St. Paul E-Democracy Links http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/links.html _________________________________________ Tom,
Very well put. I really do hope the Ruminator survives and I am willing to do my bit to see that it happens. The Ruminator is a far more worthy object of city assistance than most of the other firms that have gotten help in the past. The idea that the Ruminator isn't any different than other bookstores is just nonsensical. I put it in the category of the U Film Society, one of the things that makes the Twin Cities a uniquely wonderful place to live. And behind these places are people like Al Milgrom (the Film Society) and Dave Unowsky (the Ruminator). Perhaps they're not the best business people in the area but the Twin Cities would be much poorer without them. Charlie Swope Ramsey Hill --- Tom Goldstein / Elysian Fields Quarterly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > St. Paul E-Democracy Links > http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/links.html > _________________________________________ > > > Whew! I didn't realize that folks would make > Ruminator Books the poster child for what the city > should or shouldn't do in terms of extending loans > to private businesses. As I said in my first post, > folks should be skeptical of any deal that the city > makes involving public funds. But it amazes me that > Ruminator, a business that's been around for 34 > years and been a landmark on Grand Avenue for so > many years would be held to such a high standard of > demonstrated need when multi-million dollar projects > have been getting approved by the city for the past > twenty years, often with dubious or no benefits > except for the financial gains of the well-heeled > developers and landowners. And why, given the city's > contribution to helping put a competitor (Bound to > be Read) on Grand Avenue--tell me that's an > appropriate us of city money!--shouldn't Ruminator > get some assistance to "level the playing field" (as > George Bush loves to say)? Why so much angst because > the city is putting together a loan package that > indeed might be risky, but also might save a going > concern that many folks in the community value? The > debt load on the city is something like a billion > dollars for all the projects and loans that the city > has committed to everything from Gopher State > Ethanol to Xcel Center to US Banks, and yet we're > going to draw the line with Ruminator? > > Given the choice, I'd much rather see the city loan > $100,000 to ten or twenty or 100 businesses like > Ruminator that have made mistakes, are locally > owned, and will continue to give back to the > community if they survive. (Do the math--that would > still only come to somewhere between $1-10 million, > about 1/10 to 1 percent of what's been handed out in > so many other deals). Had that been what Norm > Coleman did during his eight years, the whole city > would be much better off, we wouldn't still be > losing jobs at companies that have no ties to our > community, and there would be lots more bonding > authority to assist other small dollar deals now. > > I don't want to bore everyone with the details, but > if you're really interested in Ruminator's financial > situation, pick up a copy of the stock prospectus at > the store. Nobody's going to get rich if the various > financing mechanisms come together to keep the store > afloat and pay back Macalester College, the main > creditor of the store. Good businessman or not, > David Unowsky has poured all his financial resources > into his business right now, and I suspect he is > drawing little or no salary at the present time. At > best, the business survives and maybe some day David > can afford to retire. Mary Baker's right; the city > probably wouldn't loan $100,000 to every similarly > situated business, but how many similarly situated > businesses are there? At a time when free speech is > being severely threatened and limited by the > government and that so-called "liberal" media, it > seems that a bookstore like Ruminator, a place where > lots of alternative ideas get promoted, is a rather > unique and important entity. Mitch Berg correctly > points out that if this were a "right wing" > bookstore, there wouldn't be much clamor to keep the > place alive. But you know what? The right wing, or > whatever you want to call the powers that be with > all the monopoly control, have already gained > billions in subsidies by rewriting the laws, > engaging in unprecedented mergers, consolidating > enormous wealth, etc. As Paul Wellstone would say, > they don't need our help. Ruminator is a place for > the little guys (and gals) in the world, one of the > last such places, relatively speaking, in the > country. That bookstores might be going the way of > the dodo, as Charlie Swope points out, may be true, > but it's not necessarily the result of only market > forces at play. How about if we have Bound to be > Read pay its share of the subsidy that got the > building at Grand and Victoria built to Ruminator, > and then we'll call it a draw? And while we're at > it, let's calculate the state subsidies that went > towards creating the Mall of America, that monster > that regularly funnels millions of dollars to > out-of-state corporations and slowly wipes out main > street stores across the metro area, and put a chunk > of that toward businesses like Ruminator as well. > > It's fine to talk about capitalism and healthy > competition being good for the economy and all that, > but I've yet to see any dominant business get that > way without somehow gaining government subsidies or > engaging in some type of predatory pricing scheme. > So as far as I'm concerned, we can fund a hundred > Ruminators in St. Paul and we wouldn't come close to > leveling the playing field so severely tilted toward > corporate America. > > Tom Goldstein > Mac-Groveland > > _____________________________________________ > NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your > password - visit: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul > > Archive Address: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ > _____________________________________________ > For state and national discussions see: > http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
