What is the Duluth Public-Policy Alliance? Terry Brown & Will Rhodes DPPA Sec. & Vice Pres. Guest Column The Budgeteer Sept. 9 2001 Recently a variety of people have been speculating about the nature and goals of the Duluth Public-Policy Alliance (DPPA). The common element in these speculations has been a lack of accurate information. The group arose from discussions among some 30-40 people who were concerned by the unproductive political climate in Duluth and felt that, as many others shared the same concerns, forming some kind of alliance might be appropriate. The issues that concerned the group are reflected in our goals (Mission Statement): "Citizens working for open government and responsible planning in Duluth." This very much includes advocating sustainability and green spaces. The group has grown rapidly since its inception, so it seems that the feeling that these are important issues to many people was correct. Some specific points concerning what DPPA is all about: DPPA does not endorse candidates. Some members of DPPA are City Council candidates, and some of those candidates actively support DPPA's goals. DPPA encourages people to be candidates for local offices. We will publish who all of the candidates are / their Web pages, etc (now) and what their positions are (after the primaries). We'll list these via print, Web, e-mail, etc. DPPA's focus is on open and accountable political process, and not on development. However, we believe that with an open and representative political process will come sensible and sustainable development that enhances, rather than erodes, the unique character of Duluth. And finally DPPA has no proposal to dissolve the City Charter. Rather, DPPA feels that it would be timely to examine the Charter and its role in the political process in Duluth. City Charter What is the City Charter? It is the basic rules stating how Duluth city government will run. The current charter was last changed in the 1950s. Duluth has what is called a "Strong Mayor / Weak Council" system that is pretty rare in Minnesota now. We feel that the charter may be an appropriate forum to address some, certainly not all, of the issues in Duluth government. Some say the City Council has as much power as it chooses to claim. This, is true up to a point. However, some problems may be avoided by specifying the communities intent in the charter rather than simply hoping that the actions of those elected meet that intent. A simple example -- if the charter required a geographic spread of commission members, current concerns about the geographic distribution of membership on some city commissions would never have arisen. These articles are retained on the web for historical interest and do not necessarily reflect the views or goals of DPPA today.

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