Yesterday, I drove down to Waseca and spent a couple hours going through Waseca City Council minutes after being helped by the professional and cordial staff.
One of the things that jumped out at me was the wording of the resolution Parry offered on November 1, 2005 about the future of Maplewood Park:
It was moved by Parry, seconded by Johnson, to direct City Staff to develop RFPs for the sale for residential or commercial development, Maplewood Park. [emphasis added]
I wrote about the Maplewood Park issue on Tuesday, but this clarification from the public record was enlightening. No wonder the town was put into an uproar over the resolution, which came in open discussion. As one council member responded:
Councilmember Zwach stated this is the reason the Maplewood Task Force was developed, and Councilmember Parry’s motion is out of the blue. She stated the Council is already throwing out options due to the budget for next year. Councilmember Zwach stated that Maplewood Park is a treasure and it should be left as such, the Council should put this issue to rest and leave the park as it is.
Parry later said that he regretted the word "sale" but thought while he might have chosen his words more carefully, the resolution did spark citizen interest in saving the park. Over 1400 people signed a petition opposing Parry's idea to sell the park (and it's worth noting again that before the public outcry, he spoke of having talked with developers about the city property, as the WCN reported).
Good one. This sort of behavior--say something, then excuse himself of responsibility--looks like the hallmark of Parry's leadership style.
This characteristic was clearly evident in the last few days, when Parry changed his story several times about who wrote and who deleted his offensive tweets before half-heartedly apologizing under fire yesterday afternoon. (The remarkably bad press might have had something to do with that).
Parry's actions aren't those of a leader--and the Maplewood Park episode is only one of several incidents that make it easy to conclude why voters decisively kicked him out of city office after one term.
As the Washington Post said of "Tweetgate:"
Here's part 4,786 in our continuing series entitled: "Why politicians shouldn't use Twitter." In Minnesota, a Republican running for an open state Senate seat apparently tweeted back in May that President Obama was a "Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man." Later, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio, the same candidate sought to link Democrats to pedophilia. Um, not smart.
Below the fold, a review of the paper's coverage of the first meeting. As I wrote on Tuesday:
According to "Council ties on Maplewood Park vote" (Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, page 1A, 3A):
A motion to ask for Requests for Proposals for both commerical and residential development of Waseca's Maplewood Park was defeated by a 3-3 vote at last week's council meeting. . . .
Council member Mike Parry said he made the motion because the process to find a use for the park is moving too slowly . . . .
Parry is not on the [Maplewood Park] task force, he said, because he is "so pro-development of that park" that he didn''t want to sway the group.
The task force stagnated, he said, and has provided no ideas for the park's future.
He made the motion during discussion, he said, because he wanted the dialogue to start with the entire city council.
Parry wants the future of Maplewood to be a focal point of community discussion and he wants people to be actively involved in researching park options. That includes contractors, builders and big thinkers, he said.
While Parry was not on the Maplewood Park Task Force, it does sound like he had been talking to developers interested in the land (was he somehow charged to do this, though not on the task force?)
. . .He advised the four developers who called him to put their ideas in writing, to be presented to the council.
"Maybe it's nothing more than a nature center with a coffee shop," Parry said.
Really?
The Waseca City Council minutes from May 3, 2005, when the task force was proposed, state:
It was moved by Parry, seconded by Johnson, to form a committee which includes representatives from various boards and commission [sic] to consider future uses of Maplewood Park.
Considerable discussion was held regarding the need to further utulize the park, while still retaining the history and natural setting it evokes for Waseca.
Councilmember Parry stressed the need for a committee for further discussion of this item and stated he would be willing to serve on this committee that would include citizen input.
In May, Parry wanted to be on the task force he proposed. That's quite a different story than Parry's spin to the WCN in November. In November 2005, he told the paper he was "too pro-development" to be on the task force. By 2008, the entire episode three years before was simply a ruse to shocked city residents into appreciatring the park.
Will Senate District 26 residents ever know where Parry stands? Or does he just go for shock value as a leader?
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