A Very Bad Idea

Podcast Audio: https://commsolutionsmn.libsyn.com/episode-298-a-very-bad-idea

YouTube: https://youtu.be/alo8dvgaetY

It’s no secret, we hate odd year elections. Very few people come out, and the majority of those are activists, union members, and the uber political. Should 3,500 people decide who makes policy for a city of 50,000? Why don’t we just make it easy for people to vote? We hear so much about making it as easy as possible for everyone to have their voice heard, and then so many places have these odd year elections. They are done solely so one side can control the election results. This is the wrong way to go about it.

You will find odd year elections in small cities like Appleton and in big cities like Minneapolis and St Paul. Some races have competition and some are completely uncontested. How do races even go uncontested, let alone an entire slate of races in a single city or school district? There were numerous referendums and sales tax implementations on the ballot, which passed more in the metro than outstate. Minneapolis also has a number of races where candidates are either on the Democratic Socialist ticket and the Socialist Workers’ Party ticket. Ilhan Omar hand-picked the new mayor of St Louis Park. Have fun with all that. We have to stop with the odd year elections. They do nothing, but secure the DFL’s hold on local elections.

We also discussed the recent death of Matthew Perry and those that went too soon that have left an impact on us. It prompts a discussion on the search for meaning, and I think we may have figured it out.

Have you checked out our Spotify playlist? At the beginning of each episode, Jason quotes some song lyrics that have to do with the subject matter of the podcast. Andrew never knows what they are, but now he can… and so can you! We’ve launched the Spotify playlist: “Community Solutions Music From the Podcast!” You can listen to Roundabout from Yes after listing to Episode 30 on Roundabouts… or kick back and enjoy a rocking playlist just for the thrill of it. We add a new song every week. Subscribe and enjoy!

Don’t forget that you can also subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify!

Sold Down The River

St. Louis Park is mulling over whether to implement a local sales tax to redo a number of their streets to make room for more pedestrians and bicyclers. The local sales tax is supposed to be used for projects with regional impacts. You’d be hard pressed to explain the regional importance of any of these projects. What we have here, is the effort of a city to find the justification to collect yet another tax. This is yet another hidden tax that will be hard to quantify, but you will be paying it every time you buy anything in St. Louis Park. They want to create more complete streets so that it is harder for you to drive. This is the new scam across the state to steal more of your hard earned dollars. Make sure you understand it before it comes to your neighborhood.

Also Andrew decides to take a walk down memory lane, waxing poetic about his days in Robbinsdale.

Have you checked out our Spotify playlist? At the beginning of each episode Jason quotes some song lyrics that have to do with the subject matter of the podcast. Andrew never knows what they are, but now he can… and so can you! We’ve launched the Spotify playlist: “Community Solutions Music From the Podcast!” You can listen to Roundabout from Yes after listing to Episode 30 on Roundabouts… or kick back and enjoy a rocking playlist just for the thrill of it. We add a new song every week. Subscribe and enjoy!

Don’t forget that you can also subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify!

Podcast audio: http://commsolutionsmn.libsyn.com/episode-148-sold-down-the-river-0

Youtube: https://youtu.be/7rEcVyfD7l4