[Mpls] A false economic base for Mpls

[rhalfhill at juno.com]

   In reply to Mark Snyder, the Twins, as well as the Vikings, are private businesses.  What is the justification for Minneapolis continually shoving money at private businesses?
   I once said that if Minneapolis is going to be giving money to private individuals, they could give it to me and I would be happy to build a stadium, hire a management team to make it profitable and live off the profits.  The person I was talking to said, "Do you deserve it?"  But he totally missed my point.  Why should the City be handing out money to support the private businesses of individuals?  People automatically assume that Karl Pohlad deserves it because he has made a lot of money.  If he has made a lot of money, why is the City taking public tax monies to give him more money?  My point was that not just I but everybody in Minneapolis deserves the money as least as much as Karl Pohlad if the City is going to be sprinkling largesse onto private individuals.  In fact, nearly everybody in Minneapolis deserves it MORE than Karl Pohlad because he already has more money than most of us and we NEED it more.  And taking this logic further, homeless people in Minneapolis NEED and therefore DESERVE it more than most of us.
   The City's taking public tax monies levied from all of us to build stadiums for billionaire team owners and their millionaire employees is Robin Hood in reverse, taking from the poor to give to the rich.  It is also welfare for the rich and socialism for the rich.
   The same criticism applies to the City using public tax money to subsidize luxury housing developments for the rich, exclusive shopping centers and high rent office buildings.
   There is a legitimate place for tax increment financing if the City REALLY used the profits from the high end developments to finance affordable housing.  And by affordable I mean AFFORDABLE.  There are people who have only the minimum social security grant plus supplementation from Minnesota Supplemental Aid and food stamps, around $700.00 to $800.00 a month to live on, and these people need housing too.  If the City used the extra tax money brought in by a tax increment financing district to compleatly subsidize the construction cost, the City could build housing that these people could afford.  And extra revenue from tax increment financing can even be used to build housing for people who are now homeless by subsidizing not only the construction cost but the operating expenses of the buildings that can house these people.
   And by the way, mix the housing for different income levels together so we don't have ghettos for the formerly homeless and welfare recipients.
     Robert Halfhill   Loring Park
http://halfhillviews.greatnow.com

http://www.thepen.us/e-fraud.html