Absent were president Jon Olson and commissioner Carol Kummer.
5:00pm — Operations & Environment Committee, chair Annie Young
Reports: 1. Award of a $1700 grant from the Minnesota Recreation & Parks Foundation (the non-profit arm of the Minnesota Recreation & Parks Association) to the Park Board for an orienteering program at Mill Ruins Park.
2. Annual Parkway Paving Program. Park Board Operations in conjunction with City Public Works manages program. Net debt bonds used to finance. This funding ranges from a low of $350,000 (2006) to high of $1,200,000 (2000). Adjacent residents are also assessed, increasing the dollars available. Upcoming projects: 2005: E Nokomis Pkwy from Cedar Ave/56th to E 50th St; 2006: E Nokomis Pkwy from E 50th St to Cedar Ave/52nd St; 2007: 4th St S from 21st AV S to W River Pkwy, Cedar Lake Pkwy from Cedar Lake Rd S to Wayzata frontage road, 5th St NE from St. Anthony Pkwy to Columbia Blvd, and Columbia Pkwy from 5th St NE to Central Ave.
There was some talk among commissioners about changing 4th St from 2007 to 2006, but it would upset the scheduling. Staff to investigate possibility.
3. Dutch Elm Disease Report, Ralph Sievert, Dir. of Park Forestry. Now using 15 scouts to find diseased trees, up from 10 last year. 3 removal crews, same as 3 last year, but up from 1 in normal years. 10 hours days start June 15. Lots of process improvement since 2004, e.g. door hangers, info. sheets, etc.
Stump grinding started in April, done in 6 neighborhoods, 9 more in progress
now. Tree planting is finished, weather helped, 2600 trees planted, all paid for by money from City.
Comrs. Dziedzic and Erwin are in favor of the Park Board getting involved in helping residents get their trees injected, but staff is resistant to any suggestion of being involved with elm tree injection, including claims it would drive up the costs. [It costs me over $600 every 3 years to inject my 2 trees, but it would cost over $6000 to have the largest of the 2 removed, and my air conditioning bills would go way up and my property value would go down.]
Committee adjourned
5:40pm — Administration & Finance Committee, chaired by comr. Marie Hauser
Action items 7.1, change order of $49,410.00 for Mill Ruins Park, and 7.2, agreement with Mpls Umpire Association for softball umpiring during 2005 season and post season tournaments not to exceed $225,000 PASS with little discussion. Note that the Mpls Umpire Assoc. gets paid $22.50 per game, and they in turn pay the umpire $21.50 per game, keeping $1.00 for their services.
$225,000 divided by $22.50 is 10,000 games. [That seems like rather a lot. Do we really have nearly 10,000 umpired softball games in one season?]
Committee adjourned.
5:45pm — Regular Meeting called to order by vice-president John Erwin.
A moment of silence is observed for Carol Fox. Afterwards, Dziedzic mentions another “friend” of the park system who passed away [sorry, didn’t get the name].
* Presentation by Bob O’Brien and Susan Palmer, of the Dept. of Public Safety, Office of Highway Safety Recognition are supposed to present an award to Park police chief Brad Johnson, but O’Brien and Palmer are not yet present.
Erwin wants to proceed to Open Time, despite it being a bit early, as the number of people signed up is large. He asks for a motion to suspend the rules which [allegedly] limit it to 10 speakers at 3 minutes each. Motion to allow 14 people at 2 minutes each passes with Mason opposed on the 2 minute limit.
Open Time:
1. Liz Wielinski of NE:
Appropriate Notification
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted during the February 16, 2005 meeting that in the future all efforts would be made to ensure timely notification of commissioners about pending matters before the committees and the board as a whole. According to Commissoner Erwin he received a 60 page packet just moments before the June 1st meeting where the terms of an agreement were to have been voted upon for an Athletic Facility for DeLaSalle. Having viewed the information in the packet including a memo dated May 25, 2005 from General Manager Siggelkow, putting the matter before the board on the June 1, 2005 agenda was an error. All items on the agenda are to be in by the Monday 9 days prior to the meeting. That date would have been Monday May 23rd.
On June 1st it was determined that there will be a public hearing on the negotiated terms for a possible reciprocal use agreement between the MPRB and DeLaSalle for an Atheletic Facility on Wednesday July 20th. I am confident that this time the staff will make available to the commissioners, the representatives from DeLaSalle, the island residents and the public a copy of the negotiated terms by Monday July 11, 2005 so that all parties involved will be well read on the matter to be discussed. This could be accomplished easily by posting the agreements terms to the MPRB website.
[Instead of saying materials would be available on the 11th, staff went on the attack instead, claiming that most of the 60 page packet was distributed by DeLaSalle and therefore was not official Park Board documentation, although it contained the details relevant to the agreement the commissioners were to vote on.]
2. Joan Berthiaume of Mpls Parks Legacy Society gives up her time to move things along.
3. Kay Anderson of East Calhoun. Her statement was:
“Many discussions and concerns have been circulating throughout the city and suburbs, may I add, since the SW Journal of November 22, 2004 focused on the proposed Sailing Club/Event Center/ Commercial buildings to be constructed on the shores of Lake Calhoun which lie in the Shoreland Overlay District. As a result, the East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO) passed the following resolution to be submitted to the Park Board minutes:
‘Be it resolved that the East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO) strongly objects to development along the shores of Lake Calhoun and specifically the Lake Calhoun Yacht Club proposal on the southeast shore. We feel that the lake shore should be kept as natural as possible.'”
4. Edna Brazaitis of Nicollet Island gives a great speech on freedom of speech in the parks and what it means to immigrants “with funny last names.”
5. Christine Vikken of LaSalle Avenue expresses her opposition to DeLaSalle High Schools proposal for using park land for an athletic stadium. She points out their existing field is regulation size and has side lines.
6. Janet Deming passes her time to Mary Madeau of Nicollet Island and member of the South High School PTO. Ms. Madeau compares DeLaSalle’s situation with “no home field” to Minneapolis’ South High School, which likewise sends its baseball team to Van Cleve Park to play — the same park that DeLaSalle students and athletes complained about as being dangerous, scarey and full of trash like used syringes. South’s home softball and soccer fields are also in parks, not at the school. South High has been there a long time and will likely be there another 100 years, and they will have many graduates [more than DeLaSalle, I suspect], but they will never have home fields at their school.
7. Bob Glancy of the Preservation Alliance was to speak on Nicollet Island and DeLaSalle, but was not present.
8. Ron Korsch of the St. Anthony West Neighborhood Association says they support the use of B.F. Nelson as a park, and would like to have some input into the master plan for its use.
9. Michael Rainville was present but did not speak on B.F. Nelson [it seemed like Ron Korsch covered his remarks?].
10. John Chaffee of Nicollet Street comments on the Calhoun Yacht Club’s (CYC) proposal for a sailing pavilion. He says there is a lack of a process for evaluating proposals such as this one, and that there have been many such proposals recently.
11. Gretchen Trygstad of the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council says they have passed a unanimous resolution on June 7, 2005 objecting to the CYC proposal and any such similar development on Lake Calhoun.
12. Marissa Lasky, a windsurfer and member of the City Zoning Board, described how she has talked at a large number of neighborhood organizations over the past couple of months, and has letter for the commissioners. The most common objections from these various organizations to the CYC pavilion project on Lake Calhoun have been (1) new construction on the lake shore and (2) precedent-setting development.
13. Joan Menken of 14th Ave SE comments on the conditions and DeLaSalle comments made about Van Cleve Park. She says the SE Como Association spoke with the Van Cleve Park maintenance staff and asked if they knew of any problems, such as the syringes the DeLaSalle students claimed they found there. Maintenance staff claimed they had heard no complaints and had no knowledge of such things. Ms. Menken points out that many children use that park every day, and that if there were safety concerns about the park, any person who had them should be reporting them to the Park Board staff or police, and that includes DeLaSalle students using the park.
14. Eva Young of North Minneapolis talks about how Superintendent Jon Gurban’s actions with having Jason Stone threatened by Park Police in Pearl Park for talking to people and handing out campaign literature is an embarrassment for the park system and a liability for the Park Board. She mentions the lack of training if Park police think the park is private property.
Comr. Erwin defends the Park Board on the freedom of speech issue by saying that they are unique among several Minneapolis government bodies in having a public “open time.” [As Eva Young describes it, Erwin misses her point.]
Comr. Dziedzic responds to the Van Cleve Park “accusations.”
6:20pm The earlier presentation from the Office of Highway Safety is done, an award to the Park Police, for improved safety on parkways over the past couple of months[?]. A photograph is taken of the commissioners, police chief and folks from the state.
6:26pm — Regular Meeting Recesses
Recreation Committee, chaired by Erwin
Study/Report Items 1. Teen Programming Brainstorming Session. After a presentation by Heidi Pope, manager of Youthline, centering around a report by the Minnesota Commission on Out of School Time, commissioners are asked for their blue sky ideas and wishes. Dziedzic uses this time to [dramatically] announce that the traditional year end party will happen after all, thanks to a $2500[?] grant from the Lupient Foundation.
2. Authorized Beach Discussion. Talk about allowing greater use of lakes for swimming with fewer restrictions, similar to the Three Rivers Park system. Currently, one must have a permit in order to be allowed to swim across a lake. There is discussion of greater liability, etc. Comr. Bob Fine thinks any relaxing of swimming / beach restrictions is a bad idea.
3. Overnight Camping Demonstration. President Jon Olson’s idea. Overnight camping in neighborhood parks is allowed under very specific circumstances and require a general manager approved permit. Likewise camping on the Mississippi shore has very specific rules and a permit is required. [I’m not sure exactly what Olson’s idea was.] Apparently there is a lack of visibility, i.e. that some kinds of camping are allowed with permits. Some concerns about homeless people setting up in parks is expressed. Dziedzic expresses some support, although he comments he personally does not like camping.
4. Student Voting Project. Another Jon Olson idea. A report on Kids Voting Minneapolis organization.
Committee adjourned.
7:24pm Regular Meeting is reconvened.
Erwin asks for a motion to approve the agenda.
Comr. Vivian Mason wants to add a resolution after the Reports of Officers.
Comr. Hauser asks if they need to suspend the rules to do that. [We don’t want that resolution read on camera to the cable TV audience, after all!]
Comr. Young says yes, if it doesn’t fit under new business or unfinished business.
Hauser says if it has to do with free speech, it should be unfinished business.
Mason moves to suspend the rules.
Board secretary Don Siggelkow says they need 6 votes, not 2/3 of the quorum present (7 people), to suspend the rules. [Mr. Siggelkow is flat out wrong: Robert’s Rules of Order say Standing Rules, likely the most appropriate category for the agenda rule, can be suspended by a simple majority, or 4 votes in this case, or if not a Standing Rule, but rather a Rule of Order that can only be adopted by prior notice and a 2/3 vote, then it can suspended by a 2/3 vote, which would be 5 votes. Either way, Siggelkow is wrong. However, the board simply follows his pronouncement.]
Mason motion to suspend the rules Fails.
Agenda as is, is approved.
7:34pm Reports of Officers
* Superintendent Gurban: Among the 19 bullet point items on his written report, he wants to highlight that the Graco Foundation will be giving the Park Board a $25,000 grant to fund Teen Teamworks. He also asks district manager John Oyanagi to report on the collaborative effort to raise $100,000 for Safe Summer, with General Mills Foundation, Chuck Wexler, and others.
— Comr. Hauser interrupts to compliment the staff on making the 2004 Superintendent’s Report much smaller (16 pages) and less expensive. [It’s now more like a brochure compared to the almost book-like reports in the past. It’s rather devoid of any useful information, however, but is a glossy, heavy paper printed puff piece for “2004 accomplishments.”]
* General Manager Siggelkow reported on the situation with the city storm water fee. The Park Board’s position is that the parks store much of the storm water, and so the Park Board should not have to pay the city. They hired a consultant, but were still not satisfied with the results. Staff believes they should be exempt.
* General Manager Michael Schmidt reports on grass cutting. Due to the weather, the grass has grown fast and the mowing is well behind schedule.
* Chief Johnson reports that the Pearl Park call made by Gurban to stop candidate Jason Stone from passing out literature was a 911 call, which he calls appropriate saying that any time a person wants a police officer at a location, they should call 911. He says 2 units (#830 & #831) responded, that is, 2 squad cars with 1 park police officer in each. Also a city squad car with 2 city police officers also responded. The call was put out over the radio as “unknown trouble” and Johnson says in that situation, because park squad cars only have 1 officer per car, 2 cars are supposed to respond.
8:03pm — and cable TV coverage is now dark.
CONSENT BUSINESS
* Items 2.1 through 2.7 are moved and passed with little discussion.
* Planning committee item 4.1 likewise is moved and passes.
* Admin & Finance committee items 7.1 through 7.3 are likewise moved and passed.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
* Item 8.1, adopting a resolution ordering E Nokomis Parkway improvements requires a roll call vote. It passes with 7 Ayes and 2 Absent.
Discussion Items
* Regulations Governing Constitutionally-Protected Expression on Park Property
– GM Siggelkow gives a long-winded explanation of what the ordinances are, what the regulations which implement those ordinances are, when the ordinances were passed (1991) and seriously does his best to defend Jon Gurban’s behavior at Pearl Park by trying to make it look like the regulation against campaigning in the parks without a permit is well-established fact and that Mr. Stone was breaking the regulation. […but ignoring the likelihood that no candidate has ever gotten such a permit and that hundreds if thousands of candidates have probably campaigned in the parks since 1991.]
– GM Schmidt, being the staff or commissioner at the meeting with the most time at the Park Board, gives his view on the 1991 ordinance and how it has been used and enforced since then. He gives an example of how the Kerry-Edwards campaign got in trouble in Loring Park when they “invaded” another permitted event there and started campaigning. He says permits are so that the Park Board can work with the permittees to make sure there are not conflicts and that everyone is informed.
There is a bunch of information in the packets given to the commissioners and available to the public about the ordinances, regulations, memos and even an example of somebody being denied a permit, although exactly what they wanted to do is not specified, nor why the permit was denied not clear.
Likewise there is question as to what ordinance passed in 1991 and what ordinance was tabled, as indeed some ordinance/regulation was put off and never revisited. Comr. Annie Young was present for those votes and describes her recollections but admits that with 14 years past, it’s tough to be accurate and specific.
Dziedzic says the Park Board needs to consult an First Amendment expert. He makes a good speech about what freedom of speech is all about, and how he went to Korea to defend it. He believes the Park Board would lose a lawsuit in court if it came to that.
Fine says it is a complex issue and also believes they need an expert’s advice.
Erwin asks what do we do now? Do we keep enforcing the rules as is until we get more information? Or don’t enforce them? Or make a temporary change? He has an alternate ordinance to propose if the board feels they should go that way.
Young suggests using Erwin’s alternative.
Dziedzic MOVES that Olson, Gurban and contract counsel Brian Rice hire or retain a first amendment lawyer to (1) review and (2) rewrite if necessary their current policy.
Hauser seconds that motion, and makes a friendly amendment to hire Brian Rice’s partner, Jim Michels.
Gurban asks how a law firm can review its own work, since Michels had a hand in writing the existing policy. He says they probably want to get an outside attorney.
Mason speaks against parts of the motion, believing the board as a whole should choose the outside legal advice and that a cost estimate be gotten first.
Dziedzic modifies his motion to have Olson, Gurban and Rice come back at the July 6 meeting with a recommendation on whether to hire an outside counsel, and who.
Young insists that campaigns be included in whatever language is in the resulting regulations [they are currently not mentioned at all].
Dziedzic’s modified motion PASSES.
9:10pm
Mason finally gets to read her resolution, which states:
Whereas, The mission of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board is “The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, on behalf of all current and future citizens of the City of Minneapolis, shall strive to permanently preserve, protect, maintain, improve and enhance the City’s parkland and recreational opportunities;”
Whereas, Minneapolis Park land is public property;
Whereas, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board embraces every citizen’s right to free speech;
Whereas, The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board condemns the use of force to squelch anyone’s right to free speech;
Whereas, Minneapolis citizen and candidate Jason Stone was threatened with arrest by Superintendent Jon Gurban of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board for distributing literature in a public park and a public meeting sponsored by the Minneapolis Park Board;
Whereas, three police squad cars, carrying four officers, arrived simultaneously five minutes after Superintendent Jon Gurban called 911 to implement his orders;
And whereas, Superintendent Jon Gurban was misapplying a questionable park policy;
Now, Be it Resolved,
We the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board of Commissioners disagree with the actions of Minneapolis Park Superintendent Jon Gurban and his attempts to silence free speech at a recent Park meeting and his excessive use of Park Police resources;
Be it further Resolved,
We the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board of Commissioners direct Superintendent Gurban to write a formal and public apology to Jason Stone;
Be it further Resolved,
We the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board of Commissioners direct Superintendent Gurban to reimburse the Citizens of Minneapolis for the use of three patrol cars and four police officers.
Young seconds the resolution for the sake of discussion.
[The silence is deafening.]
The resolution fails on a voice vote.
Young offers an interim policy for campaigning.
Hauser initially seconds the motion, but after a bit of discussion, withdraws her second and the motion dies.
Young asks staff if she needs 5 separate permits to visit 5 different parks? Staff answer is Yes. Young asks how they are going to inform the approximately 150-plus candidates we can expect to file for city offices in July? No good answer is forthcoming.
9:25pm
PETITIONS and COMMUNICATIONS
Several commissioners have items, but of note Mason remarks that Fine has been misrepresenting her position to the public at meetings, claiming she supports the CYC pavilion at Lake Calhoun. She does not.
9:33pm ADJOURNED.
Minneapolis Park Watch 
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