David:
I've noticed that the Progressive Calendar has not only notices of specific
events but also articles of more general interest. Do the articles have to be
from national publications? If not, my reply to Mark Snyder on stadium
financing and an article I wrote on medicinal marijuana might be appropriate?
Please notify me if these submissions are not suitable for the Calendar so I
can avoid wasting both your and my time by submitting them.
Robert Halfhill
In reply to Mark Snyder, the Twins, as well as the Vikings, are private
businesses. What is the justification for Minneapolis continually showing
money at private businesses?
I once said that if Minneapolis is going to be giving money to private
individuals, the could giveit to me and I would be happy to build a stadium,
hire a management team to make it profitable and live off the profits. The
person I was talking to said, "Do you deserve it?" But he totally missed my
point. Why should the City be handing out money to support the private
businesses of an individuals? People aautomatically assume that Karl Pohlad
deserves it because he has made a lot of money. If he has made a lot of money,
why is the City taking public tax monies to give him more money? My point was
that not just I but everybody in Minneapolis deserves the money as least as
much as Karl Pohlad if the City is going to besprinkling largesse onto private
individuals. In fact, nearly everybody in Minneapolis deserves it MORE than
Karl Pohlad because he already has more money than most of us and we NEED it
more. And taking this logic further, homeless people in Minneapolis
NEED and therefore DESERVE it more than most of us.
The City's taking public tax monies levied from all of us to build stadiums
for billionaire team owners and their millionaire employees is Robin Hood in
reverse, taking from the poor to give to the rich. It is also welfare for the
rich and socialism for the rich.
The same criticism applies to the City using public tax money to subsidize
luxury housing developments for the rich, exclusive shopping centers and high
rent office buildings.
There is a legitimate place for tax increment financing if the City REALLY
used the profits from the high end developments to finance affordable housing.
And by affordable I mean AFFORDABLE. There are people who have only the
minimum social security grant plus supplementation from Minnesota Supplemental
Aid and food stamps, around $700.00 to $800.00 a month to live on and these
people need housing too. If the City used the extra tax money brought in by a
tax increment district to compleatly subsidize the construction cost, te City
could build housing that these people could afford. An extra revenue from tax
increment can even be used to build housing for people who are now homeless by
subsidizing not only the construction cost but the operating expenses of the
building that can house these people.
And by the way, mix the housing for different income levels together so we
don't have ghettos for the formerly homeless and welfare recipients.
Robert Halfhill Loring Park
http://halfhillviews.greatnow.com
http://www.thepen.us/e-fraud.html
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