I have to say something here in response to the âChris Coleman is just
another Randy
Kellyâ theme. Speaking as a neighborhood gal, I have to strongly disagree.
Over the last
five years, my neighborhood has been running defense on two projects: Gopher
State
Ethanol and the Riverview Corridor Busway. It is on GSE where we can see real,
honest
and meaningful differences between the current Mayor and Mr. Coleman.
I know that many â including me upon occasion â have taken Chris to task
for failing to
act with the level of dispatch in dealing with GSE that we wanted to see. But
we need to
keep in mind what Chris did do over the years and contrast that with the
actions of Mayor
Kelly.
First, this whole mess was not one of City making. The horridness that was GSE
should
have been prevented at the state level by a Pollution Control Agency that has
for a long
time completely abdicated its duty. The City may have been sold a bill of
goods, but the
fundamental failing was at the MPCA, an agency that has never accepted blame
for its
inept handling of this matter.
But it was the City â with considerable pushing from Chris â that pursued
the litigation
that eventually drove GSE to agree to make changes to its operations, changes
that were
not always successful, but always cost money. The City could have insisted
that the
whole mess belonged to the MPCA and left it for that agency to do the work.
The City
responded to the screaming of its citizens and took on the regulation of a
polluter who
had been given a pass by the state agency.
CASE was wonderful of course, but they were intervenors in the lawsuit, and did
not
have the resources to hire experts or use City staff to gather data that
provided the
evidence that there were better ways to cook ethanol at the plant. It was the
City doing
the MPCAâs job that provided the impetus for GSE to agree to make promises it
never
could fulfill. Throughout all of this horrible four-year drama, I feel that
our strongest
elected allies were sitting in the City Council Chambers, often listening to us
screaming
at them.
The City provided competent, capable legal expertise that worked hand in hand
with
CASE attorney Mike Unger to move the plant toward fixes. While these fixes
didnât
always work, the pressure kept up by the neighborhood, CASE, Chris, and a whole
bunch
of other people eventually drove the plant into the precarious financial
situation that led
to its shutdown and eventual bankruptcy. Chrisâs frustration was often
palpable and his
crabbiness often visible, but there was never a doubt in his mind that the
plant was a
nuisance that had to either clean up its act or go.
Contrast these actions with those of Mayor Kelly.
Mayor Kelly proclaimed over and over again that GSE was a âlegitimate
businessâ that
should be given a chance to solve its problems, and he kept saying it far too
long.
Buoyed by the support of labor leader Dick Anfang (that would be the âLâ in
DFL,
Dennis Hill), he continued to utter that meaningless phrase over and over. To
his credit,
he never did pull the plug on the Cityâs lawsuit. But the times he ventured
near the
controversy, his actions demonstrated disregard bordering on contempt for the
neighborhood.
In February, 2003, the City had some problems with the Licensing, Inspection,
and
Environmental Protection (LIEP) department. At that time, the department was
gathering
the evidence about the noise violations at GSE in preparation for the May, 2003
trial
before Judge Lindman. LIEPâs other problems (unrelated to GSE) caused the
Mayor to
establish a task force that would implement changes to the department. Mayor
Kellyâs
first two appointees announced? GSEâs registered lobbyist Bert McKasy, (who
was also
a law partner of GSEâs trial attorney) and GSE spokesperson Lisa Nasseff. So
ten weeks
before trial, the poor City employees gathering evidence found that they were
going to
owe their jobs in part to mouthpieces on the payroll of the entity they were
trying to nail
in court. The Mayor backed off only after he was called on this move by the
Pioneer
Press.
Then there is the just-before-trial trip to a hockey playoff game accepted by
Mayor Kelly
from GSEâs owner Glenn Nelson. Dobsonâs written a great deal about that
event, but
suffice it to say that it was an important view into how Mayor Kelly saw his
West 7th
constituents. Itâs not whether or not the trial was discussed â I suspect
it wasnât. But
what it did was to sneer at those of us who had worked hard, kept the issue
alive,
demanded answers and took all the right steps toward solving a problem. The
symbolic
gesture was highly significant, and I canât forget that.
When the Council amended its 2003 legislative agenda to include a goal to pass
legislation that would eliminate state producer payments that for years
required residents
to subsidize the pollution of their own neighborhood, Mayor Kelly vetoed the
provision
in a March 14, 2003, move. The Council â with Chris on it â overrode that
veto.
So from my perspective, these men are far from the Tweedledum and Tweedledee
that
others have cast them as. The one area where I know they both agree is the
need for good
development at the site that respects the historic nature of the property. I
understand the
Mayor has been a strong supporter on this front in recent weeks, and I
appreciate that.
As for the other issue that weâve been running defense on over the last few
years, it
appears as though the thing is back in the âTransit 2020â vision recently
unveiled. Itâs
been said that a bad idea never dies, so we may yet revisit that issue. Iâd
be interested in
hearing the positions of the candidates on this proposal.
Diane Gerth
Breathing easy in the West End
-------------------------------------------------
JOIN the St. Paul Issues Forum TODAY:
http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/
-------------------------------------------------
POST MESSAGES HERE: [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/
