The amazing thing is that Al says these things, but then doesn't take the
opportunity he had in the last eight years to propose Superfund reform. How
much land along the Hiawatha corridor is lying unused? The way the enviro
laws are now it will stay that way. Any business in their right mind will
avoid an old former industrial area like this because they would be
responsible to clean up any nastiness found after they buy the plot and
start construction. So they go out to the burbs and beyond to find a piece
of land that was never anything but a woodlot or a farm.
Reforming Superfund - no action
Cleaning up brownfields - no action
Voting for Gore - no action
Rich Chandler - Ward 9
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Rocker
> Contrary to what Nader supporters say, Gore and Bush are not the same when
> it comes to urban policies that will effect Minneapolis. Following is an
> excerpt from Gore's speech to the Brookings Institution that demonstrates
> Gore's grasp of issues facing Minneapolis. The complete text can be found
> at http://www.algore.com/speeches/sprawl.html. If Gore or Bush had a clear
> lead, I would urge Nader supporters to vote for Nader and get the Green
> Party $12 million. But, the biggest positive impact Nader can have this
> election is to get out the vote for Gore. Who knows, maybe Gore will
> appoint him head of the EPA.
>
> Here's part of what Gore said:
>
> "In the last fifty years, we've built flat, not tall: because land is
> cheaper the further out it lies, new office buildings, roads, and malls go
> up farther and farther out, lengthening commutes and adding to pollution.
> This outward stretch leaves a vacuum in the cities and suburbs which sucks
> away jobs, businesses, homes, and hope; as people stop walking in downtown
> areas, the vacuum is filled up fast with crime, drugs, and danger...
>
> "How, then, can the federal government encourage and strengthen smarter,
> more livable, sustainable growth? Again, smart growth is about local and
> community decisions, and we don't want to tell anyone where to live, or
> where to locate a business. But I believe there is nevertheless an
> important role for federal support for local energies.
>
> "We in the federal government can start by getting our own house in order,
> and making it look good. We should start paying closer attention to
> livability in the building and planning we provide to taxpayers-such as
> where we locate new post offices, new libraries, new federal buildings and
> so on, and whether we should fix up old beautiful old buildings in
> historic areas before rushing to build bland new ones farther out.
>
> "Secondly, we can get our own house in order by reexamining federal
> policies that may have been well-intentioned, but have encouraged and
> subsidized the wrong kind of growth and runaway sprawl. For example, in
> some cases, federal subsidies actually gave handsome financial rewards to
> communities to extend sewage lines far out into undeveloped areas, rather
> than spending those funds for needed improvements and expansions in places
> where families already relied on them. And until we changed the policy,
> the federal government gave employers big subsidies to offer parking
> spaces to their employees, but much less help if they wanted to help cover
> their employees' mass transit costs. We need a national dialogue on the
> kinds of policies that actually subsidize and encourage the wrong kind of
> development.
>
> "Third, we can provide carefully targeted incentives to encourage smarter
> growth-such as support for mass transit and light rail systems-not to
> restrict growth in any way, but to reward growth that strengthens
> family-friendly communities.
>
> "Fourth, we can play an enormously positive role as a partner with cities,
> suburbs, and rural areas, as we have already started to do through our
> empowerment initiative and through out work with the U.S. Conference of
> Mayors and the National Association of County Organizations on their
> brand-new Joint Center for Sustainable Communities. That way, whole
> regions can create a vision and build together for their common future."
>
> John Rocker - CARAG
