Rochester Day at the Capital appears to have had an impact on Rochester’s #1 priority the Mayo Civic Center and Olmsted County’s #1 priority a Zip Line study. Here is Sen. Senjem proudly wearing his badge supporting the MCC project. In addition Sen. Nelson also affirmed strong support and indicate that she was actually the person introducing the bill. Previously Rep. Liebling and Rep. Norton have expressed support in the house. City staff, officials, and residents met with a tremendous number of legislators in both parties and chambers and they most all said 1 thing. “If we have the support of Sen. Senjem supports the project, it will happen.” As an elected official in Rochester my goal is to have our state and federal reps deliver for us, so I was delighted to confirm the senator’s support. We also heard similar support for the Zip line study so we are looking good there as well.
This is the request for proposals to evaluate operations at the Mayo Civic Center. We have a pretty good staff out there, but we also have a pretty old building in need of some repairs and rejuvenation. It only makes sense as we move toward rehabbing and expanding the facility that we ensure our operations is the best it can be. I personally have a few concerns, and I know there are community members with additional concerns.
Here is the entire Request For Proposal (RFP), unedited. Not quite sure what a “pubically” owned civic and convention center is though…
I don’t know if there is a way to embed KAAL (ABC 6) stories, but here is a link to their coverage here. They once again went to the bottom of the barrel and interviewed me.
“Every year, the City of Rochester and Olmsted County send almost $90 million more to the State Treasury in taxes than they receive back in LGA, school aid, and other assistance,” said Governor Dayton.
“The reality is we send so much in income tax and sales tax up to Saint Paul and we get a pittance of that back,” says Rochester city council member, Michael Wojcik, who met with Governor Dayton on Thursday. While he’s happy with the Governor’s praise, he points out Rochester’s state contributions are a double-edged sword; especially, when programs like Local Government Aid are being slashed.
“We don’t have necessarily the means to keep funding the programs that we have and that’s why you see this constant budget struggle at the city and county level,” says Wojcik.
Well if she does we hope she sends the money to the right state.
The funniest part of this is that when she is reading off the list of events, she actually reads off a New York state event, but still doesn’t put two and two together. When I was searching for the above video I also found this nugget, below.
In fairness, I don’t know what the public said, or if there were just being clueless. We occasionally have some clueless folks at our city council meeting that get corrected or asked to sit down. But the fact that there was someone on the committee actually defending the witnesses tells me that Rep. Anderson was probably out of line.
At last Monday’s meeting the circus was back in town. The local Tea Party “patriots” came loaded with talking points and were upset the the adults (including all 7 council members and the mayor) in the room instead relied on facts and logic.
Cindy Maves: That last post-bulletin survey 73% said no, 20% said it could wait.
Michael Wojcik: You do know what a scientific poll is and an unscientific poll, though?
Cindy Maves: It’s still a poll, it’s still a poll, I’m not saying those are factual numbers.
Wojcik: Laughing.
I for one prefer factual numbers and choose responsibility for preserving our assets and minimizing out local taxes over pandering.
Here is Mary Allen as written in the Post-Bulletin:
Monday night I attended a frustrating meeting where the voices of many citizens were ignored by the council, especially Michael Wojcik. I would like to challenge him, since he likes to do research, he says, to come up with a list of $40 motels where poor people stay when coming to Mayo for treatment.
I haven’t seen a $40 motel for years, and if I did I certainly wouldn’t want to spend time in it while getting treatment at Mayo Clinic.
Here is the 1 minute it took be to answer this challenge:
What is so infuriating to me is that I have reached out to Cindy Maves in the past in an effort to get some help in eliminating developer subsidies and fighting LGA cuts both of which would help lower taxes and fees. This group has shown no interest in any education or any real policies that could reduce local taxes of fees. I have voted against more spending than anyone on the council the last three years. My Tea Party reward is this clueless babble and absolutely no engagement.
Here is a clip of Mayor Brede and myself discussing our continuing support for the Mayo Civic Center renovation and expansion. We are asking the state for support in 2012. You can listen to my rational for support and see if it seems thought out and reasonable.
If you remember only one thing, remember that Rochester citizens will pay less by doing this project as we have outlined than if we do not.
This was a somewhat insulting note complete with threat, here it is unedited:
every politician loves to say , their doing it in other cities our size and it’s working? Wellthere is a whole lot that us regular folk can point out that they are or are not doing also??? Do all 14 of these cities have a 1/2 percent sales tax? Well this city won’t either come next year, enjoy YOUR civic center.
Here was my response. As I have said we are not the state or federal government, we actually have to pass real budgets and make real choices. Often we suffer consequences from legislative failures, like LGA and other cuts. As such we have to be pragmatic and actually make tough decisions.
Pat,
Many of these municipalities have a local option sales taxes greater than 0.5%. I believe that some are at least as high as 1.5%. Any way you cut it Rochester’s total is in line with similar communities. This is even more impressive because in most states the total sales tax is lower but covers more items. Our narrower sales tax is higher for the things that it covers like hotel stays. If you doubt the accuracy of anything that I have said, I encourage you to check it out.
I believe that most of our citizens will be more level headed in their approach to funding their community. Just take a look at the projects that are on the list, there are some that might not be done like the Senior Center / Recreation Center or STEM academy, but many like the transportation projects, sewer projects, and downtown improvements will be done regardless. As such we will be deciding if we want to pay 100% of this through our property taxes or much less through our sales tax. Most of us care about having a great community with great amenities. That is why MN voted so overwhelmingly to support our legacy amendment. I believe that is why this will succeed.
I found your note to be condescending and am particularly surprised that you would use your business account for this type of activity. I will stick to the facts and do my best to minimize tax burden on those I represent.
The city council will be asked to reaffirm support of the project for 2012. Here are my thoughts on the project, and why I am inclined to support it. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a nice piece of analysis done by Donna Drews and the Mayo Civic Center Staff. The data below is the zip code of ticket purchases for Mayo Civic Center Concerts from January to May of 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
