Let me also second the motion of relocating the library up around Hamline and St Thomas. We have a High Technology sector, maybe we can have a Higher Intelligence District, too.
Jill, though, is wrong about housing. Landlords are having to HUSTLE to grab tenants. If there were a shortage of it, you'd see what they were doing a short time back, namely, charging all kinds of upfront fees to even CONSIDER tenants. Let the private sector satisfy any shortage. Put no government money into building more units. Save that money to help the poor get into existing units, or just spend it on other public needs (like saving the jobs of our police officers).
If protestors must march down the middle of a street, costing the public money, they should pony up those sums. I don't want police enforcement to suffer in order for protesters to oppose government policies (and I spend a LOT of time demonstrating against these policies, so I'm not trying to sock someone else).
This does raise one question: How about other private activities that require police services. For example, we are told that sports events like the NCAA regionals are terror hazards. Well, so why hold them? Who gets the say whether they occur? Shouldnt that group PAY the public costs? It isn't like these events HAVE to be held. They are just entertainment, after all. They aren't a vital interest of the United States. I say they should defray their own costs cash on the barrelhead. Cities that want prestige that much should decided DEMOCRATICALLY to spend scarce cash. And a city that is deciding it is FORCED to reduce public safety is insane if it is paying to put on a private entertainment event. We need SAFETY, not prestige. Get that message to city hall.
Jim Mork Cooper
Twin Cities Anti-War Protest and Speakout. Oppose George "The Man Who Would Be Caesar" Bush's Gallic war in Iraq. March 29, 2pm, Loring Park, Minneapolis
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