Lybak should cut the budget of CPED in half and give it to the police and fire departments. Residents of Minneapolis are paying property taxes for platinum, but we are getting sterling silver, if you know what I mean.
Laura Waterman Wittstock replied:
And the point is? These are not high salaries.
They are not high salaries? Maybe in the stratospheric realm of over-compensated CEOs and perhaps Wittstock's own current job they're not.
Several of the top dogs there make just slightly less than governor Pawlenty. The median household income in Minneapolis in 2003 was $42,010. I most certainly do believe those are high salaries.
More importantly, are they justified?
The city has received poor, corrupt service from the CPED nee MCDA for over 20 years. What do we have to show for 20-plus years of their work? The city now has a reputation for favoring a small hand-full of developers over and over with corporate welfare. The city now has a reputation for making strikingly terrible development mistakes, financially or conceptually. Is business booming at St. Anthony Main? River Place? Did Vicky Heller sue the city and win? Yes, as a matter of fact she did. Can you say LSGI? How about Opus? The Conservatory?
And that's just a small number of disasters in or near downtown. It seems quite clear to me that we are not getting what we pay for from CPED. What's the solution? More of the same? Pay raises? You do the math.
I clearly will not be voting for Laura Waterman Wittstock for Library Board. Until her posting above, I was ambivalent. Why would I want a spendthrift managing my tax dollars at the Library?
I am not a believer in extravagance in government. If one wants a life in a teak and rosewood board room, stick to private enterprise. Such a person does not have the proper characteristics for public service, where utilitarian should be good enough.
-- Chris Johnson Fulton
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