County seeks federal grant to better control how people live
Yesterday, the Hennepin County Board voted 5 - 1 (with me being the “no” vote) to join a consortium with the Met Council and others requesting a $5 million federal “sustainable communities regional planning grant.”
According to the background material, the grant would be used to support the metro area in planning to “integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of:
(1) economic competitiveness and revitalization;
(2) social equity, inclusion and access to opportunity;
(3) energy use and climate change; and
(4) public health and environmental impact.”
There were several difficult issues yesterday over which I struggled how to vote. This was not one of them.
This is central planning, top-down government control at its very worst. And, while collaboration and coordination between government units is always wise and welcome, this project has little to do with that. This is about “Smart Growth.” It’s about population density and the evils of the automobile. It’s about subsidized housing, subsidized transit, subsidized economic development and subsidized alternative energy. Read more…
An update on the investigation of Minnesota Majority’s report
Two weeks ago, the story broke about Minnesota Majority’s investigation alleging that felons, possibly by the hundreds, had illegally voted in Hennepin and Ramsey counties in the 2008 election. Some of the news coverage suggested that the Hennepin County Attorney’s office was not taking the allegations seriously or was dragging its feet in its investigation of the Minnesota Majority’s report.
These allegations are serious - going to the very heart of our democratic process. The integrity of our elections in Minnesota took a big hit already when we learned how inconsistently absentee ballots were counted throughout the state. To suggest that hundreds of felons illegally voted on top of that would seriously damage citizens’ faith in Minnesota’s ability to run fair and clean elections.
Over the course of the past week, I’ve spoken with Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and his Deputy County Attorney who handles election fraud cases several times. Here’s the scoop regarding HennCo’s actions with respect to these allegations: Read more…
Last week, the county board voted 6-1 (I was the “no” vote) in support of a county request to the Legislative -Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (”LCCMR”) to fund a proposed $700,000 county program called UrbanWatch. The program purportedly would support environmental education for at-risk kids in North Minneapolis and at the Hennepin County Home School, a facility for juveniles who have committed crimes.
The kicker: $600,000 of this public money would be spent to help kids plant and maintain 40 gardens in the urban core of Minneapolis and at the Home School. In other words, we would be spending $15,000 each for 40 “community gardens” in the name of environmental education. Read more…
Is Hennepin County so broke it needs a new tax to fund basic road maintenance?
Last year, the Hennepin County Board (minus the votes of Commissioner Randy Johnson and me) voted to increase the general property tax levy by 4.95%. At the same time, the board (minus only my vote) also increased the county regional railroad authority levy by 114% and the county housing authority levy by 176%.
It’s only fair to note that county spending actually decreased between 2009 and 2010, but not enough to avoid tax increases.
As we begin our discussions about the county’s 2011 budget, the safe bet would be that all three levies will increase again. But despite these increases, we are also considering a new source of revenue for the county (on top of the three major levies, the ballpark tax, the transit tax, the tax on garbage collection, etc.) known as a “wheelage tax.” Read more…
Golden Hydrant goes to extension of ineffective teen pregnancy program
The newest Golden Fire Hydrant goes to the county’s “Better Together Hennepin: Healthy Youth, Healthy Communities” teen pregnancy prevention program. Last week the board voted 6 -1 to extend the program two years and spend another $518,000 (for a 4-year total of $1.1 million), despite receiving a report on the program showing it’s doing little or nothing to change the sexual behavior of the kids in the program.
“Better Together Hennepin” actually consists of several different teen pregnancy prevention programs that the county has been funding for two years - apparently to little success. Included are education and outreach programs through several different vendors, including Planned Parenthood, the Annex Teen Clinic and the Storefront Group. Also, the program includes funding two half-time sex education teachers in the Richfield and Brooklyn Center public schools.
The board chose to fund these programs for another two years despite seeing outcome studies that show they are ineffective in changing kids’ sexual behavior. This decision is a great example of government throwing money at a problem because it makes us feel good to be doing SOMETHING, even if that something is having no positive effect. Read more…
I saw in the news last night that the City of Minneapolis has increased its pothole repair budget by $500,000 to deal with the havoc this odd winter and spring wreaked on Minneapolis roads. Last month, the Hennepin County Board nearly doubled the county’s 2010 bituminous overlay program (a $3 million increase) to deal with potholes on county roads throughout the metro.
Wise decisions and good prioritization. Hooray!
Last week, the county board voted 4-3 to lay over (and possibly kill) a request by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for federal funding of a “Kingfish” cell phone tracking device. It was the second time the board has postponed a vote on this request, likely making it difficult for the Sheriff’s Office to meet the deadlines for our local congressional representatives.
The Kingfish, as I understand it, is not capable of listening to cell phone conversations, but can track the location of a cell phone that is on but not being used. This device has been used by other law enforcement agencies around the country to track missing or abducted children who are carrying a cell phone or who are with someone who is carrying a cell phone. I am told that a court order is required before the Kingfish can be used to track a cell phone in any particular case. Read more…
Golden Hydrant goes to Feds for spending $145 Million on stupid TV commercials to market Census 2010
As I was paying bills the other night during the Olympics, I saw yet another of those annoying 2010 U.S. Census commercials and decided - as I was grumbling about government waste under my breath - that it was time to award another Golden Fire Hydrant.
The U.S. government is spending $340 million to market the 2010 Census. About $145 million of that is for the creation and airing of television commercials, which can be seen during the most expensive time slots in TV (including a $2.5 million 30-second spot during the Super Bowl).
The ads stink, by anyone’s definition. They use marginally famous actors in a painfully unsuccessful attempt to be humorous. They share practically no useful information (not even telling viewers to fill out their census forms) and are unlikely to convince anyone who is opposed to or disinterested in completing the form to do so.
The Hydrant usually goes to a Hennepin County expenditure and, in the past, I have avoided calling out federal programs (as I would be posting on wasteful spending four times a day). But the combination of paying my bills and seeing one of these annoying multi-million dollar commercials for the umpteenth time put me over the edge. Read more…
Cost of Healthcare for the Indigent is Falling Disproportionately on Hennepin County Taxpayers
We’ve heard a lot of talk over the past few months about the scheduled elimination of the General Assistance Medical Care (”GAMC”) program. GAMC is a state program providing health care coverage to the very poor in Minnesota who are not covered by other state or federal programs. GAMC served over 35,000 Minnesotans in 2009, many of them mentally ill, disabled or chemically dependent.
Governor Pawlenty unalotted GAMC last year after proposing reforms to the program that the legislature failed to consider. Funding for the program is scheduled to end on April 1, 2010.
The largest percentage of GAMC patients in Minnesota use Hennepin County Medical Center (”HCMC”) for their care. HCMC is a public safety-net hospital that is subsidized by the taxpayers of Hennepin County. If the Governor and legislature do not find a way to restore a part of GAMC funding this session, HCMC will receive about $43 million less in state funding in 2010 than it did in 2009.
The Hennepin County Board has already promised $18 million of taxpayer money from the 2010 property tax increase to fill part of that hole. HCMC plans changes in its service delivery and operations to fill another portion. There will still, however, be a gap. Read more…
Janitors will clean Hennepin County buildings during the day.
Yesterday’s Star Tribune included a story (”Cleaning in the Light of Day“) about the upcoming change to janitorial services in Hennepin County buildings:
Janitors typically do their work sight unseen, after everyone else has gone home. But soon that’s going to change at the Hennepin County Government Center and other heavily used county buildings.
By shutting off the lights and turning down the thermostats at night, the county expects to save at least $100,000 a year in energy costs.
Starting March 1, about half of Hennepin County’s buildings - 63 in all - will be vacuumed, wiped down, swept and emptied of trash during the daytime rather than at night. It’s thought to be the first public entity in Minnesota to move to day cleaning, a trend that has gained popularity in the private sector. Read more…
