Conrad deFiebre

East metro leaders often complain about a lion's share of the Twin Cities' public resources going to the Minneapolis side of the metro. Since the Golden West, as the late Minneapolis Mayor Charlie Stenvig called it, is home to two-thirds of the region's population and development, a similarly proportional allotment seems to make sense.

It was interesting, and a bit bemusing, when Michael Bloomberg, mayor of one of the world's most transit-rich cities, opined last fall that in a perfect world, transit should be free and driving should carry a direct fee. Hizzoner doesn't run New York's subways and buses, so they still charge fares, but his idea is catching on elsewhere, especially in Europe, but also a few places stateside.

Leaders of the Twin Cities' most exurban counties, Scott and Carver, declined to levy a quarter-cent sales tax for transit while the five other metro counties did so under the Legislature's 2008 transportation finance law. Now Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed adding another quarter-cent in all seven counties without a local say-so.