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I'm afraid I hafta agree with Mitch. Unless every business person in St. Paul could get the same kind of deal from the City Council this thing smells bad. It looks like a big Christmas gift to the progressive voters. It doesn't even come close to fitting in the criteria to what cities are supposed to use TIF for. I can't believe the progressives are talking about using taxes in such an offhand manner. If the big boys can do it than we can too? What kind of sense does that make? When you divert local property taxes to subsidize businesses, that means that the existing businesses and the residents have to pick up a bigger share of the school taxes, city taxes and county taxes. Bummer. I don't think there are any laws that make it legal to give tax money to private businesses to bail them out. See if you can find some asbestos or huge pollution problem on the site that needs to be cleaned up. That is what tax money is for. Renee Jenson Como ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mitch Berg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 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/ _____________________________________________ 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
