Watching TV last night and on comes a commercial with effeminate music and you see an effeminate guy riding a bike, a Prius, people smiling, more lame music, and of course, everybody is wearing a helmet and at the end you see a bumper sticker on a bike with the following URL.
I tried to find the commercial on Youtube and the website, but could not (because you really have to see it), regardless, I tender this question to the citizens of Minneapolis who have had their property taxes jacked up nearly 400% (and no, that's not a farcical statistic, it's real, I used to live there and saw it on my property tax bill every year);
DO YOU PEOPLE REALLY WONDER WHY YOUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE CONSTANTLY BEING INCREASED?
I ask because I really wonder if the typical liberal in Minneapolis ever links their perpetually increasing property taxes with frivolous programs like the "Walk Ambassador Program" and now commercials like the one I saw last night. A commerical that had NO POINT OR PURPOSE but to make bicycle riding in the Twin Cities look like a passer-by sport for weak, meek, effeminate little girls. A commercial that isn't even advertising a product or a service. Just a blantant wasting away of taxpayers money that really calls into question if there's any spending control occuring at the municipal level.
I being serious when I say this - I want a liberal from Minneapolis to rationlize this for me. Explain to me why this is a good thing? Or why these programs warrant a 5% of market value property tax? Do you not get the relationship between your fleecing level of property taxes (and consequently, lower property values) with R.T. Rybak's spending binge on worthless programs like this? I just sit slack jawed-amazed with the waste and how time after time again you people in Minneapolis just keep on shooting yourselves in the foot financially by doing this.
Regardless, I no longer live there and no longer pay the property taxes so I can sit back and enjoy a cigar and watch you slowly turn into Nuevo Detroit. But when you inevitably wake up one day and ask yourself, "Gee, why aren't property values going up" look at those brand spanking new bike paths you have, along with that Jim Dandy commercial (and your $50,000 drinking fountains) and see if that makes you feel any better.
8 comments:
The building of roads has always been a legitimate function of government. The building of sidewalks has never been questioned either. Both are said by conservatives to be things that a good government must do.
So I assume that you don't like cyclists -- a common road-rage reaction by some motorcyclists -- or that you don't see any economic benefit?
I haven't lived in the Twin Cities, but I have lived in cycle-friendly places like Madison. Recently, a new bike path was installed near my home in rural Michigan. In all cases, the bike paths have ended up being used more than first imagined, with support such that private donations support at least part of the construction. And, it does seem to be a sign of a healthy community, akin to a trout population in a river.
I also lived metro Detroit - twice - and just completed an afternoon of touring neighborhoods that were good places to live 5-10 years ago, but now are abandoned. What collapsed that place wasn't runaway spending on bike paths (or even street lights or stop signs or cops or...) but rather 1) horrible government in general, and 2) a sustained dependence on a economic base -- manufacturing -- that is declining world-wide.
Now, if you want to talk about the light rail system in Austin, or the proposed high-speed train between Detroit and Chicago, I'm sure you can point to something that isn't needed nor can it be supported....
Hey Tim,
Welcome to the trap.
I actually was a hardcore avid cyclist and worked as a wrench monkey at Freewheel bikes. I've got more centuries under my belt than you will ever dream. I appreciate bike paths as much as the next guy, but hard core cyclists don't need bike paths. We ride on the road.
How about you look at the larger point being made that if Mpls is pissing away money on commercials for bikes then it implies it's pissing away money on a whole host of other areas resulting in a quality government akin to Detroit.
Nice irrelevant point about Austin and Detroit. I'll ignore it summarily.
You ever look at the Minneapolis budget or are you just knee jerking because your entire political philosophy is based on nice bike paths in Madison?
And here's an adult commonsensical shocker for you Tim.
Every government program should have an economic benefit.
How's that for ya?
Otherwise, what's the freaking point? It's a waste of taxpayer money.
Oh, I forgot. People like you need speical paths that will somehow create economic growth just like them green jobs. And who care about whether it's efficient or economic. as long as it means well we can fleece the taxpayer.
Go drive your pansy Trek around Madison'd finest bike paths, or a fate even worse, buy a property in Minneapolis and put your money where your mouth is.
I find it very frustrating, when governments spend money on unnecessary projects, during economic down cycles. This is also another argument against allowing governments to run deficits. During slow economic periods, an elected government should just stick to the basic core services. In a city, police, ambulance, fire, and a few other important services, are required. Save the silly spending projects for the boom periods. Families do this all the time. The new car, the big fancy vacation, those are for the boom years. During the lean years, a family gets back to basics.
In regards to bicycle paths, I have seen the results in Ottawa, Ontario. People still ride their bikes on the road, even when a bike path is running parallel to the road. They are a waste of money.
Cap'n,
You'll appreciate the car commercial idea a friend of mine came up with.
Two cars pull up to a stoplight. One's a Prius/Insight/SmartCar wimp-mobile, while the other is a musclecar (I always envision a Dodge Viper).
The wimp-mobile, driven by the guy's girlfriend/wife, sports rainbows, a toy poodle strapped into a carseat, and a thoroughly whipped guy listening to some new-age crap music. He looks over at the other car and says "Gas milage!"
The muscle-car driver gives a little nod. When the light turns green, he guns the engine, jerks the car to the left, and lays down stripes of rubber around the wimp-mobile, which hasn't even begun to take off yet, as the battery is still trying to send power to the wheels. The wimp-mobile is surrounded by a cloud of smoke and encircled by burned rubber on the pavement.
The muscle-car comes to a stop back in its original spot, and as the smoke clears, the driver looks back at the wimp-mobile and says "Fun to drive."
Keep up the great work!
I'm not a liberal, nor am I from Minneapolis - I can't explain the logic.
Minneapolis has whined a great deal about having its LGA (local government aid) cut back (like all local governments), including making threats to cut public safety personnel.
Yet they can fund artistic $50K drinking fountains and miles of bike trails.
If the need for such bike lanes and paths were so important, why not charge for a bike licenses to ride on the trail system? The Cannon Valley trail does precisely that.
Mpls added a light rail system that doesn't pay for even a third of the operating costs, requiring taxpayers to subsidize 2/3rds of each ticket.
Don't tell me there's no money. Prioritize what you have.
I'm sure the serious bikers in Minneapolis would say the city should fix their damn potholes before diverting transportation dollars from roads to bike paths.
Meanwhile, the Minneapolis city government keeps letting unions have whatever they want in pay and benefits including those fat pensions they get. Only in the public sector can people get paid so much to do so little.
As for the property tax business, the Minneapolis public skrewels are another government outfit that can never improve its efficiency and effectiveness - it demands more money, has fewer students, yet delivers the same old third-rate students.
The Minneapolis government has grown to be unaffordable - and they don't care.
The Captain was smart enough to move - it is only a matter of time before the city becomes unsustainable and bankrupt.
As an out-stater, I don't want to pay to bail out Minneapolis. Let them eat cake.
Captain -
You don't know me. Here's some info about me --
Like you, a PK. Based on your writings, I'm at least as conservative as you. I've ridden as many miles as you.
But, unlike you, I'm generally nice in a post until the person proves themselves otherwise.
Second, you argue for an economic benefit. You will recall that I asked about that. You made that your centerpiece, and then... forgot to argue that point?
Third, like many who've never seen Detroit first-hand, you make Detroit jokes. I'm offended by those. It would be akin to my making jokes about "everyone" in the Twin City, assuming that you all are granola-eating, Garrison-loving, mosquito-swatting rubes who love frigid weather. I'd be wrong, of course, and if you want to come visit me, I'll show you metro Detroit so you can make some educated comments bout it.
The bike paths and biking promotion TV commercials are to get people used to a post-automobile future as in AMERICATHON or IDIOCRACY. Someday, our cities will be thoroughly bankrupt, and they'll have to suspend bus service. You won't be able to afford $6/gal. gas, so you'll have to bike. Good luck bicycling in Minn. in the WINTER.
Suckers!
Does anybody remember when south Minneapolis was a good place to live?
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