East Bethel saw an upset of the mayor and two City Council members: Small business owner Richard Lawrence defeated Mayor Greg Hunter, and Heidi Moegerle and Bob Deroche took the council seats held by Steve Channer and Kathy Paavola, who did not seek reelection.
Lawrence said Tuesday evening that though the three won't take office until January, they'll start right away to try to put the brakes on a planned city water/sewer system.
Debunking Met Council mythology, growth is NOT always good, is the message.
But there still is growth-is-good mongering. The Ramsey train stop at the Ramsey Town Center [aka: the CORpse] is wanted, in Ramsey, by the politicians elected and appointed, but without having to pay for it. I want a Lexus. I don't want to pay for it. Where do I go for a grant? Can Landform get me that Lexus, with its exceptional smoke and mirrors show, but what would it cost? At Fifteen Thousand per month, I would be better saving for that Lexus, and letting Landform coast business-as-usual with City of Ramsey.
And how about those unconditional letters of intent, eighty million worth, with escrow funding all in place and all we've heard. Well, I presume a bit. All I have heard, not seeing a piece of paper in evidence, is that there are eighty million of letters of intent. Question: are the entities issuing these worth eighty million, or even a tenth as much? Who is issuing this stuff? It sounds like pure blue sky meanderings to me.
Where on the City website do I go to find copies of these letters? Where on the City website do I go to see the due diligence check-out of the financial wherewithal of letter issuers to perform any of the things the letters might, if we saw them, in some fashion promise or propagandize? I will believe that brand of stuff when ground is broken with fully funded escrows in place, and not before that. My guess, that brand will be "rebranded" by our illustrious official decision makers, well before any eighty million of real money shows up anywhere near the badlands known, still, as the Ramsey Town Center by all alert, thinking people living in Ramsey.
Here's my prediction - a Port Authority for City of Ramsey, before Mayor Ramsey is up for reelection. With new "fiscal conservatives" on the County Board, wanting to contain costs and "streamline" government, more bang for the buck etc., there will be pressure by Westerberg and Look for special pork amounts in their districts to enhance reelection hopes, and there will be head-bumping and cross purposes will abound. Bottom line. Expect that Port Authority for City of Ramsey before Mayor Ramsey is up for reelection.
Mark today's date, November 4, 2010.
You will hear the idea being floted, my crystal ball says so, but you will have heard it here first.
_____________UPDATE___________
Some in Ramsey may recall that former City Manager James Norman told ABC Newspaper reporter Tammy Sakray, reported in a now inaccessible past online item, that going into things it was known that Bruce Nedegaard was "thin" for the Ramsey Town Center project, undercapitalized, but he was the person with the option on the land. It might also be recalled that Ramsey consultant Mike Mulroney had been scheduled for a meeting appearance about his due diligence in checking Nedegaard out - his LLC actually - but that then mayor Gamec indicated that an infirmity had made it impossible for the consultant's attendance. Hiding it under a hat is another way to say it, and that too is a part, a large part, of City of Ramsey history - history everywhere being an ongoing event. I think voters in East Bethel made a wise choice. Also, the city manager from East Bethel in an email to me indicated that that municipality had never had any contracting with Landform. Bless East Bethel, for awakening to a new reality ahead of others.