I don't doubt Mike Hohmann's experience or credentials. I was speaking
to the cynicism of the comment. One role of government is to mitigate
market failure. If one believes that communities can't make positive
changes without catastrophe brought on by market failure, that will
shape one's view even of good analysis.
There are two tracks of thought represented in the paragraphs below.
One is that government can work toward the common good by using
planning and rules. The other is that government can work toward the
common good by subsidizing private companies. I'd hope we can agree
that we'd be better off with less of the latter. "[P]ie-in-the-sky,
feel-good boondoggles" are a rather small percentage of the boondoggles
we taxpayers finance.
Becca Vargo Daggett
Seward
Granted, there are many things that can be done to reduce our
dependence on
imported petroleum-- some smart things, some dumb things. Improving
mileage
efficiency standards is smart, some schemes to produce renewable liquid
fuels less smart. There is tremendous opportunity to achieve energy
savings
and a degree of local independence via decentralized, co-generation
projects
that serve multiple end-uses/users, while adding diversity to avoid
conventional grid bottlenecks. Land use planning, local codes and
ordinances, building design standards can all play important rolls in
improving our energy consumption patterns and our quality of life.
Reducing
greenhouse gasses is important, but that doesn't necessarily mean we
need
more nukes-- although there are those selling that scenario.
Just because the government says we need subsidies to make this happen
or
some entrepreneur lays out a plan to make us less dependent on
imported oil
or N. Dakota coal, doesn't mean it's a good plan per se. There's a
myriad
of technical and economic variables to be considered. Private
investors can
decide to build a wind farm and assume risk in anticipation of good
results.
However, when elected leaders decide to spend public tax dollars on one
project vs. another, there had better be some good analysis done on the
front end to assure taxpayers that the investment is sound. That's
what
vision and leadership are all about in the public sector. Making sound
investments rather than contributing to pie-in-the-sky, feel-good
boondoggles should be of key importance to voters and taxpayers. And,
I'll
put my credentials and experience in these areas up against any other
candidate running for local office in Minneapolis.
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