So, did this group find an attitude, one way or the other, among the Public?
"Their eyes just lit up when they saw the charter amendment petition," she said. "They want to be able to vote on this."
Strib goes on to explain how interference by the County Attorney on attempting to gain a referendum by ordinance led to having to go the "charter amendment" route, proving there's more than a single way to skin a rat:
The coalition decided to pursue the charter amendment after the county attorney's office Thursday rejected language in a proposed ordinance they had hoped to put before the voters in a special election this year. Wickstrom said those changes gutted the ordinance.
The group turned instead to amending the county's charter, unique among Minnesota's 87 counties and something akin to a constitution. The County Board can't overrule the charter, but views differ on whether state laws can supersede it.
The coalition's leadership team includes two members of Ramsey's charter commission, Rod Halvorson and Bryan Olson, and former Arden Hills City Council Member Gregg Larson.
Wickstrom said the coalition has lined up 70 to 80 volunteers so far to collect signatures through door-to-door canvassing, camping out on street corners or inviting people into their homes.
It appears the charter amendment route is the way to go when public officials will not, themselves, rein in their excesses. It is helpful that Minnesota law allows charter amendment, and unhelpful that it has also in the past allowed egregious loopholes to be exploited by headstrong councils, officials.
_______________UPDATE_______________
There is a website. And a Facebook page. And further reporting. First, the website (a partial screen capture, please click to enlarge and read - go to the original for the full page and for active links):
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| http://www.nostadiumtax.info/ |
While I despise Facebook as something fit only for Republicans' use, nonetheless since these are well motivated referendum-loving people, I give the link:
http://www.facebook.com/TheNoStadiumTaxCoalition
For online reporting beyond Strib, there is PiPress, here:
The No Stadium Tax Coalition previously sought to petition for a county ordinance to achieve the same goal. But after it submitted the petition's language to the county a month ago and received a reply from the office of Ramsey County Attorney John Choi on Thursday, the group said Choi's office proposed changes that "gutted" it.
The original petition asked voters to decide whether "Ramsey County shall be prohibited from making expenditures, incurring debt, or entering into any agreement directly or indirectly related to a stadium on the TCAAP site in Arden Hills."
A memorandum from Assistant County Attorney Harry McPeak to the group Thursday stated that the language of an initiative could not legally prohibit the county from "expenditures" or "entering into any agreement," thus cutting the proposed prohibition down to "incurring debt."
Coalition member Dave Brudevold noted that the county has already raised the possibility of another entity - such as the St. Paul Port Authority or Metropolitan Council - handling bonding for the project and thus holding the debt while the county still makes payments.
The new language "would have made the petition totally meaningless," said coalition chair Ady Wickstrom, also a Shoreview City Council member.
That gives a flavor of games that governments will play to silence or circumvent a will of the people.
PiPress and Strib each give substantially more detail than the excerpts provide, so have a look at each.
PiPress appears to have the most extensive coverage. It helps to quickly put some of the website info into a context.
_______________FURTHER UPDATE______________
The DEETS, this link, source of this image:
Roughly, if state money is used, all of Minnesota pays; plus the focused area of Ramsey County in the Twin Cities area, they'd pay twice; and then the dollar sign in New Jersey indicates who benefits.
The two push-pin spots are where the two stadium Wilfare subsidy proponents, bill chief authors, are from - the very edges of "Viking land." These are bill sponsors who, clearly, are representing "the best interest of their districts" in what they do - despite, again, that dollar sign in New Jersey.
Read the Deets, for detail.