A friend of the blog emails:
Essentially this article blames the pandemic as the reason for higher Minneapolis property taxes next year. The reason is because commercial real estate in the city has been jumping so much over the last 10 years before 2020, home owners have not seen as much increase in property taxes. It’s all relative. The city spend money like a drunken sailor and has been able to pass that on to the growing apartment buildings, restaurants, other commercial ventures that have popped up in the last 10 years. That growth has halted and I predict commercial properties and values will decrease which will shift the burden to homeowners. Get ready homeowners.
2020 has changed all that. Part of the change is the pandemic as businesses realize they can keep workers working at home and reduce the amount of office space needed. But it is also true that businesses will not move into a city that has no police force and allows blocks of businesses to be looted and burned. Target is downsizing. There wasn’t even a thought of the Canadian Pacific merger of having the headquarters in downtown Mpls where it is now. Who thinks Minneapolis will see a Final Four or a Superbowl in the next 10 years? The airheads running the city have created a bigger mess than just the pandemic. I am glad to see my favorite establishment, Brit’s Pub, has re-opened but I am not tempted to go there even in daylight due to the dangerous downtown.
Right now I am watching the discussion on the local Nextdoor. People are noticing a big jump in their assessed home values yet their property taxes are stable and some even falling a bit. The respite in tax increase this year is a big head fake. The 2022 property taxes will increase mightily as these higher home values will shift a big piece of the real estate base from business to homeowners. Maybe not if the city’s spending can be cut. Unfortunately those cuts will likely come from the police force which is already being decimated by resignations and retirements. The city can just recognize reality that they cannot retain and recruit enough badges. My heart is sad for my beloved Minneapolis. The local voters have been mislead by the local media and the chickens have come home to roost. They will appeal to the state of MN for help. God give backbones to the state legislature to say “NO.” Just say “no” as Mpls voters caused this problem, they need to fix it.
Let this be a cautionary tale for other cities. You don’t want this.
The same story can be said for all of Hennepin County. This will affect them as well.
Two observations.
First: when the MInnPost is too far to the middle for a Democrat machine…
Second: This is what a death spiral looks like.
See also: Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Newark…
…well, you get the idea.
Good email. I don’t have much sympathy for Mpls voters. Misled or not, it was (and is) their obligation to understand what is happening there. And the ramifications.
The Hennepin county aspect to this is really quite interesting. Out in the western part, from 101 on west, you have some very conservative folks. They won’t be happy to pay (ie, be punished) for the mistakes of Mpls.
Second: This is what a death spiral looks like.
Yep.
Minneapolis used to brag that over half of its revenue came from licensing and event fees.
Not a lot of clubbing and concerts going on in Minneapolis these days.
The shortfall will be made up in increased property taxes and reduced city and county services.
Look at the Minneapolis mayor & city council. These people weren’t elected to lead Minneapolis through a crisis, they were elected as boutique politicians meant to enhance Minneapolis’s progressive pedigree.
I lived in Minneapolis for a good deal of my teens and early 20s. It is sad to see a great city self-destruct. The decline of other Midwestern cities was a result of external factors, especially the decline of manufacturing. The death of Minneapolis was a choice made by the people of Minneapolis.
Wait! Maybe I’m wrong! Doesn’t Minneapolis have a staffed “resilience office”?
Surely the “resilience office” had a plan for a pandemic and civil unrest!
Or did they spend all of their time dealing with global warming & other environmental issues?
One of the many, many conceits of Progressivism is the idea that they can predict and/or bring about a specific future and so prepare for it.
They can’t No one can tell the future.
Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have “Resiliency Officers”. It was in the papers, so it must be true.
You’d think in the last year these guys or gals would be getting some regular media exposure (but I’m not even sure if they are guys, gals, or 6′ tall invisible rabbits). Yet Joe Biden and the Easter Bunny have made more public appearances than these mystery folks.
Wait! Maybe I’m wrong! Doesn’t Minneapolis have a staffed “resilience office”?
Surely the “resilience office” had a plan for a pandemic and civil unrest!
Or did they spend all of their time dealing with global warming & other environmental issues?
One of the many, many conceits of Progressivism is the idea that they can predict and/or bring about a specific future and so prepare for it.
They can’t. No one can tell the future.
Sorry about the double post.
I’m happy I moved out of Hennepin County. Now, I’ll just get screwed by them in State Legislature.
Or: you built your bed, now lie down in it.
When does the count down start for St Paul? They can’t be too far behind. Haven’t heard from Melvin Carter in a while. Did he leave for the winter?
Article was readable, non-political, but what Potemkin village did they use for the photo? Why not the autonomous zone at 38th and Chicago?
I’m reminded of something I’ve often thought about our nation’s capital, as well as Gary, Chicago, Detroit, and many other cities around the country where government and crime get so out of hand, they become unliveable; at what point do we decide these people have forfeited their right of self government, and the sane people need to take over? As long as the major highways go through these big cities, I think the rest of us have at least some right to say “would ya knock it off?”
I’m trying to track down a reliable source for confirmation, but I heard that 3M may be moving their HQ to Austin, TX. That’s one of the most left wing infected cities in the state, but they have a major operating division there since about 1994.
In the “Pick & Choose Me” category of SITD posters, let’s remark in the very noticeable MIA of Emery and his ilk. As a life long lurker of SITD, liberals tend to dive bomb topics they feel they POSSIBLY can defend. Yet, in the “cut to the heart of the matter”, they are MIA. Keep up the great work, Mitch.
In the movie “Hell or High Water”, Jeff Bridges plays a Texas Ranger chasing bank robbers. At the scene after one robbery a guy in a pick-up drives up to Bridges and asks what’s happened. Bridges tells him.
“Wished I’d been here to take care of those boys.”
“Well, the Rangers might take a dim view of that.”
“First, you’d have to find the tree.”
“God, I love West Texas.”
3M could shed a significant part of their mature, e.g. “highly paid” Minnesota workforce if they told them that they had to relocate to TX to keep their jobs.
The worst thing about capitalism is that people want to be loved like family members, but capitalism makes them a number on a spreadsheet.
And the real problem is the new people running for mayor and city council are just more progressive activist types.
It’s not going to get better anytime soon.
It is called a death spiral for a reason.