Skip to Content

Tom Clark

Muscatel, California
Commenter for
2 years 19 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/29/12 at 03:49 pm in response to Minnesota lawmakers lobby colleagues ahead of St. Croix bridge vote

Proposing to have no bridge at all is silly, given the amount of traffic that exists currently at the crossing and the growth that will continue to occur in the metro area. The reason it's so expensive is because every effort has been made to come up with a bridge that would exist in harmony with the St. Croix River while serving both states and the MnDoT bridge does that, and does it better than any of the other alternatives that were studied, including the "sensible" bridge being bandied...

Posted on 02/28/12 at 12:10 pm in response to Bachmann: St. Croix Bridge bill scheduled for a vote

because it doesn't include additional costs for right-of-way or frontage roads that would need to be constructed that MnDoT's preferred alternative doesn't require. The cost would be more like $100 million less for a less adequate bridge that would have a greater environmental and visual impact. That's why during the last go-round of this decades-long process a virtually identical proposal (alternative E) was rejected in favor of the bridge that's now up for a vote in Congress.

Posted on 02/27/12 at 10:16 am in response to Snowmageddon looms

The basic process goes something like this:

1. Remove the property from the tax rolls

2. Cancel all real property tax and special assessment liens on the properties

3. Classify the parcels of land:
- Conservation (stays in public ownership and not available for sale unless through special legislation) or
- Non-conservation (released for sale)

4. Approve parcels for sale and establish appraised value

Posted on 02/27/12 at 02:21 pm in response to Snowmageddon looms

sales, and it's wise to learn about them before getting stuck with unexpected costs. Or worse, title issues.

Posted on 02/22/12 at 12:17 pm in response to Bachmann not pleased with 'liberal courts' on redistricting

but it is possible that a moderate Republican could beat McCollum in the new district, given the addition of Woodbury and Stillwater. It isn't as if Norm Coleman wasn't ever the Mayor of St. Paul. Unfortunately for McCollum, her word on the new St. Croix River bridge is now out and she'll have to run on her opposition to it, which may help to defeat her given that a majority of people in Stillwater favor building the new bridge now. So I expect a Republican to emerge as a serious...

Posted on 02/21/12 at 11:15 am in response to Bachmann wants more 'transparency' in Medicaid payments

I'd have a lot more respect for journalism as a profession if it would in fact call b.s. more often. It doesn't have to be as sarcastic as Jon Stewart, but for crying out loud it would be nice to see at least some cynicism from our local reporters when it comes to Bachmann's posturing on issue after issue.

Posted on 02/17/12 at 09:14 am in response to Minnesota House votes to scrap seniority-only rule for teachers

Why exactly is MnDoT's preferred bridge proposal, which is virtually the same type of bridge and same location, that was approved by the National Park Service in 2005, harmful to the scenery of the river? Just saying that a river is a river is a river isn't a sufficient answer. Does the National Park Service now have it's act together with respect to how it judges scenery, or will it be unable to render a judgment that a judge will not again find arbitrary and capricious? If not, I...

Posted on 02/17/12 at 10:07 am in response to Minnesota House votes to scrap seniority-only rule for teachers

isn't ideological as much as it's geographical. Both McCollum and Keith Ellison have gone on record as opposing MnDoT's preferred alternative. Both represent the urban core of the Twin Cities, a constituency that seems to have little interest in a bridge they won't often use. Other Minnesota Democrats, like Tim Walz, don't oppose the MnDoT bridge however and it's not likely that the House will be persuaded by McCollum's opposition to oppose what the Senate has already passed.

Posted on 02/17/12 at 03:41 pm in response to Minnesota House votes to scrap seniority-only rule for teachers

From MnDoT's current project cost estimate, Minnesota will fund $320-$380 million while Wisconsin will fund $250-$310 million for the project. Of that total, MnDoT and WisDoT will fund $251 million each, or 41%, of the total project costs. Most of the remaining costs will be covered by each state’s normal allocation of federal highway funds. FYI, the reason why Minnesota's costs are greater is that the cost for approaches & intersections on the Minnesota side is $42 million more than...

Posted on 02/17/12 at 04:58 pm in response to Minnesota House votes to scrap seniority-only rule for teachers

The "sensible" bridge is located where the proposed alternative E bridge was during the last go-round of the new St. Croix bridge process, and it was rejected in large part because the location on the Minnesota side has a major intersection located in the narrow strip of land between the river and the bluff near to where the Oasis Cafe is. The visual impact to the river (and the environmental impact) due to that was greater than the alternative that was selected (and that the National Park...