Rybak then and now !

Remember Julie Idelkope? The following is an excerpt from an article published by City Pages on 11.17.99 about then-Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton's revolving door at City Hall - enjoy "activist" Rybak roaring about the evils of corporate connections and subsidized development !

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Anti-noise activists say Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton has given "the largest polluter of south Minneapolis" a pass to city hall

As the Door Revolves

Julie Idelkope says she can tell the difference between city hall and her Northwest Airlines office. Critics are not so sure.

When they learned last week that the mayor had picked Northwest's lobbyist as her proxy on the Planning Commission, Rybak says, ROAR members were flabbergasted. "We came to the table and we got screwed," he says with more than a hint of bitterness. "We learned the hard way that negotiating isn't going to get us anything."

Because both downtown businesses and Northwest have a vested interest in publicly subsidized development projects such as the Convention Center, Rybak argues, having the airline's lobbyist serve on the commission responsible for recommending projects to the city sets a worrisome precedent.

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You can find the full article online at http://www.citypages.com/databank/20/989/article8199.asp

You got to hand it to Rybak though, he did SSB one better, naming Smith Parker attorney Mike Christenson not to any simple commission, but to a position as "Director of Planning and Strategic Partnerships", a $100,500/year post at the City's new Department of Community Planning and Economic Development - read more about "Rybak now"