There’s a front page story in the Star Tribune today entitled: “Opting out of Night Out“. The story retells a story the paper did earlier this year that a number of cities across the country - including several in Minnesota - have chosen not to associate themselves with the umbrella organization that sponsors the National Night Out program. The umbrella organization is called the National Association of Town Watch (NATW). Some cities became unhappy with the NATW after learning that the organization, which is a non-profit, pays its executive director over $300K per year in salary and benefits. Also, there were some that were concerned with the apparent insularity of his Board of Directors, which (at the time of the original dust up) was dominated by friends and family of the executive director.
Eden Prairie has traditionally used the National Night Out nomenclature to describe the city’s annual community interaction events that we organize around neighborhoods and our public safety personnel. Eden Prairie has not been a part of the National Night Out organization in the past. We’re not a part of it this year. We have not waded into the pubic discussion of the issues with NATW. No need to. We decided this year that, given the media attention to NATW, we ought to clarify that we weren’t part of the group. No big deal, but it’s probably something that needed to be said.
The objectives of the National Night Out program are great. And Eden Prairie does it right. While the City organizes the event and provides Police & Fire Fighters and all their stuff to attend block parties, the Night Out event is carried out by citizens who want to connect or reconnect with their neighbors. Without citizens to do the micro-level organizing, the neighborhood events would not happen. So to all those Eden Prairie residents out there who are making Eden Prairie Night Out happen this year - Thank You!
