Governor Pawlenty, please don’t veto the transportation package coming out of the State legislature, we need it, badly.
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While ona drive yesterday way out of town on Hwy 52, I could not help but notice the need for much needed road repair south of Marion Township before we got to Preston. My husband and I were discussing how if Pawlenty vetoes the Transportation Bill again, this will put Minnesota way down the list of states with roads that are breaking down faster than they can be fixed or expanded. It’s getting more obvious that the southern part of the state is being neglected.
kathy,
I have to say that you’re completely wrong about the southern part of the state being neglected. Rudy Perpich made about every two lane state highway in Northern Minnesota a four lane highway. Southern Minnesota got squat. Carlson didn’t build roads during his eight years and that was a disgrace. Ventura took money out of transportation because he was mad that he had to buy expensive license tabs for his Porche. Under Pawlenty, 2006 was the biggest road construction year in Minnesota history. 2005 was the second biggest road construction year in Minnesota history. And 2004 was the third biggest road construction year in Minnesota history. Pawlenty has been very good to Southern Minnesota. You guys in Rochester got your huge Hwy 52 project done thanks to Pawlenty and some federal dollars Gil requested. Also under Pawlenty, Highway 14 will become a four lane concrete highway from Mankato to Owatonna by 2010-11. If the DFL really wanted to build roads, they would support his package to build another $1.7 billion worth of roads all across the state of Minnesota. It makes no sense to build roads piecemeal when they can and should be built at once.
Also, kathy, I was just on 52 a couple of weeks ago. I drove from Rochester to Fountain and cut across to Lanesboro for a meeting. That road is not as bad as you make it out to be. You’re just spoiled driving the new 52 that Pawlenty built in Rochester ;-).
P.S. kathy,
Just so you don’t worry needlessly, I happen to know that the section of Hwy 52 you mentioned is on the DOT’s STIP for work in the future.
That is good to know Chris. Bout &%$#**@ time!!!
This is one area where reasonable people on both sides of the aisle can agree. You’re absolutely right that Southern Minnesota has been neglected for decades. I will give Pawlenty, a suburbanite, a great deal of credit for the work done in our part of the state. He could have easily put all the money into the metro area, but he didn’t. It will be a Godsend when Hwy 14 is finally done from Mankato to Owatonna and even onto Rochester.
Wow Chris you can recite the Pawlenty/Molnau talking points with such clarity. That’s all fine, but in the real world, the bill has to eventually be paid. I know that the guv enjoys all the financial action of bonding for everything because it keeps his investment crowd working, but the fact is we are paying service debts on the bonds for years and years. Our bond rating has dropped and if the governor was serious about creating jobs that aren’t at wal-mart and mcdonalds’ pay scale, he would support a comprehensive transportation bill.
First thing we need is a DOT that is not hyper-politicized (or maybe a transportation commissioner that is qualified) but I’m not sure that is a possibility. Next, we need dedicated funds to maximize our federal match and to help keep property taxes down. Right now, our cities, counties, and townships are having to spend more on transportation because the state is shirking their responsibility. All because Timmy wants to be VP and he can’t get on the national stage if he’s raising taxes. Maybe he’ll change his mind (eg the cigarette tax, er fee) and raise the highway user fee.
Keep talking about the construction boom, because I work in the industry. The industry supports a comprehensive transportation plan to fix the problem long-term, not for political expediency.
Adam,
What I said about transportation is absolutely true. You say you’re in construction. Do you think it’s wise to build roads in Minnesota in seven mile stretches at a time? Because that’s what has happened over the last couple of decades. We sure as hell don’t build buildings that way. If you had it your way, it would take ten years to build a building on the University campus. Why is it okay for the University of Minnesota to bond for all of their buildings but it’s not okay to bond to build roads? We should bond to build new roads and use the current dollars going into transportation to maintain them. And by the way, if you’re in the road construction business, Pawlenty’s $1.7 billion road constuction plan would be an absolute gift to your industry.
Of course highways in Minensota are in a deplorable state, and due for much needed overhaul. The needed overhaul could have started sooner if Governor Pawlenty had not been so in thrall to the Taxpayers’ League and their “no tax increase” pledge. Bonding only goes so far — it’s not just an issue of building new roads, or undertaking major improvements (both appropriate uses of money raised by bonds), it’s also an issue of taking care of what we already have (something that should not be paid for by bonds). Our “leaders” should not be so fixated on posing for the cameras that they disdain realistic solutions for problems.
Chris,
Until you know more about the issue than the talking points, I will discuss this with someone else. Get out behind your ideological blinders and you may be in for an epiphany. Furthermore, if the governor wants to give us in the industry a gift, it will be Carol Molnau’s letter of resignation.
Adam,
What have I said that’s not correct? Because you’ve only called me names - you haven’t contradicted a single comment I’ve made. As for Carol Molnau, she has been an effective commissioner. Prior to her tenure as Transportaion Commissioner, they actually had a secretarial pool who used electric IBM Typewriters (not computers) to do office work. There was a lot of other waste in the Department as well, including state owned vehicles used by employees as personal cars. Your beef seems to be with the policy of the Pawlenty administration not to raise taxes. Tough. Even if you raised taxes a dime a gallon, the state would only generate about $150 million a year. So drop the name calling and the false accusations. If you disagree, tell me why. Otherwise, I’m going to discount what you’ve said as another bitter Democrat pissed off that Pawlenty trounced Hatch.
Actually, I’m much more of an El Tinklenberg-Jim Oberstar Democrat. I’m too wonkish, I admit.
First, a dime increase is projected to raise $300 million, the $150 million number is from a five cent increase. Check your numbers again.
Second, you have Pawlenty, who could moderate a little on the tax issue. He could settle on an investment in transportation and fight the income tax, or vice versa. I actually respect his stubborness. It’s just frustrating that Republicans can continue to be more selfish, wanting something for nothing. I want good schools for me, but forget about you. I want nice roads, but I don’t want to pay the bill. Even Ronald Reagan advocated raising the gas tax.
I’m not name-calling, I am making some assumptions I probably should not have about you Chris, but what frustrates me is pure, blind ideology. And if that’s the case, I should probably read something less polemic than blogs. I like some of the discussion though.
Adam,
When we have billions of dollars in road needs, what is $300 million going to accomplish, accepting your numbers, to fix the hole in transporation? Because you can’t build much of anything with $300 million. Not when we have a list of over 20 critical road projects for our state.
I oppose raising the gas tax for a couple of reasons. First, the price of gas has already had a negative impact on our economy. Adding to that price will only hurt consumers more — whether they drive on the roads or not. The cost of fuel affects all of the goods and services that are driven on our roads.
The other reason I oppose raising the gas tax is because we spend $37 billion a biennium already and we have a $2 billion surplus. We could take part of the $2 billion surplus and build roads. We have 600,000 fewer residents than Wisconsin yet we spend billions more a year than Wisconsin does. We don’t need to raise taxes - there are other more efficient ways to build roads — especially now with the MVET monies Constitutionally dedicated to transportation.