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Thursday, March 01, 2012

RAMSEY - My understanding is there was a Flaherty contract approval, again by a divided Ramsey council.

The headline tells the story. I have not looked at the contract draft, nor did I attend or view the meeting broadcast.

Whether the draft was accepted without suggested language amendments, or not, is something I do not know.

Any reader having knowledge is asked to help via a comment.

My understanding is that groundbreaking will await spring weather, meaning the success or failure of the venture to attract tenants at the projected rental rate levels will be unknown by election time.

There will be no precise evidence of good or bad outcome, and people will have to vote based on what policy direction for the future seems best without knowing anything about short term Flaherty venture outcomes. Long term, obviously, is even more guesswork. And the City's unprecedented risk position in things related to the Flaherty rental will stand as good or bad policy, in the minds of voters, based upon abstract ideas of the role of government vs. the private sector rather than any of the politicians able to say what even short term results will actually be.

And for now, we only know the incumbents whose council seats will be up for election. We do not know who might decline to run again, or who might challenge. We can guess, but until mid-summer there will be that uncertainty; what with filing for council being a July time window.