to:

1. Pay $50 million more than the original agreed upon amount. (Hopefully they’ll get assistance from the NFL.)

2. Accept some user fees on fans and on game day that will cut into the Vikings’ revenue streams.

Potential deal breakers taken off the table:

1. Not letting the Vikings have the naming rights revenue.

2. Not letting the Vikings have right of first refusal for a soccer team that would play in the new stadium.

3. More stringent user fees on fans and Vikings.

But still out there, with no word on reversing them at the time of this writing, are attempts to get the Vikings to pay more so the State can pay less, and tying tax riders to the bill:

1. Requiring the Vikings to pay a percentage of their NFL shared revenue, the most sacred part of the NFL structure in order to keep teams competitive and profitable through revenue and draft parity.

2. Requiring that the Vikings have to pay all stadium construction cost overruns, which is a license to steal. As we reported in our 2002 book, “the July 2000 issue of the Journal of The American Planning Association reported a study that showed cost overruns have been the norm of the 20th century (1910-1998), …28% [average over run] with transportation 45% over in costs…. Developers and city planners both want opportunities to make significant extra money by doing this with selected developers and community leaders who can keep the neighborhoods docile.” That 28% of $1 billion is $280 million more that the Vikings would have to pay.

[Editor’s note: KSTP reported May 13, 2012, that Council Member Gary Schiff has projected the total cost to Minneapolis to be $675 million. On May 1, The Start Tribune reported that if tax revenue is strong, the City's amount will be $890 million. What is still unclear, as of the date of this posting, is who will pay the projected $280 million in cost overruns.]

3. Establishing a slow process that would have the Vikings wait until 2015 or later to operate in a new stadium.

4. Expansion of charitable gambling to help pay the state's share.

5. Making Internet retailers such as Amazon collect state taxes when Minnesota customers buy online.

6. Linkage to tax breaks for the Mall of America.

7. Annual payments of $2.7 million to City of St. Paul for sports facilities.

If there are no candy and flowers during courtship, what can be expected after being locked in for 20-30 years?

Stay tuned.

Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012 , 3:08 a.m.

Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

May 09, 2012 Column #19: Change at the top in the MPD. Dolan era ends; mayor nominates new chief

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

May Day this year was highlighted by the announcement of the changing of the guard within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and, thus, the end of the Dolan era. Mayor R.T. Rybak announced that Assistant Chief Jane Harteau will become the new MPD chief, replacing Chief Tim Dolan, just as Dolan earlier replaced Chief William McManus in 2006.

Dolan, who had over 30 years with the MPD and 35 years in law enforcement altogether, in turn announced that he would take an early departure at the end of the year, which we were the first to report two months ago.

On the surface, it looks like a major change — White male Dolan replaced by Minneapolis’ first female and first Native American chief. Will this new test of leadership bring change or a continuation of the Rybak-Dolan era?

Dolan and Rybak worked in tandem. William McManus, who now serves as chief of the San Antonio Police Department, moved on because he did not enjoy the full trust and support of Rybak. What will the new Chief Harteau do?

The key is not her gender or ethnicity, but how she will deal with statistics in key categories of crime. The City says crime rates are significantly reduced, but we don’t see that in our neighborhoods and on our streets.

We know that incidents that create the numbers and statistics can get “lost,” and we saw with the job hiring compliance numbers that they can also be made up. Know the “secret”: Each morning, Monday through Friday, in the actual Hennepin County courtrooms, we see how the actual number of people coming through the door and appearing before the judges is not consistent with the statistics, be it about plea bargains or trials.

Are Minneapolis streets safer now than five or even 10 years ago? The rate of incarceration coming out of Minneapolis — and we are only talking about Minneapolis, not about all of Hennepin County — raises a serious question of the category of crimes being reduced. Let’s look at some examples.

Example: drugs. There are more drugs on the street in Minneapolis and in communities of color than at any time in the last decade. This negatively impacts education and jobs. All types of drugs continue to flow through our communities, seemingly with immunity.

As we reported in this column five months ago, it is puzzling that Minneapolis may be the only city in the top 50, by population, that does not have a narcotics unit. That is a troubling statistic.

Example: assaults. Although down statistically, the number actually processed through Hennepin County’s Court system for assaults and crimes against persons does not match published statistics. Thus, those who live in the neighborhoods with the highest crime rates, who tell of nightly shootings, violence, ongoing assaults and other criminal activity, do not agree.

Example: censorship. Major print and broadcast media attempt to condition us to believe things are getting better. How will new Chief Renee Harteau prioritize her agenda for fighting crime and making the city safer?

Example: diversity. Citizens conditioned to believe the announced statistics miss that diversity compliance is “demonstrated” with made-up numbers. I have no recollection of the incoming chief showing any strong interest or commitment to improve racial diversity in the department.

In fact, some say Harteau is somewhat soft on the importance of diversity and enhancing the presence of officers of color, and thus she does not work to increase the number of Native American and Black police officers. The statistics do not indicate a vigorous commitment to diversity under either the outgoing or the incoming chief, neither of whom have significantly sought to increase diversity in the ranks.

One thing she will not have to worry about is pressure from Blacks on this issue. They have apparently received their marching orders from the Rybak administration, and thus have orders that say, “Stand down and stay silent.”

We look forward to learning more about what the new incoming Chief Harteau has to say and what her thoughts are on the unprecedented police misconduct against a Black fraternal organization on April 21, 2012. Of course, I have to ask the question if anyone in City government is concerned about what happened inside that fraternal organization’s building.

Jane, we wish you all the best; only history will judge your successes and/or failures.

Stay tuned.

Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

Posted Thursday, May 10, 2012 , 3:35 a.m.

May 02, 2012 Column #18: Assault by the MPD on the Ames Elks, A 150 year old Black Fraternal Organization brutalized by police raid.

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Elks lodge web sites state they are “places where neighbors come together, families share meals, and children grow up.”

So why, at a time when the issue of excessive force discussions are going on nation wide in the aftermath of the February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin killing, would 50 police cars and 60 police officers of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) descend on the Ames Elks Lodge of Minneapolis, at 11:40 p.m., CDT, on April 21, 2012, without first checking to see if the 911 calls that shots were being fired and people were endangered was true or false. It was false. Didn’t matter.

And why did the police of Chief Dolan knock people down as they attempted to clear the building, and then, on the second floor, have the dozen or so they found, male and female African Americans over 50, get on the floor and then kick, prod and poke them?

The lesson we learn is that the racial tensions experienced during the five years I served on the PCRC (Police Community Relations Council) meetings, have continued unabated. No wonder downtown streets are “dead” at night and people wonder where will the customers come from for a rejuvenated Block E and other development to surround a Vikings stadium.

People paying attention suggest it was in response to the three Caucasian males shot and killed in North Minneapolis in the last ten months, that the police want to teach our Black community a proper lesson. The most recent White tragedy was a 21-year-old Caucasian male shot and killed along the 3500 block of Fremont Avenue North.

So the old lessons prevail: white lives are sacred. And privileged. Blacks’ are not. But it still makes a difference to us how many black citizens are victims of violence in the City of Minneapolis.

The actions and deeds of the City, Big Corporate, and White Folks in General, suggest they really don’t care. The false 911 call just before midnight of a shooting and gunfire inside the Ames Lodge must have caused the adrenalin to really flow. Despite no guns or shootings, WCCO and other White media reported gunshots and injuries.

Just think: 50 squad cars, 60 officers (although there has been no such police response when Blacks were killed).

What most caught our attention, including Elks officials and security personnel, was the level of racial venom, racial animus and racial slurs directed towards both the male and female Blacks on the floor by both white male and female cops standing over them, even after the single suspect in the incident was taken into custody. There were no Black officers among this contingent of Officers kicking, prodding, and poking us, despite the department’s claims to have diversity.

They were not kicking gang bangers. They didn’t recognize me. They were “just” kicking and abusing and raining down verbal and physical assaults on African Americans over 50,

Question: would white members over 50 of a white fraternal organizations, such as the Shriners, white Elks, Knights of Columbus be subject to such abuse?

Answer: I don’t think so. And neither do you. This case is a case that is racially driven, racially motivated, reflecting disturbing pattern of racial animus and hatred against African Americans still residing inside too many of Chief Tim Dolan’s 1,000 member MPD. Not everyone. But even one is too many, especially if he or she is beating, prodding and poking older African Americans on the floor. They are “to protect and serve” all.

They don’t want us to remember that this police department was under federal review by the Department of Justice from 2004 – 2008 for racial incidents.

What lessons can we assume were learned by the police April 21st regarding how to improve race relations between police and community in this city? Is it Chief Dolan’s inability to stop the calls for change that caused him last week to announce his early retirement?

No one, Black or White, disserves the physical and verbal abuse rained down upon us April 21, 2012. Is the police message that the summer of 2012 will be one in which African Americans will be punished and disrespected, that lessons about how to better race relations in this city will continue to be ignored? Certainly for those like me who were there, on the floor, being kicked, cursed and disrespected, that is a fair questions. We await the City’s answer.

Stay tuned.

Columns referenced above are archived at www.theminneapolisstory.com/tocarchives.htm.
Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

Posted Wednesday, May 3, 2012, 4:15 a.m.

April 25, 2012 Column #17: Sid Hartman and Star Tribune confirm our stadium analysis.

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

“If Vikings are sold, they could be moved,” blared Sid Hartman’s headline in the April 16 Star Tribune. The dire avalanche of bad-news Star Tribune headlines continued last week.

About the legislature: “Vikings stadium plan in doubt after House vote.” About the governor: “Dayton says stadium bill might have to wait until next year.” The league weighed in: “NFL warning of sale. Move adds pressure for stadium deal.”

The NFL sub-heading continued: “There's a list of buyers and the Wilfs may be ready to listen with stadium plan stalled.” Sid warned again on April 18: “Pay a little now or pay a lot more later” (to get a replacement team in 10-20 years).

Those familiar with this column and my books might think Sid Hartman was finally admitting to reading my book and columns, or maybe using me as his ghost writer. Everything in the first paragraph you’ll find in Chapter 15 of my 2002 book and in over 20 columns since. We welcome Sid confirming the truth of what we wrote in 2002 and since.

The final deadline will now be February 15, 2013. Will Minnesota meet it or unlock the doors for the moving vans? And why hasn't Minnesota looked at the "no new taxes" approaches we identified?

But today’s column is not about the Vikings and their stadium quest. It is about journalism to inform, not to censor, as censorship and closed doors negatively impact our city. The stadium struggle is an example.

Minneapolis is plagued by censorship. My publisher personally delivered a dozen copies of my book to Star Tribune editors and reporters in 2002. When he asked later about his suggestion of a “local author writes book” story and a book review, he was told by then-Star Tribune columnist Doug Grow that the paper’s position was not to acknowledge the book’s existence nor to review the book — that the book was “shelved.”

My publisher later personally talked about this with Jim McClatchy, former chairman and publisher of McClatchy Newspapers (owner of the Star Tribune), in his Sacramento office. McClatchy said he wouldn’t tell the Star Tribune what to do but invited him to contact then-Star Tribune editor Anders Gyllenhaal to talk about it. He called Anders, who continued the blackout of my book.

Furthering Minneapolis-style censorship, the NAACP expelled me for writing the book, especially Chapter 14 (despite heads nodding in agreement at my hearing that what I wrote was true). When Whites and Blacks censor, the obvious question is what else they have kept quiet about on the issues of our city’s people.

Many Minnesota worthies decided over a decade ago (see Star Tribune reporter Jay Weiner’s Univ MN 2000 book, Stadium Games for details; see reviews on Amazon) that the Vikings should leave town. I covered this in my book and later put together, in 2005, a “roll call”of over three dozen influentials who agreed. Since then: silence.

If Sid and others are serious, they need to stop jerking the Vikings around and come out clearly for the stadium and repudiate the “roll call” of those who say to the Vikings, “Leave.” Only the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder has had the journalistic integrity to report uncensored.

So I ask: What else has the Star Tribune censored besides those wanting the Vikings’ departure? How about in such areas as access and opportunities in education, employment, City hiring compliance violations, housing, development, community-police relations, taxing and spending, etc.?

Where are the strategists, tacticians, realists yet visionaries? I said two weeks ago (April 11, 2012, Will the Vikings stadium be in Minnesota or L.A.?) that you can’t expect Zygi Wilf to wait around until 2017 to play in a new stadium. Unlike our city and state, they don’t wait. They take action. They know its importance. When will Minnesota? Hence our March 14, 2012 question: Vikings stadium plan in place???

Consider the solution I proposed a decade ago: (1) bipartisanship from the political parties; (2) corporations stepping up for their “base,” the people of Minnesota; (3) taxpayers being shown clearly how a new stadium can be a year-around benefit and still be done “without new taxes”; (4) adopt the “Save the Vikings” plan of 2005 and again November 9, 2011, Stop the punting of the Vikings! Minnesotans: Unite with a ‘Fan Response Movement’ to keep the team, and in othe past columns; and (5) hold a “family meeting,” which we’d be glad to help facilitate/mediate.

The NFL has given its blessing to the Vikings to initiate a move if the 16-year quest of three consecutive sets of owners for a new stadium isn’t fulfilled.

It was unfair of Sid to dump everything on Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers when the DFL didn’t meet the stadium problem when they were in the majority. At this point, Minnesotans have to pull the covers back to see how many hands are opening the door to shove our beloved Vikings to Los Angeles.

Stay tuned.

Column 2012/#17

Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2012, 3:31 a.m.

April 18, 2012 Column #16: America is on a racial ‘Razor’s Edge.’ Will entrenched injustices cut us to pieces?

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

The death of Trayvon Martin on February 26 was not just another event in America’s troubled and tainted history of abusing the rights of African Americans. The controversy surrounding his death highlights a pivotal time in the history of our race relations.

For every Trayvon there are 50 other Trayvon Martin cases that are never addressed for a variety of reasons: The community is not organized; the community is not aware; the community is frightened and intimidated; the community receives poor and ineffective legal counsel; and our community is often at war with itself.

Not enough in Black and White America recognize that where there is a spark there is a potential for a full-fledged inferno that burns away and obstructs the quest for justice. This column has long warned that election year 2012 could become the most dangerous period in race relations in America’s recent history.

The events beyond Sanford, Fla. in Tulsa, Okla., Baltimore, Md., Spokane, Wash. and Minneapolis, Minn. are signals of the growing chasm of racial intolerance in this country. The execution-style killing of a young White citizen along the 3500 block of Fremont Ave. N. of this city and other incidents across the country of racial animus and physical confrontation represent a clear and present danger.

America refuses to enter into the kinds of discussions about the issues of race and racism that make up the four elephants in the room, the elephants of not only Whites killing Blacks and Blacks killing Whites, but the biggest elephants — Whites killing Whites and Blacks killing Blacks.

Male elephants have a history and an extreme effectiveness of creating damage and mayhem if they become irritated, agitated and angry. The strife that has begun to emerge, the polarization that is increasing daily, should not and cannot be dismissed as a momentary thing or something that will pass. One can sense when one is out and about in the communities of America that the patience of Black Americans to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect is beginning to run out. Only a razor-thin margin is holding back a serious and dangerous eruption in America over the issues of race and racism.

The solution is what Nellie Stone Johnson long called for: education that leads to jobs that leads to housing. Although it certainly appears that Trayvon is the victim of profiling, the reality is that 90 percent of Blacks killed are killed by Blacks and most Whites who are killed are killed by Whites.

Unless both communities come together to work out education, jobs and opportunity for all, this violence will continue with the Black community getting the worst of it. Where are our Black leaders making waves about the 90 percent of our brothers who are killed by brothers?

For those who laugh and attempt to dismiss the fragility of race relationships in America, they need look around more seriously. There is a seething in the minds of some, a well-constructed and dangerous mindset that there is no hope for meaningful opportunity for Black America. We fool ourselves when we try to respond by saying that the election and presence of a Black man in the White House guarantees automatic positive change.

In fact, as a part of the razor-thin condition muting racial animus in America, no president has been so disrespected, insulted, threatened and challenged based not on his actions as president but simply on the color of his skin. Being insulted and challenged happens to all presidents in a country that honors free speech, but now it is heightened due to the issues of race and racism that America refuses to address and resolve.

This president has been treated in a hostile manner that is unknown in the history of the United States and the institution of our presidency. And certainly there is a fear in this column that as the conservative right aligns itself for what they consider to be the final push to recapture the Whiteness of the White House, that razor-thin blade will cut us apart even more, risking the dismantling of our democratic institutions that are so important to maintain, and without which opportunity and strength will be denied both Blacks and Whites.

These events signal that we are no more than a razor’s edge from tearing this nation apart based on racial hatred and racial agendas. The only workable agenda is an agenda for protecting the rights and opportunities of all.

Stay tuned.

Column 2012/#16

Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 3:14 a.m.

April 11, 2012 Column #15: Will the Vikings stadium be in Minnesota or L.A.?

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

April 11, 2012

Los Angeles is ready to save the Vikings’ goose by having it lay its golden eggs in L.A., saying “Y’all come” to one of four sites and get a new stadium.

Thus, when National Public Radio’s (NPR) Los Angeles affiliate, KCRW, aired, on April 2, 2012, “Which Way L.A.,” regarding Los Angeles gaining an NFL team, we thought they had been reading our columns. The KCRW program, driven by events we reported last week — the purchase of the L.A. Dodgers for $2.15 billion — explains how the stadium debate could cause the Vikings to move to Los Angeles.

L.A. offers four sites: downtown convention center site; Dodger Stadium land near downtown; south of L.A., Industry, CA; and the perennial near-downtown L.A. Coliseum. LA is offering land for a development partnership, whether mixed use, commercial, residential, condo, etc.

Minnesota has denied six sites (Anoka, Arden Hills, the Farmer’s Market sports corridor, Linden Ave., Basilica, Metrodome), and offers little for a development partnership.

For years we have made the case for how to keep the Vikings in Minnesota:

1. Campaigning to Save the Vikings (January 26, 2005, and November 9, 2011, and December 1, 2011, and March 14, 2012, and April 4, 2012).

2. Pleading with Minnesota influentials to say it’s not true that the Vikings have to leave (January 29, 2005).

3. Listing how to finance a new stadium without raising new taxes. The results so far: Minnesota is starving the goose that lays the NFL Minnesota golden eggs, denying financing, forcing the Vikings to have to consider leaving (January 26, 2005, and April 13, 2011, and May 25, 2011, and March 14, 2012).

4. Calling for the equal opportunity employment compliance on the proposed Vikings stadium (February 15, 2012, and April 4, 2012).

We can save the Vikings for Minnesota with a stadium complex plan. The Vikings, investors in L.A., and Minnesota influentials, planners and legislators all know this (October 12, 2011).

The participation of former NBA great Irwin “Magic” Johnson as a partner in the group purchasing the L.A. Dodgers, pending approval by MLB owners, indicates time is running out for Minnesota decision-makers.

The KCRW report mirrors what we have reported for years. Voters will make clear to Minnesota’s political institutions that there is no cover, only slipping on their own banana peel if Vikings leave.

Three key facts from KCRW report:

1. The NFL’s favored spot in L.A. is alongside Dodger Stadium in Chavez ravine, near downtown.

2. The trigger: “an NFL team standing up and saying ‘we cannot get it done in our current city and we have to move,’ and that will be the boulder that starts the avalanche.”

3. The NFL and its owners will offer no resistance to teams who declare they “cannot get it done” in their current locations. Candidate teams are Jacksonville, Buffalo, St. Louis, and Minnesota.

The supposed package that would provide the Minnesota Vikings with the necessary stadium dollars — $975 million — is set. The Vikings are prepared to invest about $470 million. A new stadium will spring up if Minnesota does likewise. The Wilf group has been extremely patient, but a key signal is that no lease, short- or long-term, has been signed.

Will the Vikings give up 2012 season ticket payments in exchange for tickets sold at “home” games played away at other NFL stadiums whose teams are “away” on Vikings “home” weeks?

Aligned now are the NFL, L.A., and teams seeking new stadiums. Where is the alignment of Minnesota movers and shakers in the political leadership and big corporations? Will this stalemate lead to saying goodbye to the Vikings?

The NFL has not denied the KCRW report that, in principle, NFL owners will offer no resistance to owners who declare they cannot get it done.

Some legislators and some on the governor’s staff are saying if it can’t get done in 2012 it will be done in 2013. Do you think that with the attractive offers of four top-notch sites in L.A. the Vikings would be here for 2013? Aren’t the beat writers concerned for their jobs if the Vikings move?

Stay tuned.

Posted April 16, 2012, 4:47 a.m.

Column 2012/#15

Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm; and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).

April 04, 2012: Hiring mandates must be in place for Viking stadium project.

"Through My Eyes, the Minneapolis Story Continues"
A weekly column by Ron Edwards featured in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

April 4, 2012

If job opportunity plans include hiring mandates for Blacks for the Vikings stadium are in place, let’s see them. If they are not, set a date for revealing the mandates of a hiring compliance plan.

A week ago, the Rybak Administration announced it had the 7th vote needed to move stadium financing ahead without a referendum before the voters.

Hiring Black construction/transportation/planning firms and workers has been a Minneapolis Potemkin Village, a movie set: street facades with few results for Blacks behind the facades. Thus, mandates are needed.

In my 2002 book The Minneapolis Story (p. 131), I wrote about what McKinsey & Company (the global $7 billion in revenue firm, ranked 45th largest of the Fortune 500), reporting about Minneapolis planning agencies: nearly $1 billion on housing planning that netted 52 housing units. I also reported (p. 132) the July 2000 Journal of American Planning Association study: “of 258 different projects around the country ….. cost overruns have been the norm for the 20th century (1910-1998).”

Don’t’ forget, when public housing began in 1935, it was for whites only. It was only through the efforts of Minneapolis’ Nellie Stone Johnson, the national Negro League of Women, Mary McCloud Bethune, and Eleanor Roosevelt that Blacks were finally mandated in 1941 (p. 134) to be included in public housing.

Minneapolis’ foot dragging on Black hiring compliance is a 21st century version of “jim crow.” My April 20, 2005 column noted “zero” for a share for Blacks of the coming $5 Billion construction boom.

My updated Nov 22, 2011 paper on “Disparity / Compliance Studies” (#46 on my site’s “Solutions” section) lists over 20 columns going back to 2005, reporting on how Minneapolis purposefully avoids both mandating compliance and enforcing compliance.

The Mayor recently held a press conference with Blacks in hard hats, pledging construction jobs for Blacks on the Viking Stadium project (as opposed to the city’s false filings to cover up not being in compliance before).

This newspaper has reported the local NAACP President stating that even Black leaders have turned their eyes the other way regarding such compliance issues.

The March 27, 2012 Star Tribune headline is misleading: “Higher minority-hiring goal riles Minn. construction industry,” because their concern regarding the lack of qualified Blacks is justified, as training programs for Blacks by both Blacks and whites give out too many certificates of completion without the underlying requisite skills claimed.

So, again I ask: when will the plan for minority inclusion be released, a plan that must also indicate dollar amounts in terms of relationships with architects and planning firms ($5-10 million), bonding and insurance underwriting ($20-30 million), developers (Black contractors with 20-30% of the overall general contract partnership with the white developers, which should round out to stimulus for the Black community of over $200 million), and the number of daily workers to be employed (12 – 22% depending on how defined).

In other words: I’m talking about a place at the Minnesota table for everyone.

New stadiums for California, recent and announced, have had little public money as California is broke, which means finance mechanisms are actually available. We read in a series of L.A. Times articles and in an ESPN/LA article, that 29 Billionaires or near billionaires stepped up to bid on buying the L.A. Dodgers. The winning bid, by a group led by Magic Johnson, was announced last week at $2.15 billion.

To ensure we meet the goals of this new day of compliance and cooperation, I again propose that our “Vikings stadium plan” be included in both state and city legislation:

1. That the city hold “a family meeting” to work out implementing compliance goals, through the mechanism of public hearings, including City, County and State agencies, key local foundations and nonprofits, key developers, associations of developers and planners, state legislators and city council members, community and neighborhood organizations.

2. Pledge to include minimum of federal census level percentage of Blacks.

3. Guarantee minimum Black contractor involvement and daily worker hiring levels.

4. Guarantee use of locally certified as qualified skill workers, plans to train such or, failing that, guarantee to import qualified Blacks from other cities.

5. Guarantee minimum number of compliance accountants to keep track in order to ensure pledged compliance.

6. Guarantee minimum penalties and sanctions if provisions are violated, and include them in the legislation.

7. Guarantee that a governor and mayor appointed group examine the plan, weigh the success of what is being proposed by the legislation and have the authority to trigger and implement enforcement when there are compliance violations, and, when the existence of local Black companies and workers falls short, to include Black companies and workers from outside Minnesota.

Stay tuned.

Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm, and hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “Black Focus V” on Sundays, 3-3:30 pm and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his solution papers for community planning and development, “web log,” and archives at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

Posted April 4, 2012, 2:04 a.m.

Column 2012/#14

Ron's media message platforms:
(1) Column (since 2003): "Through My Eyes: The Minneapolis Story Continues", published weekly in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.;
(2) TV: Host of weekly Black Focus, Sundays, 5-6 pm, on Channel 17, MTN-TV;
(3) Blog Talk radio podcasts: host of “Black Focus V,” Sundays, 3-3:30 pm; and Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm;
(4) Books: The Minneapolis Story Through My Eyes (2002); and A Seat for Everyone (2008); Order here.
(5) Solution Papers: for community leadership, planning and development;
(6) Blog: "Tracking the Gaps"
(7) CD: Hear his readings;
(8) Archives. (Columns, Blog entries, Solution Papers).

Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his book, hear his voice, read his solution papers, and read his between columns “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

Permission is granted to reproduce The Minneapolis Story columns, blog entries and solution papers. Please cite the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and www.TheMinneapolisStory.com for the columns. Please cite www.TheMinneapolisStory.com for blog entries and solution papers.

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2012 Columns Quarter 2: April thru June ~ Columns #14 - #26

2012 Columns
Quarter 2: April thru June ~ Columns #14 - #26