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At 11:23 PM 1/25/04, Tom Goldstein / Elysian Fields Quarterly wrote:
I think it's fine for Mitch and Debra to have a healthy skepticism of a deal that benefits a private enterprise, especially one that is struggling financially. And sure, David Unowsky made a number of bad business decisions that have contributed to Ruminator's current situation. But before Mitch gets too far up on his high horse, I might point out that the building project that houses the Bound to be Read bookstore at Victoria and Grand was heavily subsidized by the city (a store owned by Stanley Hubbard's daughter, hardly someone who needs the city's help).
Er, why are you tying this to *my* "high horse"? For those with short memories, I oppose, and have always opposed, government cash handouts to businesses. All of them - big business or small, no matter who the owner.
This is in keeping with the fact that I was a libertarian even *before* John Ashcroft took office.
And need I mention all the money that Norm Coleman handed out during his eight years in office, involving hundreds of millions of dollars? You know, Lawson Software built for $110 million, sold to Frauenschuch Companies for $56 million, etc., while all those jobs that Lawson was supposed to create keep disappearing month after month.
Yep - another casualty of the Clinton Bubble, and yet more ill-conceived business decisions, AND another government handout I opposed.
So if the city wants to make what Mitch calls a "risky" loan in the neighborhood of $100,000, so what?
Bzzzt. Wrong answer. $100,000 here, $100,000 there, repeat a few dozen times, and pretty soon you're talking real money.
OUR money.
I know - this list is a DFL-Green playground, and most of you don't observe the concept of private property. :-)
Then there's the topic of the store itself:
I think it's okay for the city to invest money in a place that's provided a lot of cultural enrichment for thousands upon thousands of folks the past thirty years. I might also add that it's not like the City is bailing Ruminator out. There's over $100,000 that's been raised from private individuals, as well as several other financing sources that have been tapped,
Well, that's good.
Now - for all of you who say "no bailouts to rich capitalists" - well, do you mean it, or don't you? Or do you only mean rich capitalists who aren't enthusiastic DFLers who run "our favorite" businesses? Y'know, like football teams?
When Ruminator asks the city for millions of dollars, then you can raise eyebrows and complain about the lack of equal treatment or favoritism towards only certain businesses in town. But I could find the amount of money that Ruminator needs in attorneys fees that the city paid out to do the Wild Arena deal, so this is really a disingenuous comparison.
Nothing disingenuous about it. I oppose the Wild deal, absolutely and without compromise. Always have, always will. I oppose the Ruminator handout the same way. Unlike some of you, principle doesn't take a back seat to expedience - or party loyalty.
To wit:
Ruminator is admittedly a place where progressives feel more at home than City Hall or Barnes & Noble, but you know what, if you look at the voting in the last election, this is an overwhelmingly democratic city. Why can't the people who are in the majority get something they want once in a while, as opposed to all the backroom deals that suck away the downtown property tax base?
Ah. So what you're really saying is "we're in charge, we can use public money pretty much any way we want, and there's really nothing you can do to stop us". Try to read what you just wrote any other way.
Sorry. I'm a taxpayer. Taxes aren't supposed to be about "getting what they want" - they're supposed to be about spending for the common good. This is money that could - SHOULD - go to the city's library budget, or Park and Rec, or, hell, buying enough garlic to ward off Susan Gaertner for all I care. NOT propping up a failed businessman (but a failed businessman with big connections to unethical politicians).
This would be in keeping with the way the City Council hands out patronage in this town - especially Benanav. Being a pal and election-year supporter of Benanav's seems to be the main qualification for getting big help from the City. Last year's cut-rate sale of tax-foreclosure property to a neighborhood DFL capo, and now this - isn't it obvious to everyone that this is backroom glad-handing that would make a Texas ward chief blush with embarassment?
I hit the Ruminator roughly monthly. My daughter, who goes to school nearby, goes there a lot. I swear - if the city uses our tax money to bail out the Ruminator, neither of us will spend another dime there, ever again.
Either you oppose handouts, or you don't.
Mitch Berg Da Midway!
Shot In The Dark
The Truth about MNPOL
http://www.mitchberg.com/shotindark/2003_12_28_archive.html#107297559725691783
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