Letters

City budget

Fifth-rate city?

Most would agree there are no more important functions for city government than public safety, streets and sewer/water. By these standards Eden Prairie is rapidly becoming a fifth-rate city. Egged on by top city bureaucrats, our council has allowed the city’s budget to become the trough for special interests at the expense of basic needs of the ordinary homeowner.

The city population has vastly expanded in the last 15 years. And with it, water consumption. What has the city done about that? Absolutely nothing – forgetting the annual proclamation of water emergency lasting the entire year. Eden Prairie sits on top of a plentiful aquifer and our southern boundary is the Minnesota River. Minneapolis and Bloomington don’t have water “emergencies,” because they use these resources. The only thing our city did is send around their water Gestapo at three in the morning … to identify water “criminals.” And now, they want to increase already outlandish water fees even more! Nobody objects to water rationing when there is a genuine drought. The permanent Eden Prairie “drought,” however, is generated by our City Council, which is spending millions of dollars on special interests and nothing on our infrastructure.

The city did not have enough money to resurface streets in the Hillcrest neighborhood and assessed every property owner $6,000 for doing that. But the city has enough money to waste on maintenance of two old houses, one for the benefit of a private café business.

The city has enough money to maintain its propaganda agency, which (under the phony title of “communication”) touts in print and on TV the virtues of the city’s top bureaucrats and council members. But we don’t have enough money to maintain roads, plow sidewalks or provide enough water?

The city found millions of dollars to more then double the size of the sports center beyond what voters approved, but could not find money for snow removal of all of our sidewalks. Despite a budget increase, the council now requires property owners to plow many city sidewalks without reimbursement, other walkways simply don’t get plowed.

The council found tax dollars to continue funding a city employee advising immigrants even though the federal, state and county governments are doing the same. But the council thought it necessary to cut funding required to plow city walkways?

The city wasted hundreds of thousands of tax dollars cutting down wooden park signs and replacing them with glitzy aluminum and glass monuments. But we don’t have enough money to maintain roads, plow sidewalks or provide enough water?

There is nothing wrong with more baseball fields, hockey rinks, arts center, archery ranges, maintaining old houses, etc. But, we should do that only after we provide homeowners with water and street maintenance and plowed sidewalks!

And now we are getting a big telescope, which will require even more tax dollars to maintain. What, pray, is the council going to cut? Maybe forbidding taking showers so we can gaze at the heavens?

Let’s remember that during the next election!

Barney Uhlig

Eden Prairie

Flying Cloud Airport

Frustrated by
airplane noise

I am extremely frustrated by the buzzing of airplanes overhead every single day between 5:30 a.m. – 7 a.m. What happened to the early morning curfew? I realize this was supposed to be voluntary but this seems to have become completely ignored. I hear planes every weekday (my home is more than three miles away from Flying Cloud) usually starting sometime before 6 a.m. and buzzing overhead about every 15 minutes. Does anyone at the city care about this anymore?

I feel like the quality of life for my family is going down in Eden Prairie as a result and I do not see any benefit at all for this airport. I would like to see some active involvement and leadership on this negative issue for residents of Eden Prairie. Where are the voices? It is not acceptable to sit on the sidelines any longer.

The problems with Flying Cloud are worsening every day as the MAC seems to have taken the upper hand in bullying our city and our residents. I for one will not be sitting on the sidelines any longer and just let our city leadership take steps backwards by doing absolutely nothing. This airport has never been more annoying or disrespectful to Eden Prairie.

Lyndon Moquist

Eden Prairie

Legislature

Questions
veto override

In economics 101 it is taught that raising taxes on the eve of or during a recession will deepen and lengthen the recession. A look around our communities shows housing prices in decline, foreclosures increasing and families struggling to pay bills. Families are struggling because of business downturns, skyrocketing health insurance costs, gas prices and college tuition costs to name a few reasons.

Why would our Legislature vote for a huge tax increase? Why now? Increased gas and sales taxes are regressive taxes, hurting the poor and middle class the worst. The real sticker shock will be the license tab increase. The media hasn’t done a very good job in finding out to what extent this will be. Several legislators have indicated it will take us back to the pre-Ventura days.

Yes, we all want better roads. Better roads are vital. Light rail is nice, expensive and nice, but not vital. So reprioritize the budget. Eliminate the pork spending. Proponents of the taxes say it will create jobs. Oh you mean for contractors like Lunda from Black River Falls, Wis., which was hired to do the Wakota Bridge – twice, and is taking part in the Crosstown-I-35W project. And Flatiron Construction from Longmont, Colo., which is constructing the I-35W bridge at a higher cost than Minnesota firms that bid.

Meanwhile, as I struggle to pay bills and new taxes, I decide not to eat out, not to visit the local coffee shop. Repeat that with many families across the state and you are talking the loss of Minnesota jobs. these are jobs that frequently go to the student, the new immigrant trying to make a go here, the person struggling to survive.

Maria Ruud (DFL House district 42A from Eden Prairie and Minnetonka) voted for this tax increase. Then the governor wisely vetoed it. And then she voted for the override of the veto.

Remember in November.

Tim Zoerb

Eden Prairie

Thanks legislators

Thank you to all legislators that voted yes on Feb. 25, 2008, to enact into law an increase in funding for roads, bridges and transit systems! It has been 20 years since lawmakers have provided more funding to our state’s Department of Transportation. How many of us have gone 20 years without a pay raise for performing our job?

This bill will create jobs in the construction industry and improve our economic climate by providing the following new funding for Minnesota’s roads, bridges and transit systems over the next 10 years:

Trunk Highway fund – $3.4 billion

County State Aid Highway fund – $1.5 billion

Municipal State Aid Street fund – $0.4 billion

Other local roads fund – $0.1 billion

Metropolitan area transit fund – $1.2 billion

Greater Minnesota transit fund – $0.06 billion

Total – $6.6 billion

This new revenue will provide an additional $5.8 million in funding for Eden Prairie’s streets, and an additional $137 million in funding for Hennepin County’s highways over the next 10 years. This new funding is good for Eden Prairie, good for Hennepin County, and good for all of Minnesota! Please take time to thank each of the legislators that voted yes for investing in Minnesota’s future.

Donald Demers

Eden Prairie

Questions Ruud

Last week the Legislature overrode Gov. [Tim] Pawlenty’s veto of the excessive transportation bill. That action will add 5 cents per gallon to the price of gas starting April 1 with more to follow, as if we need to pay more for gas than we do now. Those who live in north Eden Prairie and south Minnetonka are represented by Maria Ruud, who joined her DFL buddies and voted to override the veto, thus hitting all of us in the pocketbook.

For years, the Legislature, controlled by the DFL, had a fair amount of the gas tax going into the general fund when it should have been funding our roads and bridges. Maybe that has something to do with the condition of our roads and bridges today. On Thursday, the DFLers politically axed Carol Molnau by refusing to confirm her as transportation commissioner. She took the fall for a situation that was not her fault.

The DFL controls both houses of the Legislature again and we need to keep a close eye on those people! We’ve all heard the saying “when the congress is in session, the country is in danger.” Well, that certainly is the case with the Minnesota Legislature. If you want a good laugh, tune in to TPT 17 and watch some of them.

Those DFLers need to be watched carefully and remember what you see and hear when you go to the polls next November.

Fred Koppelman

Eden Prairie

Election 2008

Supports Bonoff

I’ve lived here 30 years and watched our area change from sleepy towns to energetic suburban cities. Our state and national political leadership is just beginning to acknowledge those changes.

I’m impressed how accurately Terri Bonoff, our state senator from District 43, reflects our changes, and what an impact she’s had in the Minnesota State Legislature in just a few years.

To strengthen the law protecting victims of domestic violence, Terri wrote and passed the Teri Lee Law 1) requiring domestic violence training for law enforcement, 2) funding that training so municipal government won’t go begging and 3) requiring photos in protective orders so stalkers can be identified. Remarkably, she accomplished all this, including negotiating details with law enforcement and passing it through three Senate committees, with just a few days left in the session.

When she discovered $40 million in leased vehicle tax money sloshing around the general fund, Terri became the driving force to change the law. Today, thanks to Terri, that money is dedicated to restoring our crumbling roads and bridges.

When House members blocked a bill to divest state funds from businesses engaged with the Sudanese government, she convinced the State Investment Board to revise its administrative policies to accomplish the needed reform. Because of her efforts, Minnesota was the second state (after California) to take such concrete steps toward stopping the genocide in Darfur.

Planned Parenthood, in a recently released letter referring to Terri’s work on behalf of women in the 2006 Legislature, said, “Few legislators have ever made such a huge impact on the lives of women, especially in their very first year of public office.”

Now Terri is running for the Congressional seat Jim Ramstad is leaving. We have a rare opportunity to replace an accomplished legislator with another, a woman whose abilities and legislative achievements have already been spectacularly demonstrated.

Terri Bonoff won’t go to Congress to be another politician. She’s interested in changing the way things are done, and in getting real needs met and real things accomplished, as she’s already done in the Minnesota Senate.

If you believe that we in the western suburbs have good ideas about how government should work, and that our government needs to be transformed, at all levels, I urge you to support Terri Bonoff for Congress, in the upcoming district conventions and in the general election in November.

Peter Hill

Minnetonka

Questions Paulsen

When Rep. Erik Paulsen [R-42B] announced his campaign for congress, his press release claimed he had “… years of working in bipartisan fashion, across the aisle, to get results … in the Minnesota Legislature.” This claim surprised me. It should have surprised everyone; after all – it defies credibility. In today’s fiercely partisan political culture, there is simply no way that a Republican working in a bipartisan manner could rise to the level of party leadership that Paulsen has. Just who does Erik Paulsen think he’s fooling?

I was surprised at the anger and retribution the Republican Party directed to those Republicans that did cross the aisle to finally get something done for transportation. Republicans Neil Peterson of Bloomington and Ron Erhardt of Edina were punished by GOP party leadership for voting for what their constituents wanted – with constituents including the business community.

But I wasn’t surprised when Erik Paulsen toed the party line on the recent Gas Tax bill. He hasn’t worked across the aisle in the past, despite his claim; why would he start now?

Tommy Johnson

Eden Prairie

Supports Madia

With the conclusion of the DFL Senate District 42’s Convention this past Saturday, I would like to share my excitement and support of Ashwin Madia for the seat being vacated by Jim Ramstad. Ashwin Madia received more delegates than any other candidate, from a very impassioned crowd of over 500 DFLers.

I believe that Ashwin Madia is not only the best person for our party, but for the district as a whole. He has the experience, passion and political skill necessary to create the type of change we need.

As an Iraq War veteran, Ashwin has the firsthand knowledge necessary to help us chart a new direction in foreign policy. His is a much broader view than the politicians who got us into this mess in the first place. When Ashwin goes to Washington, he’ll provide from Day 1 the expertise needed to lead us out of this tragic war.

As a lawyer, Ashwin has fought the fights that need fighting – and won. He has successfully advocated on behalf of battered women, disabled children, the unemployed and a Marine facing a dishonorable discharge under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

As a congressional candidate, Ashwin has inspired people to join a cause. It’s about more than raising money and winning votes. Ashwin has changed the way people look at politics. He has brought young people into the system and proved to older voters that elections can be about addressing the big issues, rather than playing the same political games that have failed our country for too long.

It’s time to do more than just elect a Democrat. It’s time we transform our politics. Ashwin Madia is the candidate who will work tirelessly for us to accomplish this.

Pat Gernes

Eden Prairie

Editor’s note: Gernes is chair of precinct three for the Senate District 42 DFL. 

Quiz Bowl

Equal time

We are excited and proud of our Eden Prairie Eagles Girls Hockey state champions. Recognition of this enthusiasm is pictured on the front page of the Eden Prairie News – exactly where it should be.

Now where is the enthusiastic recognition of our Eden Prairie Eagles State Championship Quiz Bowl Team? We find this story on page six.

Our athletes are acknowledged for their perseverance, grit and hard work. Successful academic competition demands the same convictions.

Let’s show our support for our EPHS winning academic teams and give them front-page accolades. The academic athletes have earned their spot on the front page just like those who participate in sports.

Elise Kist

Eden Prairie

Other topics

Thanks for
support of PROP

We have been so fortunate that our shelves at PROP continue to be stocked with food. Much of this food comes from donors in our community. We appreciate your continued support – without it, we would only be able to serve a fraction of the families who ask for help.

PROP continues to see an increase in the number of families that use our services. Here are some 2007 facts for you to consider:

* We averaged 300 requests for food per month, serving over 12,000 individuals, a 10 percent increase from last year.

* On average, we distributed almost 30,000 pounds of food per month, an average of 27 pounds of food per person served.

* Fifty-two percent of the people we served last year were children.

During the month of March, we participate in the Minnesota FoodShare Campaign. In conjunction with the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, PROP receives additional financial support based on the amount of food and financial donations we receive during this time. More information about this program can be found on our Web site at www.propfood.org under Current Happenings. March is a great time to support your local food shelf.

Thank you to all of you that have supported us in the past to help families in difficult situations!

Sarah Cheesman

Eden Prairie

Editor’s note: Cheesman is interim executive director at PROP. 

Responds to
Feb. 28 letter

In the Feb. 28 edition of the Eden Prairie News, a letter to the editor gave information about federal taxes for different incomes in 1999 under Clinton and 2008 under Bush. The letter reported this information came from the Tax Foundation (www.taxfoundation.org), a nonpartisan research organization that monitors tax policies at the federal, state and local levels. The information stated within the letter was incorrect. The Tax Foundation rebuts the information with a document located at www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/22958.html. The document was a response to the same information shown in the Eden Prairie News and posted on several Web sites and blogs. It states, although the basic message of the comparison is correct, there are exaggerations in the data caused by inflation adjustments and other errors.

The document concludes with a table of what people might have paid in taxes (with only the standard deduction and no accounting for the Alternative Minimum Tax) under the Clinton and Bush administrations. That table shows that people paid less under Bush than under Clinton with the differences ranging from $400 to $4,000, values far under the amounts previously implied.

The intent of the letter was to cite a difference showing people are better off with Republicans in charge. Are we? We have lower tax rates now, but do we earn more than we did eight years ago? Is what we pay for milk, bread and other groceries higher than eight years ago? How many fear foreclosure of their house now? How many people now avoid going to the doctor or dentist because they cannot afford the costs? Do we have enough money to fix our holey roads and crumbling bridges? Are we going to see larger class sizes in our schools in 2009? What else of value could we lose? Should we continue to rely on credit and to hope our children can pay for everything later?

On Feb. 25, the Minnesota Legislature overrode Gov. [Tim] Pawlenty’s veto of tax increases, including a 5.5-cent increase of the gas tax this year and a total increase of less than a dime in future years. I know who is responsible for those tax increases, but who is responsible for the $3 per gallon we pay now? Why is our governor angry about an increase of less than a dime per gallon but not ranting about the increase of more than a dollar per gallon since 2002? Whom do we hold responsible when the cost of gas jumps to $4 or $5 per gallon? Are we just supposed to accept the next dollar or more increase?

Gov. Pawlenty responded to the veto override by saying the taxpayers will revolt against Democrats because they raised taxes at a time when hardworking Minnesotans struggle to pay for food, health care and gasoline and worry about their economic future. Whom really should the taxpayers blame for their struggles and worries and oust in a revolutionary election?

Dan Daniels

Eden Prairie

Borrow now,
pay later

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. In your letter in the paper, “Tax comparison,” Feb. 28, you provided us with some very dramatic numbers. In general, how much less most of us were paying in income taxes under the Bush presidency than we were during the Clinton years.

The issue I have with your letter is that it provides only part of the picture. You are ignoring the numbers that show how it was that Bush was able to be so “generous” to taxpayers. How was it that he was able to give us tax cuts during his presidency? Quite simple really, he borrowed it from our future, and our children’s future.

Federal Debt under Clinton:

1993 – $4,351,044,000,000              

2000 – $5,628,700,000,000              

Increase – $1,277,656,000,000

Federal Debt under Bush (seven years):

2001 – $5,769,881,000,000

2007 – $8,950,744,000,000

Increase – $3,180,863,000,000

Source: President Bush’s 2009 Fiscal Budget, Historical Tables, page 128, table 7.1.

If anything, the numbers you provided us give a fairly clear picture as to how much we are stealing each year from our children and grandchildren so that we can maintain our lifestyle and position in the world. As a nation we cannot continue to do this indefinitely. The longer we allow this to continue the more disastrous the outcome will be.

Jim Rannow

Eden Prairie