Mike Hohmann wrote in a post that he believes he heard something to the effect that the savings to the MPRB due to their proposed move will be quite meagre well into the future.
That is only the half of it. Beyond the initial purchase price of $2.9 million it is estimated that remodeling and the costs of moving will add another $2.5 million for a grand total of $5.6 million. What this means according to some people's estimates is an additional $1/3 million in MPRB's budget until the year 2011. The public has been in the dark about this deal until a purchase agreement was signed. The only out it seems is if the land is polluted, a not so indistinct possibility given the building use as a printer of business forms. It seems strange to say this but one can only hope it is an environmentally degraded site. To my knowledge the MPRB had no negotiations with the Grain Exchange regarding lease payments. Given that the city is experiencing a minor glut of office space it seems to me to be a renters market. Draw your own conclusions. Neither did MPRB consider other properties on the open market or in the city's portfolio. Did MPRB work with MCDA? Isn't MCDA the city's agency that deals with just this sort of thing? Or supposed to be? Did MPRB negotiate more favorable parking rates with the city in the Haaf ramp? There is no reason MRPB offices and Maintenaince need to be in the same building though centralizing maintenance in one location if that is an objective may be sensible. Furthermore, government offices ought to be located in the core city where they are accessible to the greatest number of people who may be dependent upon public transit. How transit friendly is MPRB's new site???????? Or how about this? Does the City's Currie Avenue Maintenance facility run at 100% capacity? (Please don't get me started on the idea that it would have seemed to make greater sense for the radio shop and the maintenance facility to be in opposite locations). When I was in business I remember the positively giddy feeling when I knew one more of our trucks was running a few more hours a day or when I came to the garage in the middle of the night and saw mechanics at work. I don't know the answer to a lot of these questions but I get the feeling from what some have told me that these sorts of ideas were not given due consideration in light of the city's current financial conditions before MPRB signed a purchase agreement. It all seems a bit arrogant to me. And finally why have we only seen mention of this now in the Strib? I don't fault reporters so much as I do editors and more importantly publishers. There is enought work around City Hall and other areas of government for many more reporters. Investigative reporters! Watchdogs, not lapdogs who regurgitate what an information officer or politician has fed them for their own benefit. How about a writer who could draw a parallel between the Mayor of New York marching in the Pride parade but starting after it passed St. Patrick's Cathedral with our Mayor who dropped out of Critical Mass just about the time people started doing what they intended to do from the start: PROTEST!!!!! Tim Connolly Downtown West __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.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
