Greg Luce writes:
I appreciate great interest in the MAC noise insulation program and the significant efforts the Rybak administration takes to extend noise insulation to other homes, at no cost to the property owner. But, I cannot help but point out how incredibly unjust this effort is, given other priorities in the city--in particular lead poisoning of the more than 4,000 children in the city since 1989, most of whom are disproportionately children of color. Consider this:
Ron Lischeid comments:
The difference here is that the noise insulation program is not funded by tax money- it is paid for by Passenger Facility Charges (PFC) which is a surcharge attached to tickets of passengers using MSP- those that use the airport and the services of the airlines that serve MSP pay a small fee to help reduce the pollution that their use of the airport creates- and it should be pointed out the these PFC's have no impact on Northwest's or any other airlines bottom lines- this is a dedicated funding source created to finance the sound insulation program. Users of the airport, not the airlines and not the taxpayers, pay for the program.
This will be atleast the third time that I have made this suggestion:
Why not add some fee (like a $1.00 a gallon) to every drop of paint sold in Minnesota as a dedicated funding source for lead paint abatement- when all of the lead paint has been eliminated, eliminate the funding source. This ties the solution of the problem to the original source of the problem.
And finally, I think that it is safe to assume that the 5-bedroom / 2-bath house in the Keewaydin neighborhood that was worth $261,000 in 2000 and is worth $416,000 today owes its increase in value more to the value of a 5 bedroom/2 bath house in today's Minneapolis housing market and to the general increases in residential property values in Minneapolis over the past 4 years more than it does to the fact that it has new windows and insulation.
1. Property owners in the MAC sound insulation program--just in Minneapolis alone and not in other participating suburbs--have received more than $150 million in home improvements since 1994, including free windows, doors, insulation, central air and heat, etc. Property owners since 1990 who must deal with a lead-poisoned child--either in an apartment they own or in their own homes--have received less than one-tenth of that amount, but must also match any money provided by grants.
2. Some South Minneapolis properties assessed at more than $400,000 have received more than $120,000 in sound abatement improvements. Consider 5014 Woodlawn Blvd., in the city's Keewaydin neighborhood. Currently valued for tax purposes at $416,500, it received $121,400 in improvements during the spring and summer of 2000 (by the way, the value of this 5 bedroom two-bath home went from $261,000 in 2000 to its current assessed value of $416,000 today).
Ron Lischeid Sleep in Stadium Village, work downtown, office in Windom
REMINDERS:
1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
