Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/opinion/voices/page/4/)
By now you’ve heard the news. Those snack crackers you throw in your bag for lunch will get you. When they do, they’re gonna make you very sick to your stomach. It won’t be pretty. Between the sweats and the cramps, you’ll think you’re on one of those rehab reality shows. Continue Reading
Our City has changed in many ways since 1872. But our city’s charter, which establishes how we govern ourselves, has changed very little. For years, many objective observers have rightly concluded that it is a relic that burdens city leaders with an antiquated and overly complex structure that harms our competitiveness, effectiveness and responsiveness. Our new President Barack Obama eloquently stated in his inaugural that as a country we are guilty of a collective failure to face the hard issues. As a city, we have failed to face up to the issue of serious charter reform that will give city government the tools it needs to meet the demands of the 21st Century. Continue Reading
I don’t mean to sound impolite but looking up from the State Capitol, what color is the sky? I ask because, clearly, conservative public policymakers see something different. Recently, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released its Q-Comp evaluation report. After four years and $49 million invested, the result is, charitably stated, underwhelming. Despite this, Governor Pawlenty wants to impose Q-Comp, formally titled “Quality Compensation for Teachers,” on every Minnesota school district. Continue Reading
We were surprised last week to learn that Council Members Ostrow, Samuels and Remington are proposing to eliminate the 126-year-old Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. We fear that this proposal risks seriously diminishing the nationally-renowned Minneapolis park system. Our concerns are rooted in the Key Values of the Green Party, including Ecological Wisdom, Grassroots Democracy, Decentralization, Social and Economic Justice and Future Focus. Ecologically, the Minneapolis park system is a jewel. From green space to water quality, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has protected the natural environment in this city. Continue Reading
Over a century and a half after their first appearance on the American landscape, railroads continue to inspire the mixed reactions that greeted their debut. The American transcendentalists, among others, were ambivalent about the railroad, seeing it as a symbol of both progress and despoliation. In 1842, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his journal: “I hear the whistle of the locomotive in the woods. Wherever that music comes it has its sequel. It is the voice of the civility of the Nineteenth Century saying, ‘Here I am.’”
Walt Whitman’s poem “Passage to India” envisioned the railroad, along with the Suez Canal and the transatlantic telegraph cable, as part of a vast network linking cities and continents:
Lo, soul, seest thou not God’s purpose from the first?The earth to be spann’d, connected by network,The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,The oceans to be cross’d, the distant brought near,The lands to be welded together. Continue Reading
This past week found Minnesota state and local government officials scrambling for ways to use federal economic rescue funds to plug budget shortfalls to more thoughtful pausing to reflect on best ways to grow the economy. These two objectives don’t need to contradict each other. But they can; the helter-skelter scramble in states all across the nation may find local and state governments undermining federal economic recovery efforts. If state and local efforts lead to more job losses, budget balancing at local levels will undo federal efforts. If state and local actions lead to more people going without health insurance, the burden of meeting basic healthcare needs are shifted to others’ insurance plans and to local budgets – a certain drag on the overall economy. Continue Reading
State policymakers are talking out of both sides of their mouths. While they expect high school graduates to meet certain standards, it is exactly these standards that leaders refuse to pay for. It goes like this: In 2003, Gov. Tim Pawlenty convened a blue ribbon education task force to determine the cost of educating students using 2003 standards. The resulting report, “Inve$ting In Our Future,” showed that the state needs to invest more than $1 billion each year to meet these standards. The state, facing budget problems that year, dropped the report. Continue Reading
About a year ago, I asked the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotan’s Executive Director, Kao Ly Ilean Her, to write a story for a diversity newsletter I was working on for a corporate client. The result was a moving reflection of Ms. Her’s own journey from Laos to the United States. She recalled the seeds her mother carried—seeds of survival: mustard green, rice, squash and more. Ilean carried memories of her birth land, not toys and the other treasures we think of children holding dear. As I look back at the two years I’ve spent as Chair of the Council, I have many thoughts and reflections. Continue Reading
Minnesota is in the midst of an unprecedented housing and economic crisis that has no end horizon in sight. Some troubling trends provide a clearer overview of the financial storms to be weathered in the days ahead as we search for innovative solutions to keep a roof over every Minnesotan’s head. It’s unfortunate but true that too often affordable housing is not given the resources our families and communities need. Right now less than three-tenths of 1 percent of our state budget is allocated for housing in Minnesota. This week Governor Pawlenty presented his budget proposal for the 2010-11 biennium, recommending an overall 2.2 percent reduction from the 2008-09 expenditures. Continue Reading
Minnesota schools have been strangled by years of neglect. Schools now receive 14 percent less in state funding than they did in 2003. This has forced most districts to make budget cuts based not on what is best for the student, but what fits the state’s biannual balance sheet. It was with this history that Gov. Tim Pawlenty made his State of the State address last week. The several education policy measures he outlined solved none of the state’s education problems.
The state faces a budget deficit in the billions. Continue Reading