Is an effing moron, only to be outdone by the morons that keep voting him in to raise their own damn property taxes.
I'm so glad I moved out of Minneapolis. About the only city I know where people complain about the property taxes, but vote in the green party and all democrats all the time.
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I guess people feel like they're getting their money's worth. None of the candidates who ran on the anti-artsy drinking fountain platform have won (or will win once not-so-instant-IRV is concluded).
As I see it, no one is complaining about providing public drinking fountains. It's the fact that public money was spent on public art tied to those fountains. If that's the case, the "waste" is whatever portion of the $500k could have been saved by building ten of the most pragmatic drinking fountains this town has ever seen.
We're likely talking about around $1 per resident in a 1-time expenditure going toward an art project.
If my numbers are right, this would account for a 1-time cost of around 0.02% of the city's annual budget.
To me, this helps explain why people running as fiscal conservatives aren't getting any traction in Minneapolis politics. The cases being made are not strong enough to get people to pay attention. People aren't going to throw the bums out of they're only 0.02% wasteful.
Old axioms of government budgeting which never change:
"Always request more than what you want."
"Use it or lose it."
"Spend your money early before the budget freeze, then when the freeze is lifted, use it all up before the end of the fiscal year."
"Spend on what you want then beg for what you need."
I'd like to know when California and other states will pay back federal tax dollars to pay unemployment benefits from the funds they wasted from the boom.
The "pot" of money defense is as old as the Roman Empire. In the late 80s, we had money for gifts for the wives of dignitaries, but no money for ammunition to qualify with our rifles. When I complained, a Lieutenant Colonel barked at me, "That's from a different pot of money."
want to buy my triplex in Minneapolis Ed?
@Nick, I've seen the exact same behavior within very profitable publicly traded companies. While the systems aren't perfect and lead to some quirky behavior, companies and cities have managed to progress under such a system.
Capt., what's your biggest beef with owning property in the city these days?
Well, Cap't, you exercised your freedom to leave. Good for you. You're smart.
Now if everyone who worked for a living and paid taxes left Minneapolis, that would leave just the crooks and the people that live on welfare.
Oh, wait... that's already happening in the more derelict parts of the city.
Oddly enough, in the years my son lived in Minneapolis, his car was stolen and recovered three times in three years. And the cops did nothing other than call a wrecker, haul it off to the impound and charge him a large sum for the privilege of getting it back. He's been in St. Paul for three years now without a problem.
As for the quote - “A drinking fountain is a modern manifestation of the ancient well, where people gathered. They looked at each other and they said, ‘How are you today?’”
Oh bull... they're looking at each other and saying "WTF?".
May I close this with mentioning that the moron RT gets voted in precisely because most of the population of Minneapolis are also morons.
Hmm... maybe they should rename it Moronopolis (c)
Hi Ed,
Well the biggest problem is that in the 10 years I've owned property in Minneapolis, my property taxes have quadrupled. However, the whole point of purchasing rental property is to cash flow it out so you don't have to pay the mortgage. That's all fine and dandy, UNTIL the city jacks up it's taxes so much that you have to jack up your rent so much to the point, it's above the market rental rate and now you have vacancies/can't rent it out for as much as you need to cover costs.
And now I really need you to listen Ed because this isn't opinion, but is a key thing to understand about prices. If the cash flow of a property (or any asset) goes down, then it's value does down. When an appraiser looks at property and sees 1/3 of the rental income goes to taxes, that DIRECTLY affects the appraisal value.
I'm fortunate enough THUS FAR to be able to break even, but there was a time I was make positive cash flow on the property. Now that I don't, who is going to buy property in Minneapolis?
As for the water fountain thing accounting for 2% of the budget or whatevetr, it's not the number, it's that it's a sign of just how frivolous the government is. What else are they spending their money on if $50,000 drinking fountains pass for legitimate government expenditudes.
Enjoy the cold Detroit.
Typical liberal spend then tax idiot.
Reminds me of the Condo board at a friends place. The roof has been leaking ever since the apartment building went condo, but they spent over $10,000 painting the mailboxes. Why? Because the condo board president is an interior decorator, and that what was important to her. Same with new floor mats at each entrance (ignore the fact that the cable company has not paid their fees for the space they are leasing in over three years.)
Face it, the people that want these positions are normally not intelligent enough to perform the duties of the position. If they were, they would not want the job.
You dropped the "-ing" on make... just like Sarah Palin. You are getting more cool each day.
Capt., it sounds like the timing and financing of your purchase both play a role in your situation. If the income potential of a building is lower, surely the price someone would be willing to pay for the property would be as well.
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