Letter: Backing JacobsenApparently my letter touched a nerve and appears to have inspired the following rebuttal this week in both papers:
To the editor:
In the last election 55 percent of New Brighton voters voted for someone other than Steve Larson to be our mayor. Larson held on to his office in spite of garnering only 45 percent of the vote in the three candidate race. Unfortunately Larson, whose record of accomplishment in city government is far less than stellar, has chosen to run for yet another term as mayor.
Larson has been in city government for 22 years, with the last 10 as mayor. One would think this would be more than adequate time for this career politician to get his ideas implemented. He certainly has left his mark on the city: as a prime driver of the failed Northwest Quadrant project, a vocal advocate of the city's shameful abuse of eminent domain, promoter of an excessive and irresponsible use of TIF, and unwavering supporter of an out of control city budget and yearly tax increases to fund it, his tenure has coincided with a stagnant business climate, a ticking property tax time bomb, a declining tax base, and a general malaise of mediocrity for the city.
Fortunately the election this fall will offer voters the opportunity to replace the ineffective Larson with Dave Jacobsen, an accomplished businessman with many years of private sector experience. Dave has a proven track record of successfully dealing with difficult environmental and management problems while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Let's replace mediocrity with thoughtfulness, intelligence, and responsibility by electing Dave Jacobsen as New Brighton's next mayor.
Steve Taylor
New Brighton
Letter: Larson is no slackerI find the arguments in the rebuttal letter to be as weak as the record of the candidate they support. The ironic thing is that an honest addressing of the points Chris and Kim make tend to make my case for the ouster of Mayor Larson stronger.
To the editor:
Some criticize the redevelopment efforts that the city has initiated, describing them as failed and fraught with mediocrity. Obviously, those folks who are critical have not worked with businesses long enough to know that private/public economic partnerships take time to develop, especially in difficult economic times. Nor are they interested in contacting neighboring communities to find out that some of their economic development efforts have taken upwards of 20 years to complete; that their commercial areas have suffered also from the latest economic downturn; and that 40 percent to 50 percent of their commercial and industrial spaces are vacant.
Mayor Steve Larson has 22 years of experience working with various developers (business people), trying to bring viable, stable and profitable businesses to our community that would offer livable wage jobs, longevity to our commercial and industrial districts and a solid tax base that would offer property tax relief to residential property owners, who since 1999 have been shouldering more and more of that tax burden. While the Northwest Quadrant has been victimized by the economy, construction activity is evident, providing jobs and moving forward with projects that are poised to take off as the economy continues to improve. Also, voters also need to look to the redeveloped commercial area along 694 and Silver Lake Road and the industrial area along 1st Street NW, County Road E2 and 5th Avenue NW to see that Larson and the council have worked hard and tirelessly for the economic benefit of residents. Vote to keep Larson as mayor; he is the one with the proven track record of working for us.
Chris and Kim Sykes
New Brighton
I can't say I have any disagreement with the first sentence as that is the view of much of the crowd I hang with. After this things start getting a little logically weak.
Various incarnations of what is now known as the NWQ Project has been talked about at City Hall for going on twenty years now. During this time there have been multiple periods of rapid redevelopment by the private sector where commercially viable land was quickly acquired and built up. If the NWQ had true market value for redevelopment there would have been competition in the private sector to acquire and develop it.
Mr. Larson, as first a member of the city council and later as mayor, took the arrogant view that city government could dictate an economic outcome that the free market didn't support (to be fair, he was joined in this view by several others, including former mayor Bob Benke). This was obviously not the case, but the city decided to go into the redevelopment business and start up a "private/public partnership" instead of listening to the marketplace. These types of arrangements are almost always a boondoggle for taxpayers and the NWQ project is no exception.
To make matters even worse, the city aggressively abused eminent domain to acquire the land (the second worst offender in the state according to the watchdog group Castle Coalition). Taxpaying businesses and home owners were forced to sell their property under the threat of legal action. The warning of an attorney for one of the victimized business owners made to the New Brighton City Council turned out to be prophetic [paraphrasing]: those who believe aggressive use of eminent domain is an economical way to facilitate redevelopment are badly mistaken.
Even setting the morality of abusive eminent domain aside, in their zeal to acquire the land of the NWQ the city of New Brighton paid far more than the market rate when actual purchase costs, legal fees, and potential environmental liability are considered. Mayor Larson was at the forefront of, and was a vocal advocate for, this policy. The crew at the Boots On blog (www.bootsonblog.com) covered this subject pretty thoroughly over the last few years.
As far as other redevelopment "accomplishments" goes, Brighton Village took nearly 10 years to get redeveloped after several false starts. One might also look into why Lunds moved out in the first place. The letter writers state that "Mayor Steve Larson has 22 years of experience working with various developers (business people), trying to bring viable, stable and profitable businesses...". Larson and his cronies may well have been "trying" but, based on results, were obviously not too successful.
Blaming the current bad economy for the failure of the project seems more than just a little disingenuous by those responsible for the mess. The NWQ was moribund during an extended period of economic boom in the late 1990's, well before the current economic downturn started. Take a look around neighboring communities and compare recent development (for example, the Apache Plaza site in St. Anthony). The current bad economy has definitely slowed the scope and speed of development all over, but our neighboring communities did not create a vast undeveloped wasteland with expensive roads, street lights, and other infrastructure that will probably never be used for the intended purpose and may well have to be torn out to salvage some economically beneficial use for the land.
Speaking of those responsible for the mess, the "Kim" part of the duo appears to be none other than Kim Moore-Sykes, the former New Brighton Council member who was soundly beaten by Gina Bauman with a 2:1 vote margin four years ago. Moore-Sykes also finished dead last among four candidates two years ago in what appeared to be a half-hearted come-back attempt when she ran with Larson (who was damn lucky to retain his office in the three-way race that split his opposition). During her tenure on the council Moore-Sykes was in lockstep with Larson and the rest of the council other than Doffing (the only competent member of the council at the time) and was responsible for supporting many of the bad decisions that led to the NWQ debacle and out of control spending. If a supporter like this is the best the current mayor can do it may be a sign that the voters of New Brighton will finally make the long overdue change in the Mayor's office.
For the sake of the city, let's hope so.
