The American Dream is to set up a small class of billionaires living off the dirt cheap labor of everyone else - with oneself as one of the billionaires.
Vast numbers of us believe we will be one of the few. A religious faith promoted by the few to get the rest of us to accept having less and less. It requires us to do all we can to push out the other folks who might take OUR spot on the top. YOU are not taking MY spot! It requires us to privatize everything. After all, WE might be the ones to own the golf courses. Having anything public diminishes by that much the resoures available to make ME rich. As for us thinking of ourselves as a community of all, well, that's about as unAmerican as you can get. Better we should play the lotto game of ME owning the golf course, than all of us being able to use it as a community resource. So you can understand the anger of the privatizers - they see it as keeping THEM from a life of riches. As for the rest of us, well, too bad, who said life was fair? In fact, the more unfair, the better for ME to be rich. A fundamental choice for all of us is - do we aim at riches as the main aim of life and devil take the hindmost, or do we prefer to live in a near-equalitarian society, with its unique pleasures? I'll take the latter. I know that to get it and keep it I will have to eternally defend it against the former. --David Shove Roseville On Tue, 12 Apr 2005, Mike Fratto wrote: > > Well Dennis, not only do I think cities should own recreation > venues, I think its in the best interest of its citizens that they > do. > > You ask about city owned liquor stores. Well, they exist all > around us. Especially in small towns. Usually they are called the > Muni for Municipal liquor. > > Back to golf. Cities own and operate playgrounds, hockey rinks, > baseball and softball fields to name only a few sport venues. While > a gold course does take up a much larger acreage than any of these, > it falls into the same category. These local facilities are > available to anyone who wants to make use of them. > > Lets add a bit more controversy. The state owns the metrodome, > Minneapolis owns the Target Center. St. Paul owns the Xcel Center. > The right to operate and profit from these venue were signed over to > private parties. Yet who gets to use them? Multi-millionaires and > their millionaire employees that is who. > > Shouldn't the common folks have an opportunity to take advantage of > public owned facilities? I think so. its a quality of life issue. > > Mike Fratto > Payne Phalen > > BTW: I don't play golf > > >>> "Dennis Tester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 04/12/2005 8:54:44 AM > >>> > > > http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/11369831.htm > > >From the Pioneer Press: > > St. Paul spent more than $4 million renovating the Highland Park > golf course, which opens today for the first time since closing for > construction in fall 2002. > > Before the makeover, Highland's poor condition drove away golfers, > said Bob Cotie, the course's head professional and manager since > 1978. The number of rounds played at Highland eroded steadily from > more than 50,000 per season in the early 1990s to about 38,000 in > 2002, he said. > "The golfers are going to love it," Cotie said. "This is a > first-class course." > > If 50,000 golfers agree, the project will have succeeded. That's > the number of rounds needed per season for the course to start > making money, Cotie said. > > The work cost $4.5 million. The city borrowed the money to pay for > the project and will use greens fees and revenue from a new driving > range that opened last year to repay the debt. The borrowing took > the form of revenue bonds, which means no city property taxes are > pledged to pay off the debt. > > Although Highland celebrates a milestone Tuesday, the course's > backers have another dream. Harris and others are working to secure > about $4 million to renovate the clubhouse, a 76-year-old building. > State lawmakers declined to include money for the project in this > year's bonding bill. > > I could never understand why the lefties in this town never seemed > to mind that the city owns and operates three golf courses. Besides > being an elitist, white-man activity that no self-respecting > activist would associate with (not unlike polo or fox hunting), > think of all the real estate that's being misused ... real estate > that could be developed into affordable housing or some other > worthwhile use. When they're finished, they will have spent $8.5 > million so rich white guys can hob-nob with their corporate clients > by using a stick to hit a ball into a hole in the ground. While > people starve. > > But seriously, as a matter of principle, should the city government > be in the business of owning and operating golf courses? What's > next, liquor stores? Don't tell ME we don't have any money. > > > Dennis Tester > Mac-Groveland > > When governments attempt to control the economy for the good of the > people, they end up controlling the people for the good of the > economy > > > > > ------------------------------------------------- > 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/ > > ------------------------------------------------- > 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/ > ------------------------------------------------- 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/
