The roads in Saint Paul have been particularly awful this year.  Hamline Avenue between I94 and University was (until about a week ago) a strut-crunching road worse than a Bolivian goat path, passable at maybe 5MPH (maybe 10, now, with a coat of hot patch a week or so ago).  And others are just as bad; I saw a few “smart cars” completely disappear into a couple of potholes in the past few weeks.

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

The streets in St. Paul are falling apart.  The Mayor has no money to fix them without help from Congress.  Why not?

Take a typical house in the Midway valued around $175,000.  The homeowner pays property taxes totaling nearly $300 per month: $900 to the county,  $700 to the city, $1,000 to the school district, more to other entities including $70 for the Light Rail and $100 to “other special taxing districts.”

But wait, there’s more!

The homeowner also pays a $175 Special Assessment for Right of Way Maintenance and an additional $50 Special Assessment for Storm Sewer.  That sounds suspiciously like money dedicated for street repairs including curb-and-gutter.  And it isn’t a one-time deal: St. Paul charges those Special Assessments to every property including schools and churches, every single year.  So where’s that money?

Spent it all on street repairs and it’s still not enough?  Then the city’s budget managers are incompetent.

Spent it all on . . . something else?  Then we need some tar, all right, and feathers, too.  And a rail, so certain people can ride it out of town.

As society evolved from savagery, cities were formed to provide basic services: police, fire, sanitary sewer, clean water, passable roads to move goods from farm to market.  Everything else is gravy.  St. Paul city government is failing its fundamental purpose.

Joe Doakes

But..refrigerated ice rinks!