Dorie Rae Gallagher wrote:
Whomever that person is in the state making the comment should realize
the mess
RT took on the first day of office. The debt left by the beloved SSB.
When considering Rybak's attack on the debt, it's important not only to
look at the lowered debt, but to also look at how the debt was lowered,
who gained and who lost. Rybak's crew went through the budget like
Sherman through Georgia. They showed no finesse whatsoever.
Rybak came in at the NRP's 10th year. We, the body politic, through NRP
had invested some $200 million in public money which had generated
another $X00 million in private investment.
In Phillips alone (when all 4 neighborhoods were one) Honeywell, St.
Mary's, Allina, and etc. invested many millions in housing. Brian Herron
engineered that miracle. That money had a significant impact on the
safety of people who live and/or work between the freeway and Hiawatha
and from Elliot Park and roughly 42nd St. So while you're beating on
SSB, give her credit for what she did.
The idea of the NRP was to emphasize putting money up front to change
conditions which would, in turn, over the space of one generation
(measured as two decades), affect changes in the population of the areas
targeted by the NRP. There were nine (9) neighborhoods targeted for the
biggest changes.
Sharon spent to deliver on her core promise to us that she would
materially improve several areas of the city and the lives of the people
living in those areas. (Frazer had already laid the groundwork by
instituting CCP/SAFE and chairing the blue ribbon 20 year plan
committee.) Never once did I hear her say that it wouldn't cost money.
The investment being made at Lake and Chicago in the Sears complex
(which we're renamed twice now) is part of a huge scale change planned
to stretch from the U of M hospitals to HCMC to Chicago Lake to produce
ideas and products for medical use. And, simultaneously, big taxes for
the city's coffers. That's the big picture SSB et.al. worked from on the
south side. SSB carried forward Fraser's work with both CCP/SAFE and the
NRP.
RT marched right through SSB's work with hob mailed boots. A mayor with
perspicacity would have built on SSB's work when considering what he/she
had to cut from the budget. His task was to identify the gains made and
preserve those gains. That did not happen in this administration. RT
et.al. panicked and dove head first into bunker mentality, slashed and
burned without due thought.
When RT was elected, I posit, it was time to rein in all the projects
and evaluate our good outcomes and our bad outcomes and consider what
was needed to go forward from there. RT, not having been a part of any
of the work of creating the NRP, did not have the tools to surgically
cut the budget. Therefore, he wound up making a mess rather than making
an improvement. I cite CPED and the MPD as two instances where the onus
is entirely on RT. SSB did not make those two messes. They're his to own
up to.
SSB had done what she came to do by the time of the last election. It
was time for a different person to be mayor. Unfortunately, RT was not
that person. Therefore, as a city, we have overall lost ground during
his administration.
WizardMarks, Central
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