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David Greene

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
2 years 40 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/27/13 at 08:18 am in response to ‘UnSession’ aims to restore original intent of annual legislative sessions

I would strongly oppose term limits, for precisely the reason you state:

"there’s no job in government so technical or complicated that a person of ordinary intelligence cannot learn to do it well."

The key word being, "learn." It takes time to come up to speed on often complex issues. One of the reasons last session was so disastrous is that we had a number of relatively new legislators in high positions of authority. Mn/DOT had to spend much time with the House...

Posted on 02/27/13 at 05:24 pm in response to ‘UnSession’ aims to restore original intent of annual legislative sessions

Both an active and engaged citizenry and citizen-legislators are necessary. I don't think one has to come before the other.

The freeway example was just that. It certainly does take quite a long time to learn about how the federal process works for major transportation projects, to understand how local funding decisions are made for transportation, to understand mode share, how land use is tied to transportation, to understand New Starts, Small Starts, MAP21, NEPA, Title VI, to get...

Posted on 02/22/13 at 02:11 pm in response to You can blame whom you want for the sequester crisis

I don't agree with "pretty much everyone." It's not like all the cuts go into effect immediately. The dollar amount of the cuts is spread over a decade, at least, and there's nothing to prevent Congress from restoring funding at any time. This is indeed a manufactured crisis.

Yes, there will be reductions in service, furloughs and so on and we should be angry at Congress for making it so. But these do not have to be permanent. Jobs can be restored one minute after sequestration...

Posted on 02/22/13 at 10:32 am in response to Star Tribune CEO fights Dayton's business sales tax

What's wrong with tax pyramiding? Why do we make all of these assumptions about what is "right" and what is "wrong?" Why do taxes get treated specially?

Posted on 02/25/13 at 06:22 pm in response to Star Tribune CEO fights Dayton's business sales tax

Tim, that's not how it works. Dayton has priced what he wants to see Minnesota do together. It costs X amount of dollars. If you think it should cost Y < X amount of dollars, the ball's in your court to say what should be cut and how much.

I consider $7000 an absolute bargain for all the things we get: MN Care, roads, bus and rail transit, schools, universities and other institutions of higher learning, social services, airports, parks, trails, the list goes on.

And yes,...

Posted on 02/20/13 at 06:14 pm in response to Cities or suburbs: Searching for the new land of opportunity

These are excellent questions, well worth researching. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the numbers at my fingertips, nor do I have the time to do justice to such a research endeavor. So that leaves speculation and more questions.

About the per-capita budget, I think it's fair to assume that a good portion of that budget goes to serving people that don't actually live in Minneapolis. A lot of workers commute from the suburbs, for example. Then there is the fact of...

Posted on 02/12/13 at 04:13 pm in response to State of the Region? Our future is all about transit

Don't doubt the ability of transit to attract talent or the lack of it to push it away. I have seen it at the company I work for.

I work at a very high-tech company and several times managers have told me that applicants didn't take a job offer because of our lack of transit. This is real. We really are losing talent to other regions with much better transportation options.

Posted on 02/12/13 at 05:51 pm in response to State of the Region? Our future is all about transit

Karen is right that it's both economics and philosophy, but I believe it is much more philosophy than economics. I have heard your students testify at the state legislature that they want to stay here but are drawn to regions with transit because of the quality of life improvements.

Young people have a very different mindset from that of their parents and it isn't just a reactionary thing. They have thought very deeply about this and have concluded that they prefer urban living with...

Posted on 02/07/13 at 04:15 pm in response to A transit solution in the sky

Southwest LRT is *exactly* where it needs to go. People have explained this over and over but some refuse to listen.

Southwest LRT must serve North Minneapolis. Uptown already has an abundance of transit service. Ridership there is not going to increase because we route Southwest LRT down the greenway. No one is going to transfer from a bus to rail just for the 10 blocks it takes to get downtown.

There are plenty of reasonable transit improvements coming to Uptown....

Posted on 02/07/13 at 05:39 pm in response to A transit solution in the sky

I'll respond with my favorite Carl Sagan saying.

"But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."