VOTE YES FOR TRANSPORTATION
I was disappointed at John Edstroms editorial on the ½ cent sales tax!
Without this dedicated tax, we will be strapped and stalled for years on making
needed safety improvements in the City of Winona. This sales tax unlike the
other 6.5% sales tax we pay into will STAY completely in Winona. The list of
projects are like your wish list for home improvements. The priorities are set
by the most outstanding needs over the period of time, and by the Citys
abilities to find MATCHING FEDERAL, STATE and PRIVATE GRANTS! They want our
dollars to go as far as possible on as many projects as we can do with the
limited amount of money that we can collect. That is what I call good
conservative government. I served on three comprehensive planning task forces
for the City this past year and can assure you that the City does want to do
what the citizens are asking for to improve our City.
If we do not pass this tax, your property taxes may be the next alternative
or risk a lower bond rating because some of these projects must be done at some
point to protect our citizens, therefore we may need to bond for them. Our dikes
protect us from the Mississippi River. Without good pumps our City could once
again flood like New Orleans! Does anyone remember the 1965 flood? The CP
railroad will see an average growth of about 1 to 2 additional trains per year
projected for their increase growth in world trade without any DM&E
expansion, which incidentally I do not feel will add that many more trains
because of alternate routes. Remember the CP Railroad is a Canadian Railroad
wanting to do more business with Mexico. We need to wake up to the fact that we
are in a WORLD GLOBAL economy and Winona is just one little part of this bigger
world. The fact is, without the REQUIRED matching funds for road and overpass
improvements, we will be short changed in all federal and state available funds
for transportation. So our federal and state taxes that we pay into the system
will go to other communities that are smart enough to raise and budget matching
money for infrastructure improvements.
Negative attitudes in this city are killing our progress. We may envy
Rochester, but they have a city sales tax to take advantage of the federal and
state transportation dollars. I hope this community understands how the system
works and just what this ½ cent tax will do for Winona.
People who want to purchase clothing are not going to rush off to La Crosse
because of this ½ cent sales tax because Wisconsin has sales tax on
clothing and Minnesota does not! That is one reason you see Penneys,
K-Mart, Maggies, Wall-Mart, Target etc. full of Wisconsin license plates in
Winona. Actually, some small businesses have benefited from the additional
traffic into the city created by Wall-Mart and Menards, etc.. While they are
here they stop to eat, pick up other specialty things not offered in the big
boxes. Incidentally, there was a desire for more retail when the last ½ cent tax
was levied and the rest of the land is being developed for industrial
development. We-No-Nah Canoe, Inc. is just one example and others are making
plans when the infrastructure is completed.
VOTE YES FOR TRANSPORTATION! Also Vote Yes for the State Amendment. All of
those dollars collected were intended for transportation and at one time
Minnesota had some of the best roads in the nation. Now we are at least twenty
years behind with bridges that are needing to be constantly repaired and
routinely checked because they are nearing condemnation status. We as voters now
have the opportunity to take leadership for our future. Do not let the bickering
special interest groups fight over half of our transportation taxes collected.
Yes the 40% for transit can be used in Winona! We have a bus service to maintain
and we could add bus shelters at more designated stops to keep riders out of the
rain and cold winds. We most likely would be able to use the money for
overpasses or underpasses at railroad crossings since Amtrak is a passenger
transit service through the city of Winona. In addition, currently we are
in a very precarious situation with having no other access to the northern part
of the City of Winona off of Hwy. 61 from the west bound lane coming from La
Crosse other than the Hwy. 61/43 Mankato Avenue intersection, unless you want to
count going through Fleet Farms private property appropriate access. If that
Hwy. 61/43 intersection were disabled (example - truck hazardous spill), we
would not be able to get fire and emergency vehicles or Hwy. 61 traffic into or
around this intersection. We may actually be in violation of the States fire
safety and evacuation codes. Now with the new middle school on the south side of
Hwy. 61, we need to be even more concerned about the safety of children and the
growing population to the south of Hwy. 61.
VOTE YES FOR TRANSPORTATION AMENDMENT AND THE ½ CENT SALES TAX
Leone J. Mauszycki
