Sounds like a jeopardy category doesn't it? Many posts about the Access Project love to speak of its cost and how excessive it is.
David Piehl responds about my claim that the Access Project is not Target or Block E: No, it isn't; at a price tag approaching $200 million, it's over three times as expensive as Target, and about six times as expensive as Block E. Scott Persons: Two problems with this statement, first, the Access Project is solely an infrastructure project, it reconfigures and redevelops public right of ways only. Target and Block E were subsidies that the City did for private developments. The second problem is David's math, the cost to the City taxpayer on these projects was 65 and 39 million respectively. (my memory here, I'm open to corrected numbers, but you all get the idea) the City is on the hook for 10 million for the Access Project. What David should have said is that the Access Project is about 3 times lower the cost to you than Block E and 6 times lower than the cost to you than Target. You see, David and his fellow travelers don't have any alternative funded and supported plan to show you so they have to inflate numbers or claim that the sky is falling when what is really happening is that outside capital is being invested in our communities. A couple of job comments came up: David again: Ah, the promise of jobs for the neighborhood - always a selling point; too bad it doesn't generally pan out that way. Phillips neighborhood has some of the highest unemployment on the south side, and even without the access project, there are more jobs in the Phillips neighborhood than residents - problem is those jobs are available to suburbanites too - if the jobs at Wells Fargo were to be filled by local residents, why would expanded freeway access be an issue? And Tom Welling: It would seem that the access project didn't provide those jobs either, since it's just a concept (ill-conceived) at the moment. Why on earth should taxpayers spend $200 million when the alleged benefit of spending the money is happening all on it's own. Now, if Wells Fargo would hire more than a token amount of neighborhood residents, we'd really be able to call it progress! Perhaps that's what the Access Project is for, to get Wells Fargo to hire local residents? Scott Persons: Personally, I am an agnostic about who fills a job, that is for the market to decide. The more jobs we have in our neighborhoods the more opportunity people have to find work, I rather like the idea of more suburbanites coming to the city to work during the day, getting to meet their urban counterparts and letting the folks they know that this isn't such a bad area after all. We are all in the same region here despite your evangelizing about urban vs. suburban choices. I can be as smug as the next guy about the suburbs but give it rest, everybody needs a job and I'd rather have more jobs here than in some other part of our region. David is just plain against this project and he has practiced all sorts of rhetorical jujitsu to stop it. Tom's response to my Wells Fargo comment is fair. I do however think that businesses announce these sorts of things in anticipation of expected conditions. I think Wells is also reminding us that they are planning on being here for the long term, that's a good reminder for our elected officials in the coming months. Let's support the job creators in our community. Finally the dancing thing: Russell Raczkowski writes: Huh? So does that mean that Smith Parker and the Auto Industry brought you so you (we) have to dance with them? You *dance* for cash? What is your point? Scott Persons: My dancing analogy seems to have missed its point. I am not getting any monetary compensation for advocating this project. I am very interested in capital improvements to our community. There are incredible amenities that are tied to this project, I would like them in our region. STRIDE offers us nothing but empty, unfunded rhetoric and personal attacks. Scott Persons Lyndale Neighborhood TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
