Hi, As many of you know, I am a self-proclaimed lurker to the Issues Forum. I haven't actively particpated because since I have an opinion on EVERYTHING, I could easily spend a great deal of time e-mailing my thoughts and do nothing else. But the dike-ah the dike. This issue goes back many years for me when the District 4 Community Council first had it on their agenda. They were getting a fair amount of complaints due to the noise and so the first step was to invite a MAC representative to a D-4 meeting. As I recall, the MAC rep said that he was not sure why this had all of a sudden become an issue since the St. Paul Airport had a rep from D-4 on their Holman Field advisory board. He had no idea who the rep was but assured us that we were represented. After doing some checking on this person, we discovered that our rep had passed away. It seemed odd to me that if the MAC was so concerned about the neighborhood that they would not have notified someone/anyone that a new rep needed to be appointed. The context I am trying to provide is that many of my constituents have had very strong feelings about the airport for as long as I have been in office. Now onto the issue at hand. The issue that was before the city council was whether or not the city should allocate our Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) dollars to Holman Field. As you know our pool of CIB dollars is very limited. CIB dollars compete against one another for funding. This competition takes place between city owned and operated facilities. Obviously these include fire stations, rec centers and the like. Spending money on the dike takes directly away from these other very important city projects. It is a matter of priorities for me. I have a playground that has had the equipment removed because it is unsafe. The maintanence dollars that have been skimmed off Parks for the last several years have left our playgrounds in a very sorry state.
I think a freeway exit for westbound I-94 at Ruth Street is a good idea. It would certainly help the economic development of Sunray Shopping Center and Suburban Avenue. Should the city take on the responsibility of constructing this off ramp? Sure it is important but is it more important that city projects? I have other issues with Holman Field and the way that operation has a negative impact on my neighborhoods but the issue that I voted on had to do with funding a project that is not our responsibility. The other ramifications of Holman Field may eventually come before the council but the vote we took on Wednesday only had to do with how we allocate our CIB dollars. I hope this info helps. Thanks, Kathy Lantry Ward 7 City Councilmember _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________ 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/
