Yes. Uh huh. If you believe Tom Gamec. Town Center Tom. The only constant individual on the City of Ramsey Council from the Genesis of Town Center, to the Exodus of the Developers. Uh huh, Tom. And for others on Chairman Dave's hand-picked like-minded Town Center Task Force - the groupies - and their words (a thousand each, more or less):
Uh huh, Alena. Uh huh, Mary Jo. Those restaurants. That whammo boost to tax base. That getting it right the first time.
So, reader, you tell me, I did not count the words - but is one picture worth a thousand of the above?
Well, with Alena, we cannot in November 2008 vote her off the Council - she's not on it! But two out of three isn't bad. Joe Mauer only hits one out of three. And they say that's great.
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It has to be said. Hunter's comments are most galling, ""Because of the location on the major arterial roads of Ramsey, we can keep traffic away from the inner core of our neighborhoods. We can concentrate a variety of housing choices in an area that is far removed from the center of our city, creating a larger tax base [etc., see the last image]."
This is the woman whose boss at the cabinet shop installed her on his Town Center Task Force, a body not going through any normal appointment process but hand-picked by who knows who; which David Elvig then used as his public-service springboard onto council where his first action, instigated prior to taking the oath of office was to get sewer-water routed to Jerry Bauer's gun club, (outside of which the one driving arrest incident in the wee hours of a weekday morning reportedly occured), to benefit the father-in-law's land interests, and when a tie-vote roadblock was encountered Bauer removed himself, somehow I do not know details, from chain-of-title with John Peterson carrying water; and sewer-water was routed, to use Alena Hunter's own [see last image] words, to "the inner core of our neighborhoods," and not at all as represented "far removed from the center of our city."
And look now at what is being lobbied for in the North End - north of Trott Brook.
Finally, almost coincidentally, where is that larger tax base, Alena? At the field of dreams where they bulit the Norman castle?
Get real. All of that stuff needs an airing. And pronto, Tonto. Delay and obfuscation, smoke and mirrors, will not do.
Garderners know, care and attention are needed to keep the garden's beauty prospering. And, turning a compost pile to air things out keeps it from getting too ripe. It's time for a turning - things are overdue for a turning.