CCP 05-14-1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. room was contradicted in the street. But he's stayed', on the street. . . , Or on the telephones. to be precise. with a team of colleagues who work with bim at his home-office . near Lake Calhoun and another chane bank in down- tonSt. Paul. Morris believes the telephone captures a truer flavor 01 people's views than a printed page, hecause it enables the noll-taker to draw comments from someone who is ta'citurn. Morris survevs corpo- rations' markets and management as well" as come munities and political landscapes. While most 01 his municipal work has been in the suburbs, he did a survev of Mmneapoiis last vear for Alderwoman Barbara Carlson, and' be was disturbed bv the amount 01 fear he lound Deople there lelt toward their neighborhooQs, In north and northeast Minneapoiis. eSDecially, he lound strong fears that crime is out of control. "] became alarmed bv our data when I saw the 00- tential mass exodus." Morris said. He believes r,1inTIe- apolis city officials can stem the tide of emigration if they take iirm sreps to improve public safety, such as hiring more police and orgarnzmg more neighborhood watch Drograms, But :\1orns savs he's been disap- . pointed. ins read. 1:0 see (he CHY spending more money on self~oromQ(ional Dublicanons Ihan on -'substantial things that wouid have made a difference," No! that Morris disdains communIcations. Ii anv. thing, it's one avenue he says every city needs to strengtnen. "The major problem most communities have is a basIC misunderstanding and divisIOn. Mv belief is that a lot of cities' problems could be resolved by better communications - advisory committees. newsletters, cable telecasts of meetings and informational pro-- grams." Poor communications was a oroblem he detected in Plvrnomh. the first citv he surveved. in 1973. He.found that residents in the westernmost section of the city, WhICh had a different school district from the rest of Plvmouth. felt isoiated and disconnected. Clrv offi- cials then sent regular newsletters about local eVentS and moved city council meetings to neIghborhood meeting halls. Three vears later. Morris was hired to measure the opinions ihere agam, and found the sense of distance and isolation largely had vanished. "] view the suburbs as precursors of what's going to go on in the state," said Morris. He thinks the suburbs have a Jump on the cities and small towns because they have an abundance of white-collar. professionai- teclmicaJ-owner types who tune into the media and . care about being current.