[Mpls] Republican views of Minneapolis

[WizardMarks]

mplsgordon2 at aol.com wrote:

>Perhaps it's worthwhile to wonder why Republicans have  a "cartoonish" view 
>of the city. Before moving here six years ago, I lived for  14 years in Moorh
>ead. I'm pretty well informed.... But I was really, truly stunned at how bad Minneapolis city  government can 
>be. I'm still surprised on a regular basis as I learn more about  how this city 
>has spent itself into virtual bankruptcy--and how they constantly  blame the 
>state, the feds, and anyone at hand in order to pass the  buck.
>  
>
WM: I read, in a respectable urban planning treatise about 20 years ago 
(the citing for which I cannot now remember), that cities over 50,000 
are impossible to manage cost effectively and sanely. I will add to that 
that the older a city is, the more layers of reform one has to wade 
through to accomplish even the simplest thing.

>The legislators know more than the average well-informed citizen  like me. 
>  
>
WM: Say what? It is true that my legislators know the ins and outs of 
the bills they work through and I do not. However, on more than one 
occasion I have met with my legislators to inform them of how something 
works out in the everyday lives of their constituents. My neighbors and 
I have taught them a thing or twelve over the years, and different ones 
have mentioned that to me from time to time. My attitude is that my vote 
put them there, so it's my duty to follow through when they get there 
and keep an open pipeline for communication. After all, it's the EFFECT 
their decisions have on people that they cannot garner from the halls of 
the state capitol.

>And why should they ride to the rescue? 
>  
>
WM: It's their job to keep state money in balance? It isn't a rescue? 
It's parceling out the money we contributed to the pot in ways that 
benefit the contributors? Our taxes are a way to amass our collective 
money for big projects and on-going costs?

>Sometimes you have to let someone you love hit bottom before they'll be  
>willing to accept the help they need to recover. 
>  
>
WM: To begin, the above statement is insulting to Minneapolitans; it's 
condescending.
It's been my contention from the beginning that RT and his fellow 
campaigners hugely overstated the direness (if that's a word) of the 
economic situation facing Minneapolis. It was AFTER the election for 
mayor and city council that the legislature cut LGA and other funding 
which Minneapolis figured to be part of it's allotted budget. The one 
thing we did in the last local election go-round that was a mistake in 
hindsight, was the library referendum. It might not have been, had loss 
of LGA funding not cut the library's operating budget by 1/5 of it's 
paltry $22 million/yr.
Mind you, how the city spent the collective money is also at issue, but 
it is a separate issue.

Almost anywhere you go in the US, cities are democratic strongholds.

>WizardMarks, Central
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