On 5/12/05 9:58 PM, "Greg Abbott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The real news story here is R.T.'s irrational and paranoid response > to Peter's criticism. At a minimum it raises a big red flag about > what a second Rybak administration might look like. Let's maintain some semblance of perspective here. Rybak has been taking cheap shots from McLaughlin on everything from how Minneapolis is supposedly a "one-fire town" to how it's the return of 1995 and Murderapolis for going on five months now and I'm sure he's getting tired of it. While that doesn't totally excuse the Karl Rove comments, there is some truth to the point that McLaughlin has been engaging in scare tactics since he announced his candidacy in December. Here are some real facts to chew on if you think Rybak and the current City Council are twiddling their thumbs while crime runs rampant. Minneapolis Police Department budget 1997: $80,927,832 1998: $87,468,554 1999: $89,933,005 2000: $94,448,175 2001: $95,286,294 2002: $99,551,497 2003: $99,448,921 2004: $99,487,569 2005: $102,481,580 Notice that the police department's budget has increased by more than $20 million in the past nine years. Notice also that since Rybak and the current Council took office in 2001, the police department's budget has increased by $7 million. Notice how when the city's budget was getting mauled during the lean times of LGA cuts and property tax shifts from 2002 to 2004, the police department budget was hardly touched. In my opinion, Rybak's actions in protecting the police department budget during massive city budget cuts speak a lot louder than McLaughlin's cheap-shot artistry. Annual budgets can be found at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/city-budget/ Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
