Dean Zimmermann notes that concerning the Riverview Supper Club site, "The Park Board does want to purchase. The Park Board has a way of coming up with money--that is not the problem at all. We have the money for this situation under control."
It is a great relief for me to hear that the Park Board has their money situation under control. Listening to them when they come to the city asking for financial help the last few years one began to think that they had some money issues. Just two years ago the Park Board prepared an Infrastructure and GAP Report showing that the $1.9 million the city annually assigned to the Park Board for capital projects was not sufficient. Their calculations showed they needed something more in the order of $10.4 million per year, a slight shortage of $8.5 million per year. Apparently at that time the Park Board didn't yet have the money situation under control like they do now so they worked with the Mayor to arrange a new tax levy for the Park Board. That should raise by 2006 an additional $5.5 million per year. That wasn't quite enough to handle their shortage however so the mayor agreed to let them transfer responsibility for the Parkway roads and the Park Board sewer system over to Public Works. That helped a bunch, since the Park Board estimated the amount of their GAP attributed to these two items alone was $4.2 million per year. For those of you who have actually heard of Infrastructure Gaps you are probably thinking of the Public Works Gap. That's the one where Public Works in 1997 identified an ANNUAL gap in maintenance for Public Works of $16 million per year and an ANNUAL gap in capital funding of $52 million per year. I'm not sure why the Mayor agreed to move these Park Board items over to Public Works, but then I suppose its easier to keep track of all the things you are not taking care of if you keep them in one place. One of my favorite movie lines of all time is "Show me the money!" Dean, I would sure like you to show where you're getting money for new parks when you have had so much trouble taking care of the ones you have. Bob Gustafson MMM __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
