Mar 16, 2021
www.commsolutionsmn.com- The League of Minnesota Cities posits itself as an advocate for all of the cities of this state. 850 of 853 Minnesota cities are members. It has a lot of (your) money to not only provide legal help for cities, but to support legislation for bills like House File 600 which supports recreational cannabis. No matter your position, we're not sure what that has to do with cities. They are also advocates for Local Government Aid (LGA), which takes our tax dollars and redistributes them to municipalities across the state. There are bills before the legislature that state that a portion of LGA has to go to the police, a portion has to go to housing (re)development, and that no LGA will go to a city that reduces its police force.
They are a huge advocate of the equity push that we are seeing in cities. Remember that "equity" is not the same as "equality". Equality assures equal treatment and equal opportunities for all, regardless of race. Equity is where some people are treated more equal than others, with preference given to certain races of people over other races, "evening the playing field" in their eyes. It takes away from some and gives to others. They back a move to have residents report potential discrimination on their neighbors.
There is another group exclusively for cities outside of the metro called the Coalition of Greater MN Cities. They back Senate File 1903 which would create a grant program to help cities to pay for housing development. They want state money to do the sewer and water. They want to build more apartments and multi-family housing.
There are so many of these groups (League of MN Cities, Coalition of Greater MN Cities, Association of Metropolitan Municipalities, etc.) that are asking for money to complete projects and/or lobbying for legislation in St Paul. Are these requests really the best thing for these cities? Are they the best thing for Minnesota?
Also, the Minnesota Legislature just passed a COVID relief bill. We also discuss President Joe Biden's lassez-faire approach to being the leader of the free world and the future of Andrew Cuomo as governor of New York.
Have you checked out our Spotify playlist? At the beginning of each episode, Jason quotes some song lyrics that have to do with the subject matter of the podcast. Andrew never knows what they are, but now he can… and so can you! We’ve launched the Spotify playlist: “Community Solutions Music From the Podcast!” You can listen to Roundabout from Yes after listing to Episode 30 on Roundabouts… or kick back and enjoy a rocking playlist just for the thrill of it. We add a new song every week. Subscribe and enjoy!
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