Posts Tagged ‘NRP’
Commentary NRP Funds”¦Are Mpls. City Hall Democrats still Democrats? Party of Compassion?? Do the Math!! The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer and Neighborhoods, too
By Carol Pass In the midst of watching the destruction of the democratic right of collective bargaining going on next door in Wisconsin, an action bought and paid for by the billionaire Koch brothers, I attended a meeting called by a group of Democratic legislators. A graph was handed out, shown here, of the seriously regressive taxation rates current in Minnesota. Fellow Democrats in the room expressed outrage at years of too much political control by wealthy Republicans and at how regressive taxation has distorted the economy of the American populace into a tiny group of haves and a major group of have nots”¦.so much so that a current magazine with clear legitimacy ran an article entitled ”˜Plutocracy Now!”' (rule by the rich), a play on the name of the TV show ”˜Democracy Now”'. The graph put out by the State Department of Revenue showed those making from $9,000 to $86,000 paying an average of 12% of their income for taxes, while those earning $447,000 and above paying only 8.9%. These wealthy folks use far more of the public resources from airports to roads to electricity, etc. yet they pay a far smaller percentage of their income in taxes than the middle and lower middle classes, who carry the greatest, by percentage income, of the tax load. How fair is this?? But these figures are primarily the result of the actions of the Republican Party. We Democrats in the room expected such. Now look at the other figure, an analysis of the reapportioning by the Minneapolis Mayor and City Council of the NRP dollars once allocated by the legislature to the Neighborhoods. By the action of the “Democrats” of Minneapolis City Hall, a huge amount of remaining NRP dollars, money that was allocated primarily to the poorest and most diverse neighborhoods of Minneapolis, is being reallocated overwhelmingly to the wealthiest and least diverse Mpls. neighborhoods in the form of tax savings. This reallocation is more economically [...]
“Turning A Negative Into A Positive”¦.” GI Hi-Jacked at Hi-Lake!… Green Institute dead to South Mpls.
by Annie Young Last month The Alley printed information about The ReUse Center closing. Now another part of the story unfolds before our eyes, where has the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center and The Green Institute gone? On Monday, January 25th the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center”'s name came down and Greenway signage was put up. On Friday, January 29th The Green Institute offices moved out of the building with a smattering of files and limited staff up to the other ReUse Center store in Maplewood. To date, none of us in the Phillips neighborhood know the GI Board”'s response to the administration”'s malfeasance. We probably never will. That is their business and we probably don”'t need to have the dirty laundry hung out for everyone to see. However, it seems we do somehow need to communicate that The GI, ReUse Center and Deconstruction Services are all but gone ”“ or what”'s left of them have gone to Maplewood... So be it for grassroots democracy and action. For years, the Phillips community has been proud of its Green Institute, ReUse Center and DeConstruction Program. It has won awards for its endeavors. The projects were the first of their kind, entering the fight for environmental justice and setting examples that are now almost common day occurrences. Reusing materials and bringing renewable energy initiatives to the community ”“ both lofty goals but leaves us wondering “What happened?” With these gone now and some of the services moved to Maplewood there is no longer a connection to the Phillips community ”“ the home of the roots of these endeavors. (more…)
Open Letter to the Community Historic Community Protection Legislation is studied locally by North Mpls. and nationally by CA”“Re-Elect Responsible Lawmakers
With regard to a post on Mpls.e-democracy forum suggesting we sweep all the incumbents from the legislature, I just received a note from a friend in north Mpls. telling me to hang on to Rep. Karen Clark and Sen. Berglin. My friend”'s neighborhood is facing exposure to becoming host to a hazardous waste site and is aware of what Rep. Clark, Sen. Berglin and many neighborhood folks have accomplished together to bring about a first-in-the-nation environmental justice zone protective of the Phillips”' population through a bill in the legislature. The legislation requires far stricter guidelines than currently exist to protect a large section of the urban core neighborhood of Phillips, based on poverty statistics, already existing area pollution, health challenges and intense diversity. Phillips and Clark/Berglin”'s high profile protective bill are being watched from as far away as California for implications and responses. The bill is historic on the environmental justice scene. (more…)
