Brandon Lacy wrote:
If we want to sustain our city, then we need to STOP giving out enormous
subsidies to corporations (and for those of you who believe that subsidies
to corporations create jobs...please show me one example in recent history
in Minneapolis where the value of the subsidy has or will been returned to
the city in the number of jobs created, and I'll point you to the current
article in CityPages about Norm Coleman's failed experiment in St. Paul). We
need to stop crowing for public financing of sport entertainment projects,
and we need to redirect our spending to where it counts. We need to focus on
small business development, improved tranpsortation infrastructure, decrease
of urban sprawl, job creation, debt reduction, education, affordable
housing, and mixed use development. How many jobs could have been created
with the financing that went into Block E Development and Target's downtown
store? How about the money to move the Shubert Theater?
Good heavens, Brandon, you better watch how you talk or people
will start thinking you've joined the Green Party, or worse yet the
Republicans. :)
Seriously, though, the only point on which I disagree with you is
that you don't think we need a renewed emphasis on crime control.
You may be correct that the overall level of crime in the city has dropped,
but in Phillips and Hawthorne (that is where Dyna's at, right?) it seems
that we're getting the bulk of it concentrated in our laps, and as Dyna
correctly points out, it's kinda tough to persuade people to invest in
businesses when you have that sort of thing going on. For that matter,
in the last six months we've lost two businesses on Franklin: Instrument
Control, which has been here for dog's years, has finally closed up shop,
and the SA at 11th & Franklin has now closed as well.
So. We know the police are busting all the dealers and crack whores
they can plausibly bust, but there seems to be a serious leak in the pipeline
of justice since the numbers don't seem to drop much from day to day.
Fix that, and maybe we can get some more business investment here and
in Hawthorne, maybe even somebody to renovate the Sears building.
Kevin Trainor
Republican Candidate HD 61A
East Phillips
www.taxpayersfortrainor.org
