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
