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Tom,
For starters; it's not about whether the City Council would bail out a "right-wing" bookstore. It's not even about David Unowsky's smug, preening politics - although that's also abundant, as a commenter to my blog posting on the subject yesterday noted:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=mitchpberg&comment=107512351233802475#71816
Clearly, Unowsky only nurtures the *correct* local writers.
It's about subsidizing businesses. And it doesn't matter to me *one bit* that the city has subisized Lawson or the Wild or USBank - I opposed each and every one of those deals, for the same reason. *If* government has to tax people, it should be for a *public good*. Period. I oppose ANY and ALL subsidies of private business, big or small. In a city run by Mitch Berg, this would not be negotiable. (Since it'll never happen, I can make absolute statements. Woo Hoo!)
Our libraries are groaning about being strapped for cash. Our park and rec departments have been cutting back programs and laying off staff. Our council is so desperate, it's forced to rely on inferior, imported employees like Jay Benanav...oh, wait, he was elected. Sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, the parts of city government that are *public goods* are begging for money - and Jay Benanav wants to "lend" a crony $100K, and *give* him $50K more?
And for what? Leave aside the whole "Cultural Institution" thing, which is purely subjective (and at which the Ruminator is grossly overrated) - what does the Ruminator provide the community? A few dozen jobs for college kids (anyone want to bet if they're "living wage" jobs?), some patronage for local writers (if they're any good, they'll make it - or find another institution to support them) - couldn't that money provide much more for the community if channeled elsewhere? To our libraries, park and rec...
...or, if we broke my rule, *new* small businesses? $150,000 in low-interest loans could launch a dozen cleaning companies, painting companies, carpentry contractors, daycares, pet grooming services, craft shops - each of which would employ people, create jobs, pay taxes, and pay people money they could use to buy more *books!* And the loans would stand a decent chance of being *repaid*!
But it's not about creating *real* jobs for *real* people; it's about cronyism. It's about paying back patronage. Tom misdirected my comment about the politics involved, and for very good reason - the politics stink. By lumping the likes of Borders and B'nN in with the right (they're not) and putting the inevitable scare quotes around liberal media, Tom tries to equate "corporate" with "conservative". It's wrong - corporate American is pretty apolitical as a whole - and a misdirection of the subject in any case, because my objections are not about big-picture philosophy of politics, it's about the nitty-gritty local kind.
Forget whether Jay Benanav would "lend" money to a "right wing" bookstore - would Jay Benanav "lend" money to *any* business that wasn't a political crony of his? Had this businessperson been anyone BUT a longtime neighborhood political crony of Jay Benanav, and been half a million dollars in debt, do you think Benanav would have lifted a finger?
Having a connection to Benanav is what counts. Remember his sweetheart deal with Kathy Sundberg two years ago? Do you think she'd have gotten the adjoining property for 40% of its market value had Jay Benanav NOT pushed the deal for her? Do you think Dave Unowsky would be doing anything but burping in the wind were he not a DFL crony?
This deal stinks.
Mitch Berg Da Midway!
Shot In The Dark
Minnesota's Best News Source
http://www.mitchberg.com/shotindark/
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