I agree with Peter Schmitz. So long as financial constraints deprive us of full police and fire protection, there should be NO money spent on aid to the private sector. That includes lots of things we'd LIKE to do, but if we can't afford public safety, I'm sorry Mr. Mayor, we can't afford those things, either. Hate to tell you this, but I only have ONE pocket out of which you are taking the money. And all those other taxpayers will tell you the same thing. There AREN'T any mythical "pots", it is just the one pot of the taxpayers, with the only real distinctiion being we pay you now or we pay you later (for years). Fund public safety Mr. Mayor and all you CMs and THEN talk about private sector needs for subsidy. And don't use something that happens more than once (a killing of an immigrant) to flog the "exception" where you make a subsidy. There are those here who want to make this a special situation, but it is unfortunately NOT a special situation and should not warrant a breach of the general rule.
And to make the point I've made many times, different rules can apply WHEN we get economic recovery and a different budgetary situation. But as long as the pollice force cannot afford full staffing, don't open the public purse to those who would take a little for themselves.
Cab Companies
If they need pressure, let the drivers pressure them. They should refuse to drive in an unsafe cab. If they agree to drive an unsafe cab, I don't want to indemnify them out of public money. Most cabs now are owned or leased. There are very few of them where the driver is an employee.
Cab Rates
I'm pretty sure if the government got out of the rate game, rates would drop. I don't think there really is enough business to keep the publicly-fixed rates as high as they are. If rates dropped, business would probably pick up, but I think cab numbers would drop, too.
Library Protests
Anyone who wants to protest library cuts should take their protests to the offices or homes of Tim Pawlenty, Pat Awada and Steve Sviggum. Those are the people made certain that we would have cuts in library service. They dealt the hand the library board was forced to play. And they shouldn't be allowed to use the board as scapegoats for their antiknowledge decisions. To Pawlenty, politics trumped all other values.
________________________________________ Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community Minneapolis, MN We think. You'll like it here. And we're more fun than a barrel of Norwegians
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