[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Henry Pan[/image_credit][image_caption]A plan from Gov. Tim Walz would authorize $150 million in bonds to help redevelop parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul that were damaged in riots. Another plan from state Sen. Julie Rosen would exclude local governments from using state money dedicated for disaster aid to repair public infrastructure damaged in a riot.[/image_caption]
Do taxpayers across the state need to pitch in to help a community rebuild, or should city and county governments in the metro area alone shoulder the burden?
That question has been revived by two proposals at the Minnesota Legislature this week. One plan from Gov. Tim Walz would authorize $150 million in bonds to help redevelop parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul that were damaged in riots. But another, from Republican state Sen. Julie Rosen, would exclude local governments from using state money dedicated for disaster aid to repair public infrastructure damaged in a riot.
Both have been contentious, inflaming tensions over government response to the Floyd homicide and the political differences between Greater Minnesota and the metro area.
“I’ve heard over and over again from Greater Minnesota, from my constituents, that ‘Please, do not pay for this out of our taxpayer dollars,’” said Rosen, who is from Fairmont, during a Senate hearing for her bill.
How disaster funding was reserved for Minneapolis and Hennepin County
When a disaster strikes, governments can apply for federal help for certain costs, such as damaged public infrastructure.
In the wake of the riots, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted an assessment of damage in the Twin Cities metro area to see what costs might qualify for assistance.
[image_credit]Christine T. Nguyen/MPR News/Pool[/image_credit][image_caption]Gov. Tim Walz[/image_caption]
Minnesota has its own disaster assistance fund for when federal help isn’t available. The Legislature periodically puts money in a reserve account that the governor can approve to help governments deal with natural catastrophes, such as tornadoes and blizzards, as well as fires, floods and explosions of any cause.
The fund was created by lawmakers in 2014 so the Legislature wouldn’t have to convene a special session each time there was a disaster. Rosen said those special sessions would get bogged down by other political issues and stretch on too long. It has so far been used largely for disasters outside of the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.
[image_caption]State Sen. Julie Rosen[/image_caption]
Kelly said Hennepin County’s reimbursable costs were for insurance deductibles to public buildings like a library. The cash is currently in a second reserve account as the city and county work on meeting documentation requirements.
The disaster money, however, is not intended for damage to private buildings. Walz in July said nearly 1,500 businesses in the Twin Cities were damaged by vandalism, fire or looting and estimated total damages at more than $500 million.
Democratic plans for recovery aid
Last year, Democrats in the state House approved a bill that had $167 million for aid to small businesses and $125 million for people and businesses specifically to help with uninsured property loss. The measure was not passed by the Republican-led Senate.
Walz on Tuesday proposed $150 million in bonds to help redevelop Twin Cities areas damaged during riots. His administration says it would help people hurt by systemic racism and poverty and keep businesses run by people of color and Indigenous people.
Allison Sharkey, executive director of the economic development nonprofit Lake Street Council, said individual donors, corporations and nonprofit foundations have all chipped in to help businesses in the area. One campaign led by the council drew about 80,000 donors. To date, they have distributed $5.5 million in emergency business support. On Thursday, the group will decide how to allocate up to $1.5 million in additional money for property owners who want to rebuild on destroyed property, or renters who lost their space and want to buy a building on Lake Street.
The City of Minneapolis has also offered some financial help to businesses and has promised to help with rubble removal.
Sharkey said hundreds of businesses have made repairs, replaced equipment and are beginning to reopen. Some properties completely burned, typically with bigger corporate tenants, have begun construction on new buildings. But there are still smaller business owners, many of which are run by people of color and immigrants, that need help. Especially when insurance often covered only a “fraction of the cost” of damage, Sharkey said. She said Walz’s proposal was exciting, even though she said it would be challenging to get approval in the House and Senate.
“The scope of what’s needed is just really tremendous and really goes beyond what a local government alone can handle, particularly during COVID,” Sharkey said. “There’s a huge need for state and federal governments to play a role.”
Walz’s budget plan also includes $35 million to help local police pay for help from other law enforcement agencies, which Minneapolis had to do last year, and roughly $4.2 million for the state patrol, Department of Natural Resources police and other Minnesota agencies respond to anticipated civil unrest during and after former officer Derek Chauvin’s trial in March. Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck as Floyd called for help, is facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.
GOP tries to exclude ‘civil unrest’ from disaster funds
In a press conference Tuesday after Walz released his budget plan, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said when Minneapolis cuts police officers and then asks for state help “it creates some real dynamics for us to work through.” (The city council proposed cutting officers last year, but ultimately voted to reduce only the force’s budget.)
Gazelka said the Legislature needs to discuss how to respond to “potential future riots” during and after Chauvin’s trial. “Many of us don’t think that the entire state should be responsible for some of the costs Minneapolis is asking for,” Gazelka said.
Rosen’s bill would bar local governments from receiving money from the state’s disaster aid fund after “civil unrest.” The Legislature could still approve money to help with public infrastructure costs after civil unrest, but the governor couldn’t draw down the money without new legislative approval like he can from the current account.
In a hearing before the Senate’s Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee on Monday Rosen said the disaster reserve was originally intended for natural catastrophes, and that a faster and better response to problems in Minneapolis by Mayor Jacob Frey and Walz could have prevented fires and damage. Lawmakers should object to the “governor using the (disaster) account to basically usurp our authority as a Legislature and have the right to debate the appropriateness of this expense,” Rosen said.
[image_caption]State Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen[/image_caption]
Many Democrats reacted with frustration to the GOP proposal. Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park DFLer, noted people from around the state were arrested in connection to the riots, not just locals. A man from Staples pleaded guilty in November to helping light the Third Precinct building on fire, for instance.
Several DFLers also said the Twin Cities helps out when there are disasters in Greater Minnesota that could potentially have been avoided, such as flooding along the Red River in northwestern Minnesota. “I would make the case of those who don’t care what happens to their neighbors, that’s a dangerous road to go down,” Walz said Tuesday in a call with reporters from Greater Minnesota. “You’re going to start saying then don’t build by a river, you knew it was going to flood? We always try to protect Fargo-Moorhead or whatever it would be. Those are things that we do together.”
[image_caption]State Rep. Cedric Frazier[/image_caption]
Dewey Johnson, president of the Association of Minnesota Emergency Managers, told lawmakers at Rosen’s hearing that smaller communities in northern Minnesota are dealing with demonstrations against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline and hope state disaster money would be available if protests escalate.
So far, Walz’s administration opposes Rosen’s bill. Rosen said there “should be a good discussion” about Walz’s bonding proposal. On her own plan, Rosen said: “I want to be sure that the taxpayers of Minnesota are not paying for something that perhaps by the actions of our executive branch and the mayor of Minneapolis perhaps were exacerbated.”
Rural Republican legislators want to carry out a vendetta against Minneapolis and Hennepin County? Go ahead with that, and when one of your local businesses breaks the law by dumping toxic substance such as mining waste because your local authorities are not adequately policing them, maybe your country can cover all the cleanup? Better yet, let’s like a state that helps each other in a time of need.
It looks like the Republican Party wants to cement permanently its status as a non-entity in Minneapolis politics.
Well RB, since a Republican has not been elected in Minneapolis since 1970 I think that’s a given.
First, you’re wrong. Arne Carlson was first elected to the Legislature from Minneapolis in 1970 and was re-elected three times. Dennis Schulstad, Cal Ludeman’s running mate, served on the Minneapolis City Council until 1997. His ward was represented in the State Senate by a Republican until 1976.
Second, whose fault is that? The Republican Party’s laser-like focus on the three Gs of guns, God, and gays drove away any potential voters who might otherwise be convinced to elect a sane Republican. The GOP’s decision to become the party of non-urban whites drove away the residents of a more diverse city.
My parents lived in Minneapolis for over 50 years and were lifelong Republicans; in fact, Mom was precinct co-chair for a time. They stopped their active involvement in the early 80s when, as they put it, the “born agains” took over and made everything about abortion. They can’t have been the only ones turned off by that crowd.
Thanks for a well balanced article on funding for the damages in Minneapolis. A right brain feelings driven person would say the state of Minnesota should pay. A left brain logic driven person would say Minneapolis was responsible for the damages and should pay. I have an overdeveloped left brain with a B.S. & M.S. in engineering so yes I believe Minneapolis should fund the repairs to the damage.
How was Minneapolis responsible?
To riff on Governor Walz’s example, should we say the City of Moorhead is responsible for building so close to a river? Help with flood damage? I don’t think so.
Well the guard should have been called sooner(see the NY Times article on this) and it was primarily on Frey and the council. Arradondo was having to take mostly direction from them. Waltz messed up a bit, but Frey waited too long and while I agree with letting the 3rd go, they didn’t have enough police to respond–which also goes back to Frey and council not having enough cops due to not wanting to fund more and also not knowing the emergency plan. However, it is true, quite a few of the arsonists were from out of state or from suburbs and small towns. One could also argue Frey and council could have banned the choke hold some time ago. Then again, let’s be honest, how many rural or suburban folks have kin getting services in Hennepin County or Mpls? Quite a few. So I think it should be 60% on the city, 20 on the state and 20 on the county.
I think coming up with percentages is counterproductive, unless we are going to apply that way of thinking to all state economic aid. Stop using the cities as whipping boys just because their demographics make you uncomfortable.
Assuming that the fault among officials can be apportioned so neatly as you suggest, why punish the citizens of the city or the users of the infrastructure for the missteps of their elected officials? Is that how aid is going to be apportioned going forward?
You’ve confused a natural disaster with a failure of leadership.
When there’s a flood, should we refuse aid to the cities that didn’t have the common sense not to build so close to a river?
Mike, don’t let your wonderfully developed left brain starve your right brain into dormancy. There is nothing anti-right brain about engineering. Quite the contrary.
My question for those who think that the riots in Minneapolis have only to do with Minneapolis is this: what unifies us as a state? What makes everyone from the rural farmer on the prairie to the south Minneapolis resident both Minnesotans?
I was raised in farm country in southern Minnesota, I now live in Minneapolis, and I often travel to the parks and the BWCA for camping. I lay claim, or at least admit some sort of identity or sense of belonging, to all of it. I am a Minnesotan and this is my state. I love my life here.
I trust that the folks in the more rural counties which enjoy the steady westerly breezes and the dark skies at night and the simpler rhythms of their non-urban days also enjoy coming to the Twin Cities to enjoy the perks of city life: good concert venues, great ethnic food, unparalleled theater, and a choice of sports teams.
I would never think to stop them at 494/694 and regard them as “other.” I hope people come and appreciate my city, warts and all, just as I intend to continue to enjoy the great outdoors throughout the state.
The riots last summer happened because our nation has a great big unsettled issue over race. This issue belongs to everybody, not just to brown-skinned people who live mostly in the urban areas. It is OUR issue and we must face it together. A riot in Minneapolis should be just as concerning to someone from farm country as farmers using pesticides that go into our water supply is to those of us in an urban zip code. We MUST come together and see the connection, the relationship, the destiny we all share.
For state Republicans to fail to lead their communities on this issue is unconscionable. I am waiting – alas, so far in vain – for them to make even a hint of turning and facing the middle ground where we all must tend our steps.
Tom – A very right sentiment, nicely expressed. But careful about “The riots last summer happened because our nation has a great big unsettled issue over race.” There were demonstrators, and there were those who set fires and otherwise caused great property damage. The 3rd precinct destruction appeared to be a collaboration between those enraged about George Floyd’s murder and white boy anarchists (ideological or not). Otherwise, from what we know (arrests, the nature of the properties burned, and perhaps also the general disinterest in discerning who the perpetrators were), the connection between the racial justice demonstrations and the destruction hasn’t been made. Bottom line, I’d object to the term “riots,” which does the work of the Right in dissolving the critical distinction between the many demonstrators and the few who came to destroy under cover of the unrest.
“…white boy anarchist…”
We need to be cautious indeed. Calling Ivan Hunter, the Texan who traveled here to shootup the 3rd, an anarchist diminishes the very real danger he and his fellow Boogaloo Bois present. Hunter and his pals are very dangerous and not mere anarchists. He was a known associate of Steven Carrillo, another Boogaloo Bois member accused of murdering a federal officer in California. At some point Hunter got funding from Carrillo, so lets not minimize the role that national right wing terror groups played in the riots. Also too lets not forget “Umbrella Man” who was reported to be a member of the Hells Angels.
Henk – I wasn’t at all intending to minimize anarchism; my purpose was to call out the tactic of the Right to conflate BLM demonstrators and those engaging in destruction until no one questions the conflation. I meant anarchism with a small “a” – not a political philosophy but simply an urge to tear down organized human society. Aimless firebugs are engaging in anarchism, as are organized violent groups on the Right whose members project their self-loathing onto the world at large. Perhaps nihilism would have been a less ambiguous word choice.
Thank you, Charles – an important distinction to make. I stand corrected.
Too bad you didn’t use any left brain logic. Outstate Minnesota should pay for the damage caused by the white supremicists who came from there to damage Minneapolis.
Just another example of Slogans over science and evidence.
I know. Even though they keep arresting and charging people from outstate, people keep claiming it was just the BLM protesters who causes the damage. These Republicans like their slogans, but ignore the facts.
Outstate Minnesota should stay the heck out of the city if they don’t want the infrastructure repaired. Watch football on TV, folks.
Rosen is so concerned: “I want to be sure that the taxpayers of Minnesota are not paying for something that perhaps by the actions of our executive branch and the mayor of Minneapolis perhaps were exacerbated.”
Perhaps Rosen would like to explain just how the Governor or the Mayor “exacerbated” the damage caused by looters and rioters last summer. Does she mean they incited people to commit arson and loot business establishments?
What planet are you living on? They were totally unprepared and they let stood by and let things play out. They were blaming outsiders when that wasn’t the case. The Governors own daughter was posing on twitter how long it would take the guard to mobilize.
What planet are you living on? Numerous outsiders have been arrested and changed.
At some point, elected GOP Senators, like Julie Rosen and their counterparts in the House, and maybe some of their constituents, need to grow up and stop playing childish, divisive, partisan “blame games” around serious issues like taxation, spending, racial relations and policing. The looting, arson and property damage which occurred last year was tragic and unfortunate but the “blame” is on those who committed those lawless acts not on the Mayor, the Governor or anyone else. The damage and the lawless actions I’ve read represented actions of a small minority of those who were engaged in peaceful demonstrations expressing their views about the police killing of George Floyd and the systemic racism in the police force and our society that represents.
I would ask why it is that the State needs to indemnify the victims of the lawlessness? Evidently, the business/property owners either lacked property insurance or the insurance they did have didn’t cover such damage for some obscure and dubious reason (like the hurricane insurance after Katrina that didn’t cover “water damage”). It isn’t fair that these victims be caught in the middle or that Minneapolis or St. Paul be forced to bear the entire financial burden because the GOP leaders, lacking any of the leadership skills I see in the Governor and Mayor Frey, want to score political points with their credulous constituents about them and other Democrats by implying they are “anti-cop” or “pro-crime.”
“Perhaps Rosen would like to explain just how the Governor or the Mayor “exacerbated” the damage caused by looters and rioters last summer.”
Frey & Walz repeatedly said they would protect the right to protest, IOW, they had the protestors backs, indeed, in seeking those responsible the government has turned a blind eye to most of the protestors and have sought indictments against people they see as being on the political right. We all watched the destruction in real time, people didn’t travel from out of state or even outstate to loot Target, and TV docume3nted well who was destroying the post office, gas stations, …. just like illegal voting, if you don’t look for people doing it, you are not going to find them. How is it that there is so much documentation of rioters in the media but so few prosecutued? Note that “umbrella man” has not been charged though there has been extraordinary attempts to gather evidence against him. There is ample video of people who are obviously not “white supremacists” who were destroying and looting, yet since they don’t fit the profile of being “right extremists” there has been little or no attempt to charge them, the democrat controlled city, county and state give them a pass and attempt to hunt down people they hope to substaniate their narrative of the riot being caused by right wing outsiders.
The verb “exacerbate” means “to increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate.” It’s an “active verb” meaning one doesn’t exacerbate anything by failing to take some action. It’s true that “Frey & Walz repeatedly said they would protect the right to protest, IOW, they had the protestors backs, . . . . ”
The rest of your comment is unsupported by any evicence or facts. There’s no evidence to establish that “in seeking those responsible the government has turned a blind eye to most of the protestors and have sought indictments against people they see as being on the political right.”
According to a wikipedia article on George Floyd protests which is taken from official sources, about 604 people were arrested during the “unrest” but many turned out to be peaceful protesters. The article goes on: ” By November 2020, Minneapolis officials had pursued charges for about 75 of 666 cases. In Saint Paul, 87 of the 100 people arrested during the unrest were for curfew violations.”
Your comment echoes the partisan point of Rosen and other GOP “leaders” which evades the public policy and moral issues. These GOP leaders I say have not demonstrated any leadership by changing the subject to score cheap partisan points rather than engage honestly on serious issues. They can start to demonstrate leadership like the Governor and Mayor Frey by beginning to engage in honest dialogue to understand and in address serious underlying problems of systemic racism in the law enforcement community. Or the rest of our community.
It’s simply untrue that the “democrat” law enforcement of the cities, county and state gave people who were “obviously not `white supremacists'” that were looting or rioting a pass but only looked for “white supremacists” to charge. It’s interesting that you are able to discern people who are “obviously not a “white supremacist.”
“. . . just like illegal voting, if you don’t look for people doing it, you are not going to find them.”
Unfortunately for your argument, Trump and his people did look quite hard for people who were
“voting illegally” doing it and still were unable to find them. Sometimes when you look for them and don’t find them, it’s because there’s nothing to find. Just like his “voter fraud commission” which also found no widespread voter fraud.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/report-trump-commission-did-not-find-widespread-voter-fraud
What happened is that voter suppression was tried and it didn’t work. For some, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.
If outstate Minnesota doesn’t want to pay for riot damage, then they need to stop sending people from outstate to the cities to cause that damage.
Or, when they need more economic aid from the cities, they can pound sand.
They get aid from the cities continuously!
I feel sorry for all the individuals who, through no fault of their own, had their property and businesses destroyed. I hope the state can find a way to help them.
I am angry and not sorry about the city of Minneapolis who, due to their ineptitude allowed riots and vandalism to happen over and over again and continue for days without having planned for or taken action to suppress the riots. So there should be significant cost to the taxpayers who elected these inept people. I hope the state does nothing to bail out the city government in any way.
I also wish the state and city were as efficient and diligent in prosecuting vandals and rioters as it appears that the feds are with the Washington rioters.
If the Line 3 pipeline is built, and when it fails and spills oil, should the taxpayers have to pay for the clean up? Or can those of us on the metro point to the fact that it was northeastern Minnesota that wanted the pipeline, and that voted for Pete Stauber, a vocal proponent of it, and tell them to go away?
This absurd, vindictive and irrational situation, with the fine citizens of Greater Minnesota now (supposedly) adamantly demanding that their (overwhelmingly Repub) “legislators” refuse to approve aid to rebuild the urban areas of MN after racial injustice riots demonstrates what an fantastic job “conservatives” have done in permanently dividing the state (and country). Not that it’s much of a surprise after months of nonsense manufactured by Repub legislators, seeking to heap blame on the “lib’rul” Twin Cities.
Thinking that there is some irrefutable “blame” that needs to portioned out so that someone in Alexandria doesn’t contribute 52 cents towards rebuilding the (prosperous) tax base of the two largest cities in MN after an unprecedented riot just shows how thoroughly ungovernable (and childish) our society has become as a result of the “conservative” movement.
So Bravo, Repubs, great “principles”. This sort of division and finger pointing will not end well, and may turn out to bite Great MN and its Repubs in the *ss at some point down the road.
Republicans need not worry about their tax dollars funding the metro area. Their tax dollars don’t even cover their needs locally. The metro area has been bailing out the declining outstate areas for decades. Now when the metro area actually has a need for the tax dollars paid by metro residents to be used in the metro area the outstate folks cry foul as if it was their money in the first place. If they truly want to divide up the budget so no area of the state has to pay out more than they have paid in they are really not going to like the result.
An excellent point, which makes the Repubs’ objections even more bogus and reprehensible.
While the objecting commenters here think they are using “facts and logic”, their “facts” are mostly wishful thinking and their “logic” is simply a desire to punish the lib’ruls in Blue cities for electing Democratic leaders. That failure to rebuild the affected cities ultimately harms the state’s revenue position is either lost on them or less important than the satisfaction they get in inflicting some sort of retribution on lib’ruls for….something.
It’s disgusting to see that so many Minnesotans have fallen for this sort of self-defeating nonsense that an entire political party thinks it perfectly safe to advance such divisive and politically disastrous positions, which do nothing other than further divide urban and rural constituencies. Indeed, such division seems to be the only goal, since the financial burden on the state of issuing $150 million in bonds at very low interest rates is simply infinitesimal.
The narrative about “bad leadership” exacerbating damage is utter hindsight and second guessing. It revolves entirely around how quickly the National Guard should have been called up to deal with what was basically a situation that hadn’t been seen since the 1960s, and imagines that the burning of the precinct was clearly foreseen. These arguments fail simply by noting the time it took to mobilize the various law enforcement elements even after the immensity of the problem had become clear. The idea that with “good leadership” there would have been no property damage at all is fatuous, and thus their argument devolves into trying to draw a line at how much “more” damage was “preventable” during the course of the protests which shielded the anarchists.
Basically, the right’s hatred for the Floyd protestors and the protesters’ anger at police brutality is palpable. As for “leadership”, it’s apparently forgotten that our fine elected Repubs also did all they could to water down the police reform legislation after the riots.
I would like to suggest a compromise. Allocate the disaster funding by county – based on that county’s contribution on state tax revenue. I’m sure those outstate legislators can support that.
JUST ONCE, I’d like to hear a word of concern from Republican lawmakers about the Minneapolis Police Department’s behavior that would show beyond doubt that they understand the pain and anger and widespread protests for the wanton killing, beating and maiming of Black residents by police across Minnesota and indeed the whole country.
They have not acknowledged any righteous anger. They have not once spoken directly to the plight of those who suffer at the hands of powerful white politicians who do nothing and won’t even call it what it is.
What I am hearing from them is another FALSE EQUIVALENCY between the outrage that followed the killing of George Floyd, and actual RIOTS that were committed by white neo-Nazis.
First MLK was shot. Then Cities burned.
First Rodney King was beaten unmercifully on camera.
Now we have dozens and dozens of videos of police brutality.
Expect protests. Ignore the problem? Expect outrage. Blame the outrage on protesters and watch “justice for all” cease to be a real pledge.
“You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.”
(Navaho proverb)
“the wanton killing, beating and maiming of Black residents by police across Minnesota”
Some data would be nice to see- then we could together go right to the heart of the problem
“JUST ONCE, I’d like to hear a word of concern from Republican lawmakers about the Minneapolis Police Department’s behavior that would show beyond doubt that they understand the pain and anger and widespread protests for the wanton killing, beating and maiming of Black residents by police across the whole country.”
And what would you like?
More cops to keep protesters from being outraged?
Something else?
Those that applauded and demand the defunding of the police need to understand the consequences of their systemic stupidity and pay for these riots and attacks on our democracy.
I hate to disrupt a good talking point with some actual facts, but the moves to defund the police (something that never happened) came after the riots.
Definitely, Trump and his followers need to be held accountable. Its bad enough that Democrats in the metro have to work extra hard to subsidize people outstate, but the idea that they shouldn’t pay for the damages they caused is obscene.
“Do taxpayers across the state need to pitch in to help…”
A quick analysis of the state’s revenue intake would tell you that tax payers across the state aren’t pitching in as it is. Minneapolis is a massive revenue generator for the state. Those of you who live on nice quiet country lanes aren’t coming anywhere near paying the upkeep on them. Those of you in southern Minnesota living with the agricultural pollution that has poisoned your drinking water aren’t paying the full cost of cleaning up your cities wells. That’s state money, the bulk of which comes from Minneapolis. We don’t mind, but when we need things fixed we’d like a little support as well.
Its said that dependency breeds contempt. Republicans like to exploit that for political gain.
I vote no. This was not a disaster. On second thought, Hell NO. This was a failure of leadership.
The Mayor, Council and secondarily, the Governor own this one. All we can do is elect better leaders in the future. Go ahead and try and convince me otherwise, but use facts and logic.
Here’s a fact: most of the money in the state’s coffers comes from the cities.
Here’s some logic: the people who contribute the money shouldn’t be ruled ineligible for it.
Actually the fact is, money comes from people. We can agree on what constitutes a natural disaster is. This is not that. Many people do not want to see disaster funds used on something that is not a disaster. Count me among them. I think that is the logical high-ground.
Can we call them “non-disaster” funds then and spend the money? How about we call all of Minneapolis a TIF district or call it local government aid? Can we spend the money then? Is the real issue the name we put on the money? I didn’t realize meta-data could be so powerful.
Well, speaking of logic, not every disaster is a “natural disaster”; it’s a word that can be defined to include many circumstances, not just those of “nature”.
Indeed, now that the 11,000 thousand year old natural climate has been effectively wrecked by humans willfully burning fossil fuels to excess, I would say that even weather events are no longer “natural disasters”. We now exist in the man-made climate, and weather disasters are thus man-made. And since science denialism by “conservative” Americans (largely living outside Blue cities/states) is the principal reason that no steps were taken to save the natural climate, they (and their “poor leadership”) are principally to blame when an extreme weather event now wreaks havoc somewhere.
And you haven’t really used logic; you’ve just stated that you don’t want state disaster funds to be used to rebuild from the destruction arising from the Floyd killing, using a semantic pretense. That’s really just a policy preference; logic has nothing to do with it.
“Actually the fact is, money comes from people.”
You mean, the people who live in the cities. Real Minnesotans.
“Many people do not want to see disaster funds used on something that is not a disaster. Count me among them.”
Civil unrest strikes me as a disaster.
“I think that is the logical high-ground.”
It is nothing of the kind. It is city bashing, liberal hating hippie punching. It is vindictiveness, designed to punish the cities (and, indirectly, people who come into the cities) by letting the infrastructure stand in ruins. There is no “logic” to it. This kind of thing plays well outstate, so as long as it does, rural demagogues are going to promote it.
How disappointing that political leaders choose an “us vs them” model for decision making rather than looking for ways to solve the problem together.
The state found $390M for a bridge from Stillwater to a corn field in Wisconsin and $230M to build the giant Highway 53 bridge over a hole in the ground on the Iron Range but somehow finding $500M to rebuild Minneapolis – the economic engine of the state – is a problem.
Well, THIS is how Republicans respond to the civil unrest they THEY triggered with decades of police militarization and Nixon’s “Law and Order” policies. The most infamous MN Trump supporter (other than the My Pillow guy) heads the MPLS police union advocating warrior training and police mentalities that are hostile to the public, and now they want to eliminate funding for the civil unrest that a militarized and hostile police department provokes. Whatever… time to take a look at all that disaster relief we ALWAYS send out to these Republican districts.
Maybe we’ve been doing this wrong for decades? Maybe if Republicans want to weaponize politics like they weaponize everything else we should stop resisting that toxic impulse and give them the politics they always demand.
And forgive me if someone pointed this out already, but the racist assumptions behind these Republican “concerns” bares some notice. All over the country Republicans have launched attempts to criminalize BLM protest tactics while finding solidarity with White Supremacists. Whatever. Just note that almost everyone that has been arrested thus far for the damage and destruction in MPLS after the Floyd killing, was NOT a BLM supporter. We had white kids from Wisconsin, White Supremacists trying to spark a race war, kids from Minnetonka and other suburbs who drove in for some riot tourism. Everywhere else in the country Republicans want to blame rioters for riots, but when Suburban kids and Proud Boys show up and burn stuff down suddenly it’s the Cities fault and we don’t want to pay for recovery. Yeah… some of us noticed that.
Sorry I didn’t organize my observations more efficiently and get them all into one comment, but one last observation: You will note that the our champions of localism and small guvment once again want to micro-manage any city that violates their expectations. Look, you can’t be the “blue lives matter” guys who support the guys who murdered Floyd, and the culture and mentality that’s kills innocent people all year, AND then the be the guys who step in and decide who’s to blame for riots. You don’t get to make deal about how a city deals with a riot without watching the first part of the movie about why the riot happens. And you don’t get to spend years propping up a guys like Kroll who prevent any of the reforms and accountability that would have prevented the riots, and put it all the current mayor or governor when it blows up.
Sure, next time a flood or a tornado hits a town with a republican mayor or city council let’s step back and look at whether or not we like the way they run the town before we go to their aid. If we don’t like their flood emergency plans and response we should just let deal with it on their own eh?