I think you should not worry overly much that the feds are raising the security alert level. I may have to eat my words, but I think this is going to be about as significant as Y2K, though slightly less expensive. The real problem is not foreign terrorists, it is local thugs. And we need all the police we have to maintain security against THEM.
Regarding the library, I think the design needs to be rethunk. I'm not going to try to suggest "don't build". That might have had some meaning before the wrecking ball, but there's only forward at this point. I still like the notion of using an existing building that now represents a burden to the city.
Here's another thought about the library. How about a new referendum. It seems ludicrous to base everything on the vote when the city residents thought they were rich. Now that they KNOW (thanks to people like Pawlenty) they are poor, maybe they would have other thoughts about incurring that much debt. Recall always, that debt doesn't pay it self off, WE pay it off. And we are now SURROUNDED by debt for stupid stuff like Target Center. Maybe a more modest figure would now seem good to city taxpayers.
Regarding city revenues, what "sales tax receipts" does city government collect except the dedicated funds for the convention center?
Regarding bus stops, I have yet to think of a downside to far-side bus stops. Buses do a great service, but you don't have to mess up traffic to keep them doing that. I don't know just how expensive a mass transfer of the stops would be, but it should be done the soonest in the cheapest way.
Jim Mork Cooper
"Only a LUNATIC would cut schools to buy more bombs".
"We hold these truths to be self-evident....that governments are formed, deriving their just powers by the consent of the governed" Declaration of Independence
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