Mayor Chris Coleman has issued an Op-Ed on the 35W bridge collapse as it relates to Local Government Aid and I think he makes some excellent points. It begins above the break and continues below:
A Time to Act for Minnesota
Saint Paul Mayor Chris ColemanIn the hours after the I-35W bridge collapsed, there was a moment when Minnesota’s politics were worthy of national respect. Leaders came together across jurisdictions and political parties and were clear about our priorities: rescue the injured, find the lost, understand what happened and why, rebuild the bridge, and commit ourselves to creating long-term solutions to short-term budget issues. We knew there were tough decisions to be made, but we resolved to make them. In that instant, we understood the obligations of leadership.
The framework for moving forward was clear. Not only did we need to address the calamity in front of us, but we needed to finish the business of the 2007 session. Local Government Aid, as approved by the Legislature and previously agreed to by the governor, is a key part of that business.
Let me take a minute to explain why.
Local Government Aid was created in 1971 as part of the “Minnesota Miracle” - a package of property tax reforms designed to promote economic growth throughout the state without placing an unfair burden on any given community. The objective was to use the income tax revenue the state collects from individuals and businesses based on their ability to pay to compensate communities asked to meet higher levels of need. It added an important progressive element to our tax system.
Gov. Wendell Anderson and the members of the Legislature understood what the Itasca Group and the Brookings Study documented 35 years later - that disparities in education and income across the region stifle economic growth for the whole state. The Minnesota Miracle was the legislative reflection of Paul Wellstone’s favorite adage, “We all do better when we all do better.” And just as those forward-thinking political leaders in the 1971 Legislature had planned - we all did better.
If Minnesota wants to compete for the “creative class” - that group of young people who will find the cure for cancer or invent the tools we will need to reduce our consumption of carbon-based fuels or be the next batting champion or start the next 3M, Best Buy or Ecolab - St. Paul must grow and prosper.
In order for St. Paul and the entire state to grow and prosper, we need to set the table with good transit, clean developable land and the infrastructure to promote economic development. Our cities have to be vibrant places that connect with the natural environment, promote the arts and bring people together.
Minnesota used to depend on being one of the most highly ranked states with respect to educational attainment, public health, entrepreneurship, environmental quality and on and on. Those rankings require a higher level of local investment than our property-tax payers can - or should be asked to - afford. Each year that we fail to fully fund LGA, we allow Minnesota to fall further and further behind. None of us wants to be part of a race to the bottom.
Local Government Aid grew out of the fundamental truth that we, in Minnesota, share a common destiny. From Warroad to Winona and from St. James to St. Paul, we are one state, bound together by a common future. For a moment last month, as we stared into the river and tried to fathom what had happened, we understood that. There was important work to be done and, for a moment, we didn’t care who got the credit. And, as is usually the case when we focus our energies around important work, the distractions fell away and we discovered that there was credit enough for everyone.
It seems that we have lost that moment and have returned to business as usual. Meeting behind closed doors. Gauging political risks. Trading accusations. Digging in our heels. We’ve returned to business as usual and, in the process, lost track of the people’s business.
There is time to reclaim the moment and the opportunity it represents. It doesn’t matter that it is September, not May. It doesn’t matter who said what to whom. What matters is that we have been given this day and this opportunity to lead. We have been given the opportunity to serve this great state. It’s time to be about the people’s business. It’s time for a special session. On behalf of cities throughout the state and the property-tax payers they represent, I ask the governor and legislative leadership to put aside politics as usual and get the job done for the people of Minnesota.
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If LGA is so important, then why don’t Woodbury, Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, Eagan, or Burnsville get any? Oh yeah…it is because LGA is way to tax the suburbs to pay for St. Paul and Minneapolis services. I forgot. Sucks to be use suburbanites….
Keep trying comrade Coleman. I moved from your city because the damn liberals there like to fund social projects before they worry about funding police and fire. I now live in a suburb and just love it! my schools are ten times better, have a hundred times less crime, and my suburb does not take any LGA because we actually have leaders who fund things that are actually needed and not just feel good programs.
It really should not be long before the suburbs fight back and you have to learn how to survive on the money you get! Which of course will not be much unless you raise taxes on the people of your city.
Being we know liberals are the first to take every tax break they can get and much of the city is in poverty, you all should be looking pretty bankrupt within a decade or so. Just remember Minnesotan’s remember who was in charge of this city and how the downfall will be all DFL owned.
We also recall the Minnesota Miricle and what a piss poor program that was! All it did was buy cover for cities to buy social services it could not afford without taking from others.
Then again that is comrade Coleman’s goal! Keep telling folks you are only going to tax the rich! People are too dumb to figure out that “rich” suddenly includes them.
The local DFL is in big hot water in MN! People are very upset at their attempt to raise taxes to record levels.
Suburbanites work and shop and receive entertainment from both of the twin cities. We benefit from the higher levels of police protection in the downtown areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul that suburbanites flood to every weekend and for work everyday. We are not a series of communities, but rather one contiguous community. The suburbs do not exist with out the city, and the city depends on the suburbs. Suburbs have better service not because their leaders spend their money more efficiently, but rather because they don’t have to cater to hundreds of thousands of visitors on a daily basis whom don’t pay taxes in their community.
Coleman is still wearing the smirk from last night after he and the gang of five in the city council told Jerry Tooien to stuff his $bil 1/2 development in his ass, and here he is shaking the rest of us down.
That development would have permanently put $millions of dollars of taxes a year into the city’s coffers.
Closed circuit to Mayor Moron:
The people of Saint Paul put you jagoff’s in office, let them pay the price.
Closed circuit to the Morons that voted for Coleman & Co.:
Enjoy your 17% tax hike!
Big Kahuna - I don’t know where you are getting these “facts” & claims (or spin) about record levels.
Attitude & simplistic answers are easy when one’s objective is to rip things down. Not so easy or glamorous to build them. Iraq should have taught us that!
Sure, let’s not repair bridges, let’s not spend ANY money for anything! Shovel your own damn way to work next winter!
(Oh - and you do you work in that suburb - or downtown?
I seem to get the impression there are a lot of those whiney suburbanite who have “left” - yet still work downtown).
Big K of the Milky Way - how far out in the burbs do you live?
Texas needs rednecks.
Excellent words by Mayor Coleman. And by the response of the usual trolls, very affective. Otherwise, there would be no needs for harpies to harp and screech in an effort to drowned him out.
But, you go ahead trolls. Scream and screech all you want. You just re-enforce the impression of your cowardice and self-centered world view.
I’m sure glad we elected a lot of Democrat freshman from the suburbs so they could raise our taxes in the suburbs and send it to Minneapolis/St.Paul. Wow. What a deal.
LGA was never intended to give the three largest cities in the state (Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth) money. LGA was intended to fund smaller communities, which don’t have a large enough property tax base to be able to operate. Minneapolis and St. Paul do not need LGA. It is absurd to suggest that LGA has anything to do with the I-35W bridge collapse. Coleman should apologize for shamelessly exploiting the tragedy for his city’s benefit.