Global What?

It seems the whole "Inconvenient Truth" crowd, up in arms and becoming more militant by the minute about the issue of Global Warming have a few sticky issues to deal with of late. Just look at the North American Continent. We are under a sustained deep freeze, the likes of which we haven't seen in my lifetime. States and regions rarely seeing freezing temperatures and snow are buried and crops grown in California and Florida have been hit hard by freezing weather. Areas that haven't seen snow in decades are seeing it, in many cases for the first time the inhabitants of the area have seen in their lives. Lake Superior, is iced over as far as the eye can see.

"Before and after" photos instill panic and the frenzy to convince all the glaciers are shrinking the oceans are inundating everything, everywhere, are deceptive in nature and are often deliberately taken during predictable fluctuations. The Earth is a dynamic planet but by cosmic standards, we are relatively static. Our climate has seen dramatic shifts in a cosmic blink of an eye that have resulted in mass extinction, destruction beyond our comprehension and devastation over vast areas and periods long before humans ever graced the planet. On the other hand, if you consider the range of climactic possibilities on a universal scale, our fluctuations are miniscule.

The reality of humans even being able to measure global climate change is dubious at best. Where and how are these measurements being taken? Well the answer will leave most of us doubting the ability to detect anything on a global scale. We know less about our own planet than we do outer space and surrounding planets. We have vast regions of the oceans that have never been explored, measured, mapped or quantified. The most obvious thing to even the casual observer with a speck of intelligence and knowledge is that the oceans have great affect on our day to day climate, yet they are only one part of the equation. Ocean currents are dynamic and the temperature and circulation of the water in the oceans has a greater affect than humans can even comprehend. The variables are so vast and unexplored it is truly foolhearty and arrogant to think we, mere humans, can begin to understand the complexity and dynamic nature of the global climate.

The Sun, 93 Million miles away goes through fluctuations that directly affect our climate...and we can control that influence how? The orbit of the Moon has a dramatic affect on our climate. The tectonic plates shift contstantly, changing the visible and inaccessible landscape constantly. Following the Earthquake that resulted in the devastating psunamis the Earth actually "wobbled" on it's axis. The long-term affects of that event on our climate may never be understood or quantified. The Earth's magnetic poles are shifting and that will have dramatic long term affects, not understood at all, on our climate. Foliage cover of the Earth changes dramatically with the seasons yet we have not even begun to quantify, on a global scale, the potential effects.

Jet streams shift, Ocean currents change, ocean temperatures shift with changes in cloud cover, current changes and moon cycles, volcanoes erupt, continents shift, forest fires burn, earthquakes occur, psunamis result, ice fields are dynamic and constantly shifting, polar ice caps have changed dramatically, ebb and flow, break and reform, meteor strikes can devastate the entire Earth, wind blows, convection sucks and so does the "science" or lack thereof, surrounding the entire "Global Warming" debate, since it started gaining momentum.

Lump together all other natural factors affecting our global climate and you understand that any politician claiming they will do something about Global Warming, is suffering from delusions of grandeur. I challenge any human to specify how humans would be able to effect change to our climate on a global scale when we have a difficult time figuring out how to keep homes and businesses warm and when we still have few ideas how the Earth has evolved since the Dinosaurs were wiped out, by a still unknown force.

To assert that humans can effect global climate change by an act of Congress or by Presidential decree is beyond ludicrous. There just seem to be far too many delusional politicians with too much time on their hands, promoting an agenda they think will influence a fickle, ignorant public into voting them into office so they can fix the planet. It's like the Duluth City Council attempting to change the course of the Iraq war; it's silly, disingenuous, inane, delusional and deceptive.

Take the bait like all the lemmings on the Global Warming, Man be damned, bandwagon and you, along with Al Gore and his minions will be eating crow by the truckload by the end of the decade. Use your noggin and your common sense and you will quickly dispel the utter myth of Man created Global Climate Change and if global climate change is occuring, that we are in any way, able to change the course of our climate.

Figure this one out and send me the solution: Cork the next major volcano eruption and all the cows asses and you will make a bigger impact on CO2 emissions than if you eliminate every man-made source on the planet. Delude no more and go in Peace!

What to Do?

It has been some time since anything truly logical took place in the Council Chambers. We hear things like a resolution opposing the Iraq war, past resolutions dealing with a Syrian Prisoner, the CIA, Secret Service, etc. The question to be asked is: how do these ridiculous resolutions promote productive agenda for Duluth?

If a Councilor wants to send a letter to the President to express his or her opinions on the Iraq war, so be it. On the other hand, this assinine resolution does two things, it represents the views of a few of our Councilors, possibly a majority of Duluth and yet, it does not represent the views of many Duluthians. The resolution has about the same weight to the US Government as a grain of sand has on Park Point. It is embarrassing to witness the spectacle of these little goofballs acting like this resolution has any more weight with President Bush, Congress or the US Military than the ink used to write it. Come on people!

Let's get back to the business of Duluth and stop distracting yourselves with these innane, useless and utterly meaningless debates. If you want to express your opinion, do it on your own time. You have been elected to do the City's business, please get on with it.

Some Things...

I suspect Duluth is on the right track since we continue to do the same things over and over. We seem in a love affair with publicly funded development. I would argue publicly funded development is counter or the antithesis of privately funded development. Privately funded growth results in immediate and long term tax benefit to the City whereas, publicly funded development does not. The term "development" when used in the context of a positive trend in a community, refers to this benefit, that is, the benefit of increased property value and economic activity which results in commerce. Commerce, resulting in tax receipts, is how City functions are funded and until Duluth and Duluthians grasp this concept, we are bound to the same direction and the same pitfalls.

City subsidies to encourage private development are beneficial only when it results in the commerce and tax benefits of similar, non-subsidized developments. Tax increment financing does not meet this threshold of benefit as it does not result in revenue to the City. The way of encouraging "development" in Duluth has accomplished one thing for certain, it has honed the skills of the City's most adept developers as tax recipients. That is, they have become skilled in the art of benefiting from the investment of their own money, getting a return not only from that personal investment but also from the public investment; a sort of private/public double dipping. This is good for the bottom line for the developer but, at least for the short term, it does nothing to benefit the public.

Only when Duluth realizes, removing obstacles to private investment, creating a favorable tax environment and marketing Duluth as a good place to conduct commerce, will we overcome the fiscal woes imposed on us by the current and recent past politicians. The problem however, is similar to the Chicken and the Egg. How do you market Duluth as a good place to do business to those outside the City when the tax picture and City Red-Tape, prove it to be just the opposite?

This is our dilemma and it will take years of undoing decades of misguided law-making by the "leaders" of Duluth. This will likely not occur as those currently skilled at working the system, are the true power-brokers in Duluth and they don't wish for change since the current system of quid-pro-quo works quite well for them, thank you. For change to occur, those in positions of power have to look inward and forward. If they truly wish Duluth to move forward, for Duluth's children to have a chance of staying here and for true economic development, the government must get out of the development business and leave it to the entrepreneurs of the world.

Heads Rolling

I nicked my neck the other day while shaving. A little shaving cream seeped into the tiny nick and I was surprised by the amount of pain. Imagine the surprise of Nick Berg, hands and feet bound but not blindfolded, when Islamic radicals, following a rambling dissertation, all captured intentionally on video, grabbed him, threw him to the floor and proceeded to cut his head off. Yes, he was fully conscious. Yes, he was fully aware of what was happening to him. Relative to alternative means of killing another human being it was quick. Nick only screamed and struggled in horror and agony for about thirty seconds. That first cut through that sensitive skin on his throat and the subsequent sawing through his esophagus, brachial plexus nerves causing brief but unimaginable pain, through the muscles and tendons in his neck, all the vessels feeding his brain and finally, his last realization that this was, in-fact the end of his life on Earth. All the brief but adrenaline enhanced emotions, thoughts, feelings, excrutiating pain and fear he must have felt haunts me. The life leaves his body and only God knows the extent his brain continues to function beyond until those final moments. This is the fate Islam and Islamic fascists condemned all non-Muslims to upon the first acceptance of it as a religion.

To understand the depravity of people who are capable of and willing to commit such an act against another living, breathing human is to explore the depths of faith, devotion and the reason for our existence. Until such time as we are able to talk to God, we must guess what is behavior that a rational being who would rule all the universe and who, according to innumerable religions, controls our eternity.

Absent such answers from God, we have to decide how we will live together on this planet. After-all, this is the only existence we know, for certain, that involves us and our individual choices. Man, we could get really deep with this and I could get all graphic again, describing the hundreds of people who are routinely dispatched in this manner in the Muslim world. On the other hand, I wish only to point out the battle to which I can only hope we are committed against the people who commit these acts.

We have had a dramatic shift in the political lanscape and if you listen to the pundits, it is all because of the Iraq war. If you listen to the talk show hosts, they will debate the proper designation of the conflict. I consider it a rebuilding effort, and the US role being that of restoring order and security as well as training the Iraqis to defend themselves following what can only be described as a swift and brilliant defeat of the Iraqi Army. That done, we get out. Some are comparing this "war" to WWII if only that it has "lasted longer". Don't we still have troops in Germany? We still have troops in Iraq. WWII was a geo-political war. The war against terror is primarily a propaganda war. The terrorists are winning because that is their strategy. A several thousand year old strategy of breaking your opponent by creating terror and demoralization is working against the most technologically advanced civilization in the history of the Earth, because we lack resolve and patience. Our military is committed and our troops, as evidenced by record re-enlistments in-theater are occuring. Yet our political leaders are divided, the newly elected majority of Democrats appears like a ship without a rudder and all the political divisions have, among the senior Democrats, magically disappeared...on Iraq.

The shifting landscape over the next weeks and months holds something I don't believe anyone has considered. Within the now Democrat dominated Congress, there will be a number of newbies, coming in with a perceived mandate to "get our troops out now". This idealism will collide with the reality of a lack of direction from the Democratic Party for the future, the power of the Comander in Chief and a generally idealistic approach to the conflict vs. the reality of our commitment. The junior members of Congress coming from the Democratic Party, expecting to see their adrenaline enhanced euphoria and fervor to get out, will be disappointed.

Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that dissention in the ranks will not be tolerated and there will be repurcussions for those who engage in it. The stage is set for civil, or not so civil war within the Democratic Party. 2008 will usher in the ultra-important election, as has every other. Yet this one will be different. The Democrats, never able to keep the rabble on a consistent, logical strategy, will be in disarray in short order. By 2008, Americans will be begging for the divisiveness between the two parties over the dissention and disarray of the Democrats. Finally, the average Joe will be dismayed by the fact that he or she, in 2006 voted for a "change of direction in Iraq" and did not get it at the hands of many Democratic majorities both Nationally and among the states.

Ours will be a rapidly changing landscape and by '08, the Democrats will be scratching their collective heads wondering how, in this day and age, the Republicans were able to maintain Unity for six years when theirs unraveled in less than two. They capitalized on portability of information, access to constituents via internet, posting out of context sound-bites while the Republicans relied upon it yet exercising no influence over it. The lesson has been learned and in the immortal words of George W. Bush, fool me, er, uh, yer, um gonna, if you fool me, ah, your, gonna, you won't fool me again...or something like that.

Criminal?

Marti Bascaglia says it would be a waste of time to investigate and potentially prosecute Mayor Herb Bergson for releasing an auditor's confidential draft report to her. Herb has apologized and many have suggested that should suffice. The resulting fray, a conclusion of three, count them, three front page, headline reports by the "news" paper headed by Marti Bascaglia. Both heads are in the frying pan and it is just a matter of time before they both sizzle under the heat of a policy of nose thumbing at the rules, laws and mores of our community. The combined arrogance of Herb Bergson and Marti Bascaglia are eclipsed only by those of Kim Jong Il of modern day Korea, Hitler and Mussolini of days past.

Fortunately, unlike their mentors, they hold positions of power and influence in a tiny playground of nitwits. That playground, on the other hand has become that of nitwits at their own hands. Herb Bergson lacks the integrity to command any respect, but among a few, wields just enough power to instill fear into enough people to render a community and it's trusted employees completely impotent.

The unmitigated willingness of Marti Bascaglia to engage in ruthless character assassination has more than a few in her tiny peer group shuddering with fear. The rest of us looking in cannot help but wonder what goes on in the mind of a textbook narcissistic personality. That personality in a position of relative power has an enormous amount of ability to do both good and bad. Unfortunately for Duluth, Marti has not the judgement nor the vision to comprehend the damage done to this small community when she embarks on her crusades leaving all that is decent and good about it, in ruins behind her. The wrath of Marti and her editorial board is a force of terrible consequence in the tiny little haven of Duluth but in real world relativism, she and her board are but a pimple on the ass of society. They are worthy of scorn but certainly not enough energy to get through a trivial gossip session over lunch.

You see, to be relevant, you have to present attitudes, opinions and logic that is considered worthy of ponder by the population at large, not just your peers and local community. Duluth is a tiny microcosm of the United States and as a stand alone community is relatively irrelevant. While we machinate over the hate filled and dislexic boys and girls club of the Tribune, the rest of the world simply goes on. We are not noticed. We have no attention paid to our trivial quibbles and comic eye poking and face slapping. Marti is no more important to the world than she makes herself in her own mind. Unfortunately, she gets validation from her many foes within the community including myself. She believes that by being the topic of conversation in Duluth, she is valid and relevant. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We, as a community have strayed so far from the mainstream as to render our entire existence and presence, irrelevant. What we do here, stays here. Nobody cares outside of this area, with a possible tiny handful of exceptions. People born and raised here but forced to move away to find a relevant life occasionally check in, but to their dismay, and likely disappointment, the only thing that has changed is we have become even less relevant.

Still Here

Spring has sprung and projects abound. I haven't upddated for some time and will be sparse in new postings but look for me to spice things up a little. Local issues will still be my focus here but the content will be less cumbersome to read and I will be including more links and sourcing.

Free Speech recently got a boost from the FEC as they decided to leave blogs outside the spectrum of their scrutiny. The logical thing for them to do was of course just that. It is going to become more and more impossible and impractical, without gestapo tactics and World Wide Web policing on a frightening scale, to monitor or regulate speech on the internet. This is a good thing.

I won't be shy about taking advantage of my right to free speech. I will continue my figurative in-step stomping on the Tribune and lampooning our overly deserving local politicians. The lunacy continues and seems to have affected more than the usual 6 or 7 Councilors and leftist talking heads around Duluth. Enjoy Spring, the mosquitoes are right around the corner!

Free Speech Survives FEC

"FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics". This statement reverberates throughout the internet today. Although in many circles, it will get nary a glance, among bloggers, however, this is an important and significant development. You and I will likely never encounter the likes of FEC enforcement but imagine answering the door and having two federal agents standing there with warrants to seize your laptop. It is at least a little disconcerting. The door remains open to an infinite variety of attacks on free-speech, such as fallacious accusations of libel/slander but those can be avoided by qualifying what you say as opinion and not getting into specific allegations or accusations represented as fact, etc.

Why is this significant? This allows people like you and I to blog about candidates for political office, independent of the majority of constraints without fear of federal prosecution. The local implications are obvious as well. Would a State be willing to bring enforcement action against little ol' me if the FEC has already come out in support of allowing this type of communication? This will likely have implications for States with more restrictive rules as well. The best part is Free Speech has survived another attempted assault.

Dry Reading

I have a tendency to get too verbose in my postings. I am passionate about Duluth and feel an obligation to do whatever I can to effect change. I will continue to post to this blog but going back over my posts, it is clear, my writing appeals only to me and has no impact relative to a call to action or providing relevant, current information. I have no traffic counters but I suspect if I did, it would click off a visit about three times a month and a few more in-between as I log in to update and check for comments. Is this a worthwhile endeavor? Well, only to me as it relates to pealing back the onion of my brain to occasionally review what I was thinking at any given time.

What to do? Well, it seems it is time to begin posting more relevant, current, appealing and certainly less lengthy posts. In this day and age, nobody has the time to read through an opinion piece of 2000 words, especially when that opinion is about nothing more than Duluth. After-all, there are 86,000 residents in Duluth and we are all struggling for survival, save Marti Buscaglia and all her limosine liberal friends as well as a few over-paid, wacko college professors.

I am going to start taking on less than local issues and do a little more digging, provide better linking, etc. to make this space more useful to the handful of people who accidentally stray to it on occasion. If you have read this page, you will see I have also eliminated the ads placed between the articles as they were distracting and mostly junk. Have a great day and to the few of you who have actually read, thanks!

Nothing to Fear

So much of what I have written culminates into one general theme. That theme is that Duluth needs a fundamental change of direction, change of leadership and change in general thought and attitudes. The comments by the Publisher of the Duluth News Tribune, typify the attitudes of the stodgy, dusty and out of touch, liberal, DFL establishment in Duluth. This sort of 50s era thinking seems so entrenched, to dislodge it is going to take a powerful voice.

When change is the only direction to progress, the new voice of that progress must not only be powerful, afterall, anyone can stand at a podium and bang their fists, shouting slogans of power to the people, it must be unifying and galvanizing. I cannot remember a voice in my lifetime that I felt compelled to follow on a local level. I cannot remember a voice that truly galvanized people to action and compelled change in Duluth. It has been the same, whether the voice comes from the right or the left. The voices have always stuck to one message or another, pro-business, or pro-labor; pro-development or pro-environment; pro-growth or pro-green. I submit to you that these voices have done damage to their respective sides and viewing the situation Duluth now finds itself in, they have done a disservice to Duluth as a whole, with little exception.

This new voice must be able to articulate that it is possible to be both pro-business and pro-labor and that the two go hand in hand. Labor depends on job creation. The new voice must be able to articulate that it is possible to be pro-development and pro-environment and that, in today's day and age, the two now go hand in hand. Developers are now held to the highest, strictest standards of environmental protection and aesthetic sensitivity. We must realize that leaving land undeveloped or in the public domain, leaves it essentially without stewardship. Todays developers have become excellent stewards and out of necessity, demanded by the marketplace and the political arena, are keenly aware of the sensitivities of their detractors. Good stewardship, depends on those good stewards to take ownership.

Duluthians must be made to understand that by embracing growth, we aren't, at the same time, capitulating to urban sprawl. We must also understand that to embrace growth, maintain a higher standard of living for all and the quality of life we now experience, we can and will do all of it with careful stewardship of and respect for those ideals from all sides of the political spectrum.

For decades, we have been lead to believe that growth and development are mutually exclusive from high quality of life. We have been brainwashed on both sides that to protect green and open spaces, we have to sacrifice economic and population growth. We have been misled to believe that both sides of the arguments require unequivocal compromise and one will cease to exist if the other is allowed to succeed. We have, in a nutshell, lost balance. That loss of balance has come from the paranoia of those on the extremes of both sides, that the other is out to monopolize the public domain, grab up all the land and exclude the other from the process. This paranoia has come from our elected leaders and those campaigning for office who feel using fear is the only way to obtain and retain elected office.

The new leadership of Duluth, if it is ever to move Duluth in a unified manner, and if this new brand of leadership ever arrives on the scene, must be a master of public communication and a non-threatening presence to all. They will have to move us toward solving the issues that affect all and toward creating opportunities across all spectrums for all Duluthians and those not native to the area, who would like to locate here, such as our hundreds of college graduates every year. They will have to put out a message that Duluth is too good to suffer mediocrity and stagnation. Duluth is too valuable and beautiful to think small in regards to the future. We have to think smarter and bigger and we need a leader who will bring this message to all Duluthians, across all political and dogmatic lines. "Enlightened" leaders are not enough. We need enlightened, bold, articulate and unashamed leadership.

The new leadership must be a problem solving, not finger pointing presence. The demons of the past must be exorcised and forgotten. The enemies of the future must be dealt with and convinced, theirs is a message of days gone by. The Party loyalists who capitalize on fear must be marginalized and their message drowned out by one galvanizing the community into hope and progress. A "polarized" community must alienate and ostracize those who capitalize on and propagate the myth of polarization.

The new voice of Duluth has to be able to convince those across all lines that, in the words of FDR, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". Fear is the most powerful tool in the politicians' arsenal and it has been used far too long, to the detriment of society. It has created a chasm in Duluth, larger than the City itself and that chasm must be filled with a message of unity, cooperation, hope and most of all, galvanized determination to turn the City into what it once was; a place where anyone with an able body, sound mind and the willingness to work hard, could and would succeed.

Denying the Market

As I read and discuss the most recent development significant to Duluth, the sale and impending re-sale of the Duluth News Tribune, I thought it might be time to reflect on a few things. First and foremost is Duluth's longstanding failure to embrace and recognize the importance of market economics. To put it in a very simplistic way it all boils down to supply and demand. In the case of the Tribune, the supply is ample and the demand dropping. In many senses, the demise of the Tribune has been brought about by their own brand of "journalism".

Any "news" entity that embraces the politics of personal destruction, vindictive targeting of individuals and organizations and a selective approach to subject matter to promote an agenda damages not only their credibility, but those they seek to serve. The consumers of news want balance. People want to make informed decisions and generally, people thirst for accurate and unbiased information. If you are making judgements and decisions based on lies, misconceptions or misinformation, your judgement is ultimately, based on ignorance. When a "news" outlet chooses to promote an agenda, rather than simply and objectively report the news, and subsequently damage their own credibility, the consumers of that "news" will dismiss that "news" more and more and ultimately will turn to other sources of information.

Recently, the bias of the Tribune has been so evident, even the least discriminating reader has begun to turn to other sources to corroborate or verify the content. When that becomes too troublesome, or in the case of the Tribune, preferable to reading the "paper", readership declines. Further, the Tribune has been a willing accomplice to the local labor unions and left of center organizations and agendas. What this has lead to is a general approach to governing Duluth and a philosophy among Duluthians of denying market forces.

This is the greatest damage done by the Tribune. Refusing to recognize that market forces will eventually kick in, thwarting those forces at every opportunty and promoting anti-market practices and policies can only lead to unfavorable long term economic impact. It is worth saying at this point that the Tribune has done so many things to cause long term damage to Duluth, it is hard to quantify it all on one blog entry. It is poetic justice then that they are now suffering the fate of so many years of liberal, anti-market practices and policies. The population of Duluth has declined, the remaining population has become very skeptical about the content of the Tribune and are therefore, dropping their Tribune subscriptions.

Accurate, unbiased sources of information are available with the touch of a button. The Tribune has stubbornly refused to recognize and adjust to the reality that promotion of an agenda will not be tolerated by the news consumer. Does this spell the end of the Tribune? Only if they are purchased by an organization that will tolerate continued blatant promotion of a social agenda that is counterproductive to the community. Unless the new owners of the Tribune do some house-cleaning from the top down, they will be purchasing their own ruin.

The internet is not to blame for the plight of the Tribune. The Tribune must recognize and embrace the notion that mainstream America is not left of center and is in-fact right leaning and leaning farther that way. They must further recognize that the Unions, especially the public employee unions do not have the best interests of the community at heart. Their's is a single-minded, self-promotion at all costs approach, whether or not they have bankrupted the City of Duluth.

Bottom line; Duluth is on the shakiest financial grounds it has ever seen. The Tribune has been a huge contributor through it's denial of the Market and promotion of it's leftist agenda. Duluthians have been making terribly irresponsible decisions for decades due to the spin and misinformation promoted by the Tribune. This poetic justice will be meted out without regard to those who promoted it, fought it, or are currently suffering. This should be a lesson to Duluth and Duluthians. In today's America, the market will adjust and if you don't embrace the market, it will backfire. The backlash is occuring.

Moving Right Along

Has Duluth ever been this disconnected? There seems to be no cohesion, no momentum in any given direction and the City is as lethargic and detached as I have ever seen it. It's almost as if we're all just standing around waiting for something to happen so we can respond to it. In that sense it seems Duluth has become irrelevant. We're like the slumbering bear waiting for Spring to roll around so we can go out and eat something.

A few days back, I had my kids and we were looking for something to do. It came down to doing something we had done a hundred times or leaving town. Duluth and Duluthians seem content that the City during the Spring is a place where there is almost nothing to do. This time of year, when the banks are still high, the snow too mushy for Winter sports, the ground too wet, mucky or slushy to do much outside, it hits you like a brick; Duluth is a dying community. Sure, this weekend things will come to life for the adults with the DSSO and other weekend fare but for the kids, there is relatively little for them to do. I remember days gone by when me and a few of my buddies would huddle around the pinball machines at the Morgan Park Goodfellowship Club and see who could post the high score. We could go downstairs and bowl a few frames or make a few extra bucks setting pins for the afternoon. We could check out a couple rackets and play racketball or shoot some hoops...all indoors. We could just run around the elevated track and play tag. There was plenty to do and all within walking distance from our front door.

I suppose a lot of those activities are still available to the kids these days but most require mom and dad to drive them somewhere, spend an exhorbitant amount of money and time and the activities are more one dimensional. The reverberating sound in Duluth is one of needing jobs and an economy that isn't almost solely based in tourism. This false economy has dropped the bottom out of the traditional American Dream in Duluth unless you are in the Medical profession or a public employee.

Where are the leaders of this community? What are they doing for Duluth? It seems the lethargy is coming from the top down and despite our best efforts, the best they can come up with is banning pigeon feeding and endlessly discussing the City's bowhunt for deer. The issues of greatest consequence, such as jobs, retiree healthcare, our failing infrastructure and bloated City budget get little more than a sideways glance. Apathy has not only infected the voters, it seems to have crippled our Council and administration. Is there anything we can do to motivate them? It seems not. Status quo is apparently preferable to moving any real agenda forward.

Progressives are in charge and we are waiting anxiously for progress. Will they deliver?

To Caucus or Not

Tonight marks the true beginning of election season 2006. Caucuses will be held all over the State and attendence will likely be light. On the other hand, those forces commonly in control of the political football, will undoubtedly show. Listening to local talk show host, Lew Latto, you'd thing it was a big waste of time. He states, "the caucuses are only attended by extremists from both parties so I just won't go". Great attitude Lew. You don't like the forum, have your own comfortable little soap box you retreat to each day and are afraid to get out of your comfort zone.

For the rest of us rubes, instead of simply complaining, the other option is to attend and attempt to effect change. I am not happy where the local Republicans are taking the Party. I know where the DFL is taking theirs and it takes decades to climb the agreement ladder within that cronified Party so I definitely won't be going there. If there is a chance to effect change anywhere, it will be at the very scarcely attended Republican caucus. Maybe I am one of those extremists Lew speaks of with such disdain but I want things for this State and this City. I want my children to be able to stay here. I want my business to thrive and not be in survival mode all the time. I want prudent fiscal policy on a State and Local level. I want to see leadership within the Republican Party that adheres more closely to the principles and foundations of conservative and mainstream Republicans such as fiscal conservatism, smaller government, streamlined processes within government, pay and promotion for merit, economic stimulus through decreased taxation and finally, minimally invasive regulation.

Over the last several years, they have not adhered to these principles. While I admire and respect Tim Pawlenty and believe he is the best Governor we have had in decades, he has not reduced the size of government in any meaningful, long-term way. Further, he has transferred the lion's share of the expense of government on to small businesses and individuals through dramatic fee increases as well as extremely punitive penalty programs related to State taxes. While he has erased a large deficit by holding the line on taxes and reducing line items such as Local Government Aid, K-12 and higher education funding, core government agencies have not shrunk by any meaningful degree. Unions still largely control local political landscapes and therefore, local politicians and local elections. On that note, I would like to see some effort, any effort, to bring about right to work legislation. It has had dramatic results everywhere it has been instituted and would forever and positively change the political landscape in Minnesota. In the case of right to work, Unions only need fear the market, for employment, wages, and employee rights are universally enhanced by it. The only thing that tends to suffer is Union clout.

On a State level, our representation up North is almost entirely DFL and we need to take definite, affirmative steps to change that. We need to show up in numbers large enough to convince the Party that we are not happy with the direction. We need to bring in the next generation of politically and civically minded and get the ball rolling in the right direction. We need to caucus. Is it too late to get the word out? Maybe, but there's always the next caucus. Let's get organized and put out the effort toward getting things to swing our way. Go to your caucus and let your voice be heard.

Action Means Action, Dummy

I hear people around town, on local talk shows, at the City Council, claiming that though the retiree health care issue is spinning out of control, "at least they're doing something about it". My question to those of you who follow this train of thought is: what? What is the Mayor doing about it? What is the Council doing about it? They put together a panel to study, report and suggest remedies. They completed their study, gave a very comprehensive report along with suggested fixes and were thanked and summarily dismissed.

Has the Council or Mayor taken any action on their recommendations? The answer is no. There have been no resolutions other than a token endorsement of the recommendations by the Council. Still though, no tangible action on this critical issue. This debt grows by an estimated $35,000 every day, still no action by the Council to stem the tide. What are we waiting for? I was listening to a local talk show and a woman called in to say, "you all complain that they're not taking action so why don't you offer up a solution?" This is the kind of thinking that is sinking Duluth fast. They have had solutions presented to them and they are the ones who must take the action. We can offer up solutions all day long but if they fail to act, we are powerless and might just as well be mumbling in the corner.

For every two days we wait, this costs us as much as a full time equivalent (FTE) or the equivalent of one City employee. This is the subject nearly everyone who cares is concerned with and talking about. We are all waiting to see what the Mayor and Council do with this. They are doing nothing. It begins to make those of us who are on the more conservative side, disgusted, left feeling powerless and scratching our heads wondering who's running the asylum.

As much as people are demanding action and complaining about this, there is still no action and those seeking to defend the left, the unions, the DFL candidates charged with taking action and not doing it charge that we are attacking them. You're damn right we're attacking them. They have been presented this issue as the number one concern of the City, have been made aware of the dire consequences if it is not addressed and still we wait. All have paid lip-service to this issue but none seem to have the fortitude to take action. Tick, Tick, Tick, TICK... The clock is running and the debt is growing...Anytime guys! This is what electing incompetents to run our City gets us. Enjoy the view.

All Aboard the Tax and Spend Train

As I posted in my previous article, the increase in the food and beverage tax to fund the new Arena is a bad idea. But, the vote is over and Duluthians, in what is a very pathetic turnout, approved the new tax. I can't help but drop a few more comments on this as it goes South. Of course our local State Legislators will support and likely aggressively lobby for this project. Whether it will survive other skeptics in the Legislature and the Governor's Office remains to be seen.

The thing that gets under my skin is the comments by many of those who supported this project, that Duluth is an anti-business City. To all of you who supported this and bitch about how Duluth is anti-business, you have lost your right to complain. Are higher taxes favorable to business? The answer is an obvious and unequivocal no. How do those who support this and complain about the anti-business environment reconcile these opposing views? Well, it takes understanding the way Duluth and Minnesota do business and approach big projects. We have a long history of pork and taxpayer funded projects. It is viewed as an acceptable approach to funding practically anything. We currently fund various forms of entertainment, the Visit Duluth marketing program, other civic organizations and seed money for Grandma's Marathon and the In-Line Marathon. Are these truly appropriate uses of our tax dollars?

The bottom line to be made is that taxes in any form thwart business growth and contribute to a stagnant economy. In Duluth, however, we seem completely incapable of learning that lesson. On a national scale, a reduction in the capital gains tax resulted in greater activity in the stock market and others affected by the reduction. Reducing the capital gains tax from 20% to 15% resulted in an increase in revenue received by the government. On the other hand, when the capital gains went from 20% to 28%, it resulted in a net decrease in revenue. If Duluth and Duluthians truly want growth, economic vitality, a better job market and opportunities for enterpreneurs, we have to collectively get our heads around this priniciple. Taxes and taxation do not stimulate economic growth and in the long run, result in lower government revenue. Increasing taxes thwarts economic activity. Reducing taxes stimulates economic activity and growth resulting in significant and substantial increases in government revenue as more taxable transactions take place. Oh well, for the next 25 years, we will still not get an opportunity to test this theory in Duluth.

Into the Fray

The hottest topics are not tackled by the faint of heart. The current topic of the DECC expansion is one of those topics. It seems if you come out publicly in support of this project, you are hailed as a visionary, forward thinking, civically minded, pro-business, happy, fun-loving, intelligent shining star. If you oppose it, you are a nitwitted, negative, pessimistic, inflexible thwarter of all that is good.

As is usually the case in Duluth, the reality is lost in the shuffle of politics and nobody truly wants an objective look at the facts. I'll do my best to do just that but be fore-warned, I am on the side of the naysayers.

Duluth has a long and jaded history of broken promises, propaganda campaigns to promote less than prudent projects, tax increases with sunset provisions that never seem to arrive and fiscal mismanagement on a mind boggling scale for a city this size. The broken promises started way back in the late 60s. A one percent sales tax was proposed and implemented with a sunset of three years. That tax was eventually made permanent and is now used entirely in the general fund, not it's intended purpose. The second one percent tax was also imposed with a very short sunset provision. It has become permanent. The third half percent was imposed in the late 90s to fund the last DECC expansion.

That tax has been further pilfered to help fund the embattled Great Lakes Aquarium. This is a very brief history of local option sales taxes in Duluth. In addition to the local option sales taxes currently "collected" (more on this later) and paid by local businesses, there is between 6.5 and 9 percent State sales tax also imposed.

Proponents of the current increase needed to fund the DECC expansion, minimize it's impact, reducing the obligation to pennies on a hypothetical lunch or dinner bill. The problem with this argument is the increase is quite substantial relative to the current tax burden and will put Duluth bars and restaurants at a greater competitive disadvantage as the tax rates for them become some of the highest in the U.S.

The proponents have made a concerted attempt to separate the DECC expansion and related tax increase from the other financial woes and previous debacles hamstringing Duluth's future. Unfortunately, the money comes from the same pool. Whether it is the "tourism tax", sales tax, property tax from the City, County, State, School District and various taxing authorities or the food and beverage tax, the money comes from us, the taxpayers. Proponents are also using the argument that a large portion of the money will come from tourists, when the reality is, the majority of local receipts come from you and me.


Finally, the argument that carries the most weight among the starry-eyed is that 33+ Million will come from "The State" and that this is money we need to bring back to Duluth, lest we become the red-headed step child of the Bonding Bill. Last time I checked, this money also comes from taxpayers. Regardless of the form, we ultimately pay it back through State and local taxes...with interest.

There are a few very important points to understand before you vote this Tuesday, February 28th. First, the projections provided to Duluth from Dan Russell for the amount of money the tax increase will generate are based on growth in the food and beverage receipts. The fact is, last year, one of the most favorable for weather and events, food and beverage receipts, adjusted for inflation, were down. If this trend continues, the projected revenue will fall short.

What happens if the revenue from the food and beverage tax increase falls short of making the bond payments? We will have to take it from the general fund. Just to refresh your memory, the City Council heard recommendations from a task force formed to address the unfunded retiree health care issue. Included in those recommendations are a 9% per year increase in property taxes for at least four years in a row. Added onto your base tax rate currently, coupled with annual increases in assessments, your house payment stands a 100% chance of going much higher. Couple that with proposed utility increases and your personal bottom line just got substantially smaller.

These taxes will become prohibitive to all but the most affluent and inflation-proof house-holds. More importantly, they will hit employers especially hard. What do employers do when faced with dramatically higher costs? They cut the greatest cost of all, payroll. This translates in to job loss.

Add this all up and you end up with the non-tourist season, or 75% of most years, a very substantially decreased pool of disposable income and a corresponding reduction in food and beverage receipts. What do you cut out when you have less mulah in your wallet? You guessed it, dinner out. Now, if that dinner bill is going up right along with all your other taxes, your willingness to go out and spend your hard earned and increasingly scarce dollars on dinner in Duluth will certainly decrease.

The bottom line here is that Duluth is on a spending spree that is coming to a disastrous end and a few people are all too aware of it. The possibility that our bond ratings will drop is almost a foregone conclusion making those much sought after dollars, extremely difficult to come by. Why now? Why so rushed? Why the hurry to get this done and before the Governor so quickly? If we don't do it now, in all likelihood, it won't happen and should not happen until Duluth gets it's fiscal house in order.

With a positive vote on Tuesday the 28th, this project still has a very long and difficult road.

For the record, I'll be voting no.

Civility vs. Integrity

I've been feeling uninspired lately. There has been so little news locally lately, I have pondered taking on less than local topics. I am sure with more digging, I could do more justice to local issues. Anyway, bear with me and I'll begin more frequent updates. Thanks for reading and here are my latest ramblings...

Civility vs. Integrity

Individuals within many communities and forums are promoting "civility". Civility projects are all the rage among various groups, parties, politicos and intellectuals. It seems dissention is being viewed more and more as uncivil. The interesting thing to explore is whether the dissention is, in-fact, uncivil or is the dissention, within a given forum merely percieved as uncivil. We see civility "projects" popping up around the country and of course we have our own right here in Duluth. Drawing upon my experiences in Duluth, but perhaps more importantly, decades away from Duluth and then returning, it appears obvious to all but the most disconnected that dissention is the only pre-requisite to being labelled as uncivil.

Dissention is generally based in a differing interpretation of fact, emotion, pre-disposition and social disposition. The current dominating party in Northeastern Minnesota has sensibilities so easily upset, you'd think the apple cart had one very wobbly wheel. Expressing the most insignificant dissention, coupled with a little spirit is viewed as disrespectful and uncivil. Criticizing the promoters of inane, impractical or downright foolish policies is met with vehement indignation by those promoters. One need only call a fool a fool to be attacked for being an uncivil extremist.

What the promoters of this phony civility are asking us to do is part with our convictions and diminish our own integrity. If you or I are angered by the actions of a public official, do we owe it to them to simply stuff it? The reason many people don't attend City Council meetings is because they see it as futile. If you are a dissenter and speak your mind, you are labelled uncivil. If you are frustrated and correspond with the Council to express your frustration, you are dismissed as uncivil. The bottom line is, the way to diminish and marginalize you and dismiss your message these days is to label you uncivil. Labelling somebody uncivil is such a clever way to destroy your message. If they are successful painting you as uncivil, the public sees you as a mindless savage not worthy of consideration.

What people have forgotten with all this phony civility is the integrity of human emotion and conviction is being crushed out. The passion of the messenger is destroyed and lost in the intellectual soup of labels. Civility "projects" are nothing more than organized attempts to quell dissent. Did our forefathers stuff their emotion and convictions? Our leaders take us into war to defend or establish freedom. Those who prefer isolationism and pacifism demand those of us who support the effort to remain silent. How dare we support such a draconian solution as war? In some minds, as long as we are free all others be damned. There is no justification for war in their minds short of defending against homeland attack. Why do we go to war? We go to war to defend and protect our right and the rights of others to express dissent. Those going into battle on America's behalf, engage in the ultimate form of dissent, against those who chose to crush or stifle dissent.

How do we get from here to there? How do we get from being the defender of freedom to becoming the ones who must fight for our own? The answer is, the Civility Project. The Civility Project as we so fondly refer to it, is nothing more than another weapon in the arsenal against free speech. If we as citizens, through threat of intimidation, public humiliation or simply being labelled as ne'r do well, uncivil savages, are not allowed to express spirited dissent, we have taken the first step toward tyranny, if only on a local level.

Don't be fooled by "civility projects", they are nothing more than the first step down the road to quelling freedom of speech. Civility "projects" must be attacked for what they are, nothing more than certain groups whittling away at your freedom. Any attempt to silence the human voice must be attacked for what it is, the first eroding of your freedom. All attempts at stealing freedom, crushing the human spirit or silencing the individual, have ultimately lead to tyranny. Tyranny leads to war. The human spirit is a power far too great to be silenced, stuffed or even rebuffed. If you believe it, speak it. Never allow your elected leaders to silence you. Never allow your elected leaders to marginalize you with speech policing. The inevitable end of this stifling of the human spirit is tyranny. The most uncivil act of the human race is war and the slippery slope of speech police leads to tyranny which has always been resolved through war. The unquenchable human desire to be free simply cannot be suppressed. The freedom to speak one's mind is the most fundamental freedom. When times require it, uncivil discourse is the best way to avoid tyranny.

Capitalizing on Duluth

Duluth was once a burgeoning, empire building, economic center. Growth industries of the day, such as steel production, the railroad and shipping industry, among others provided jobs, unprecedented economic opportunity and growth in practically every measure of economic health.

Things have changed dramatically. We now have a tourism based economy with new focus and growth in the medical industry, higher education and general aviation. The most notable thing about the past heydays of Duluth's economy, was the diversity within that economy. Growth industries provided widespread wealth and generated almost limitless opportunities for the neighborhood entrepreneur. Small businesses such as corner restaurants, neighborhood grocery stores and even small banks were able to open and thrive. Vitality is a function of diversity. Both are inextricably entwined, the yin and yang of economic growth. Also a very important factor and another player in the yin and yang is Government. There has to be a balance of taxation to fund infrastructure and public safety, as well as sound long-term economic policy.

To effectively capitalize on Duluth, we need to fully inventory the assets, both fiscal and physical. Duluth has an International Airport with the longest runway in the State of Minnesota. The Duluth-Superior harbor boasts the world's largest inland port. We have rail infrastructure that has deteriorated but where the most expensive and critical piece of the pie is still in place, the right of ways to construct new rail. We are the terminus of Interstate 35 which goes all the way to the Mexican Border and continues via highway 61 all the way to the Canadian border. Within the City itself we have vast natural resources, albeit most are off limits to all but hikers and naturalists. A high proportion of our population is highly educated and the Minnesota work ethic is well-known. We have a huge amount of land available for development, including areas that have previously been developed, are set aside for development but currently sit vacant.

On the other hand, we must be cognizant of our liabilities. The most significant liability is largely political. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is extremely dominant in Duluth. Their most important and significant constituent groups are public employees and Unions. State imposed legislation gives Unions and Public Employees an extraordinary amount of power. This has created a disproportionately pro-employee, anti-employer environment. Due to the dominance of the DFL Party, policies typically associated with the Democratic Party have been taken to the extreme, such as very burdensome and sometimes outlandish policies related to environmental protection, preventing or inhibiting most developments. The Duluth City Council has adopted even more extreme policies and has been a difficult hurdle for all but the best connected and completely benign developers.

Taking all these factors into account, how do we capitalize and grow our local economy? Most importantly, how do we grow our City, and successfully navigate the political mine-field? First, with regard to our assets, the large amount of land and previously developed but vacant property needs to be evaluated, quantified and marketed. We need to determine and detail the infrastructure available to those properties and develop contingency plans for how to get infrastructure in place should a developer decide on a given location.

We need to quantify and market those properties that will need little ramp-up such as the Northwest maintenance facility and find other operations that will be a good fit. Most importantly, we need to recognize, quantify and market the unique combination of transportation facilities available. Some possible fits would seem to be no-brainers. With the growth in internet marketing and sales, resulting in a huge increase in drop-shipping, a shipping hub for a UPS or Fed-Ex type of operation seems a natural fit. Duluth is centrally located on the North American Continent, again, with an International Airport and a huge facility, essentially sitting empty.

While the auto-making industry has taken huge hits lately, the best defense is a good offense. A great offense for them would be to take a hint from the Japanese and focus on innovation. Duluth would be a great location with it's proximity to vast natural resources, extremely flexible shipping where cars could literally go from ramp to container, to ship, to anywhere in the world. With our high level of education and innovation, we could build a super high-tech auto factory with the sole aim to produce better, more reliable vehicles than our Japanese competitors.

General Aviation is also a natural fit for Duluth. Again, with a facility at the existing airport sitting essentially empty, there is a huge opportunity knocking. Any of these would create spinoff industries and immediate growth.

Duluth needs to better capitalize on it's location on the largest body of fresh water on the planet. We need to be more welcoming to boaters. With a relatively tiny investment in our existing waterfront, we could be hosting cruise ships, yachts from all over the great lakes, charter boat operations, sailboat races, kayaking, canoeing and myriad other water-related activities.

Finally, with all the great minds currently working on solving this crisis or that issue, or marketing small-town pork projects, we need to get a group together that does nothing but market Duluth. That group would not market Duluth as a tourist destination but as a place to do business and raise a family. We currently have a Mayor who's sole focus seems to be taking care of all those who are disadvantaged, out of work, homeless or drug and alcohol dependent. We need a Mayor who, instead of taxing the producers to pay for the non-productive, will market Duluth to Producers and try to find a way to make the non-productive, productive. Instead of rewarding them for bad behavior, let's encourage them to stop it by putting them to work. We need to make Duluth a place that is unattractive to the unproductive and make it attractive to producers. Bottom line, we need leadership and vision.

Backwards

I began work on a post a while back and never finished it. It sat in my drafts for so long that when I finally finished it, i posted lower on the page. The article is titled old news and is regarding the Downtown Waterfront Improvement District. So, for my latest post scroll down past the end of my article about the planned Swamp at Slip #2.

Thanks for reading.

Purifying a Billion Gallons of Water

I have been following the Sweetwater Alliance's bid to get a piece of prime Duluth real estate dedicated for use as a "Living Water Garden". Jill Jacoby of the the Sweetwater Alliance has long promoted this project as a way to purify water before it enters the Lake Superior basin. The problem is, the plan has always been a plan to pump water out of the St. Louis Bay, through the garden, then back into the bay.

The "Living Water Garden" has been touted as an educational project and represented as legitimate science. Any Kindergarten student will tell you, pumping fresh water through a swamp is not going to make it any cleaner. Further, Jill Jacoby makes outrageous claims that this will in-fact, contribute to cleaner water by reducing salinity in St. Louis Bay.

The fact that our City Council has given away a half acre of the most valuable property in Duluth, approved funding for the design of this ridiculous project and discussed it like it is a legitimate use of public funds, time or energy, demonstrates the complete and utter stupidity and flagrant pandering to the leftist, extreme of Duluth. This, along with so many other completely stupid, nutty projects is why Duluth is and will continue to be a laughing stock and the butt of so many jokes State and Nationwide.

This land is DEDA property and it's intended purpose is economic development. Here is the list of economic development proposals approved for that property:

1. Living Water Garden
2. To Be Announced
3. To Be Announced

If this had been property specifically earmarked for environmental protection and development was approved, there would be a firestorm of controversy, front page news articles damning the Council for approving it and the developer building it. The Council would be figuratively hanged, drawn and quartered by the media and the left. The opposite has occurred; economic development property, specifically set aside for development, has instead been stolen from the tax roles and set aside for the construction of a fancy swamp. Where is the outrage?

How utterly ridiculous that we, as a City have been hijacked by a handful of starry-eyed, leftist nuts is an indication of how far out of the mainstream we truly are. In any other City facing the same challenges as Duluth, this project would have been laughed right out of City Hall. In Duluth, we embrace stupidity. We love a good waste of time, resources and public funds. Anybody who defends this project and the totally intellectually bankrupt notion that by pumping water out of the bay, running it through a swamp and pumping it back into the bay somehow contributes to our environment is hopelessly out of touch with the realities of science.

It's like saying, if we purify a bucket of water each day, we could purify the whole lake over time. Let's say this "Living Water Garden" successfully treats 1000 gallons of water each day (they have made no representations regarding how much water will be treated) , it will only take 1,095,890,411 years to run the contents of Lake Superior through it.

If you pull up the Sweetwater Alliance website, you will see pictures and verbiage that represents to the viewer that they will be treating storm water runoff. This is a bald-faced lie. The "Living Water Garden" will treat water that has already run into and mixed with the water from the St. Louis Bay. The St. Louis bay ebbs and flows with Lake Superior, the world's largest fresh water lake by area. Of course, that is irrelevant to Jill Jacoby and our City Council.

The only way the science is legitimate is if salinity equivalent to that which would naturally flow in from the street is present going in. Lacking this, it is nothing more than an expensive lie on prime property, using public funds for Junk Science. Will we ever get this City away from these ridiculous blunders? It is apparent that there is no recognition by our illustrious Council that we can no longer afford these distractions.

"Welcome to the Living Water Garden: This is an experiment in treating storm-water runoff, of course we don't really treat storm-water runoff, but we really needed to prevent development on this site and this is the only thing we could think of that would fit the bill."

Anyone who cannot see this as nothing more than a cynical attempt by a few extremists to grab the most valuable piece of property in Duluth, are blinded by their own loyalty to the fringe kooks running Duluth into oblivion.

Old News

Duluth's Downtown Waterfront District has been marketed heavily to Duluth and Downtown businesses as a way to clean up and keep safe the Downtown and waterfront area. This district was the brainchild of the Greater Downtown Council and they are now the beneficiaries of the taxes imposed on the various businesses enclosed within it's borders.

A public examination of the process undertaken to impose this district and the related taxes on the businesses included is overdue. A Constitutional review is also in order. The fourteenth amendment to the Contsitution guarantees equal protection. Case law with regard to this and the original intent was to cement the "one man, one vote" concept. This was done to grant equal status to non-property owners, small and large property owners alike.

The Duluth Waterfront District and the State Statute that was used to create it dismisses this concept entirely. In order for a municipality to create these special taxing districts, they must get a certain percentage of the owners of the "net tax capacity" to vote in favor of the district. What this does is effectively ignore the one man one vote concept. Owners of larger, more valuable properties have a more "valuable" vote.

Perhaps a way to simplify this concept would be to illustrate it on a much smaller scale. Imagine a city block with four properties on it. One of the properties is a high rise apartment building with very upscale apartments with a total taxable value of 10 Million dollars. The other properties are a small, family owned restaurant, a gas station and a small shoe store. If the owner of the apartment building decided he wanted to rid the neighborhood of the other properties, he/she could propose a special taxing district, making a shell organization for the purpose of "sprucing up" the neighborhood the beneficiary of the taxes. The tax could be set at 20 Percent of the taxable value of the property but would be capped at $25,000.00.

The owner of the high-rise would already own a greater share of the propertys' net tax capacity and therefore would be able to vote for it and effectively, make the votes of the other three properties, null.

For the three small businesses, this would be a death blow and would effectively put them out of business. For the high-rise, it would be a drop in the proverbial bucket. With such an incredible tax burden, the smaller properties would effectively lose most, if not all of their market value. The high-rise owner could then scoop up the properties. With the high rise being the only remaining property owner, the taxing district, when brought up for review would be subject only to the vote of the high-rise owner and he/she could vote it down.

This is a little more dramatic than what has happened in Duluth but the process was the same. It only took a handful of the largest property owners to achieve the level of support required by statute. The rest were forced into the taxing district with their votes becoming essentially worthless. If the one man one vote concept had been applied, the district would have failed as a majority, in numbers, of property owners opposed the district. However, the majority had less "net tax capacity" than the minority of larger owners. To add insult to injury, the largest property owners built in a "cap". Not only did their votes count for more, their burden, as a percentage of the "net tax capacity", was far less than that of the smallest properties.

This process was reviewed by the City Attorney's Office a number of times and challenged by a few of the downtown property owners affected. The City Attorney's position was based on the fact that in any review of the Constitutionality of a State Statute, the assumption the appellate courts abide by is that that States generally don't pass unconsitutional laws. While that may be the case, there are certainly exceptions and this particular statute is one glaring example. Taken to the extreme this statute is certainly subject to abuse and could actually result in the sample scenario I used as an illustration. Is this the example we want to set in Minnesota? Big Business vs. Small with the full backing of the force of government is a frightening prospect. Consider also, the use of imminent domain and special taxing districts already within the City of Duluth. The Government has already seized property from a small business for the benefit of a larger one, imposed a tax on smaller businesses for the benefit of larger ones. Does the constitution no longer apply in Duluth?