Joe Doakes, once from Como Park, emails:
We all know that Minnesota is run by the DFL; has been, for years. Legislative session just ended. What critical problems did the DFL solve?
Drug dealer licensing. Put zoning above environment. Raise rates for Uber/Lyft rides. Increase penalties for gun crimes which DFL county attorneys will decline to prosecute. State takeover of rural ambulance service but only 10% of the funding funding to run it. Ticket prices (House File 1989, apparently a reference to Taylor Swift, which shows you the level of silliness). Deadbeats over doctors. ATV trails. Raise the price of broadband.
I also heard from Ramsey County management. They got $1 million for Union Depot; more money to subsidize homelessness, justice-impacted residents re-entering the community; digital literacy resources; an anaerobic digester to convert organic food waste into renewable natural gas; support services for youth suspected of juvenile offenses or delinquent acts; and packaging waste (reuse, recycling and composting).
But nothing for problems like this one, which is arguably one of the most important jobs we collectively hire government to do, since we can’t do it alone.
Nobody can say they haven’t made their priorities clear…
One minor quibble – “Increase penalties for gun crimes which DFL county attorneys will decline to prosecute”, unless the perpetrator is white, male, and conservative.
I’m not suggesting that we don’t do any flood mitigation work, but something most people forget about the issue is that it has similarities to squeezing one end of a balloon. The water has to go somewhere, and if the only option is downstream, the river rises higher and moves faster than it used to.
We used to condemn and tear down developments in flood plains. Now we subsidize the development and the flood insurance.