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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Luddites.

Or is it a question of government [outside of Matt Look and the other City of Ramsey Republicans in city control] not deemed properly involved in situations where it, government, enters into competition with private sector activities [such as real estate development or electric vehicle charging stations]?

Is it Luddites vs anti-Luddites, or just a not-unusual plain vanilla GOP double-standard thing?

ABC Newspapers reporting:

County axes electric vehicle charging station
By Peter Bodley on May 21, 2012 at 7:00 am


A proposal to be part of a Clean Cities National Parks initiative to bring electric vehicle charging stations to Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park has been shelved by Anoka County.

Last month the Anoka County Parks and Recreation Committee authorized an application to be made for the county to be an implementation site for two electric vehicle charging stations.

It would be have been funded by a grant, while the committee added a caveat that a fee system had to be put in place to cover operations and maintenance costs.

That is excerpting, please read the entire story, again, this link. Reporting continues:

The county had been approached by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the National Park Service to gauge its interest in being an implementation site for a grant proposal by the American Lung Association and the National Park Service to the Clean Cities National Parks initiative.

But at it last meeting May 3, the committee rescinded its action on the recommendation of department staff.

[...] the committee’s action to rescind its previous action produced a discussion at the May 8 county board meeting even though it was listed as an information item on the committee report to the board.

County Commissioner Dan Erhart sparked the discussion.

In his view, the county should have moved forward with the project, showing leadership in helping to promote alternative fuels for vehicles, given the country’s dependence on oil, Erhart said.

“This would be a small step,” he said.

And Erhart said it would have been a profit center.

But Anoka County Board Chairperson Rhonda Sivarajah said that there are privately owned charging stations in the county and the county would be setting up in competition with them.

[emphasis added] So, Republican sensitivity to government competition with private sector risk takers? That's a change, for folks living in Ramsey where the GOP-led government bought into such a competition position, but for millions of city cash, not on a grant from some other government entitiy, for a single low-cost charging station.

And - Dan Erhart in fact is the anti-Luddite on the county board?

Seems so.

Decide for yourself.

Is there politics at play, possibly related whose County Board District the planned charging station was planned to be placed? Political football played by our esteemed County Board. Even possibly so?

Oh my. I am at a loss for words.