The Crown Hydro Project proposes using the power of the St. Anthony Falls to generate clean and renewable electricity - link to Liberal in the Land of Conservative to see exactly what the "before" and "after" images of what the construction site does and will look like.
Throughout the Crown Hydro Project's long history, the major obstacle to construction has been the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. There are very loud and very local activists adamantly opposed to this project - and very clear that they feel only they should have any say in the matter. Here's what one Minneapolis resident had to say on the matter, on the Minneapolis Issues List:
Like it or not, the Crown Hydro project wants to use land that is owned by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and, that board is elected by residents of Minneapolis. They ought to concern themselves very much with what Minneapolis taxpayers say; they can pretty much ignore what taxpayers in Eden Prairie say.
This comment is typical of those opposed to Crown Hydro, even though the Park Board relies heavily on outside funding for it's operations and even though Crown Hydro would provide approximately $300,000 - annually - in additional Park Board funding.
How heavily does the Minneapolis Park Board rely on revenue other than property taxes for it's operations? In 2007, according to the Park Board, of the total 2007 Park Board revenues, 14.1% were Unrestricted Grants &
Contributions; 3.8% were Operating Grants & Contributions; and 13% were Capital Grants & Contributions - for a total of 30.9% of total revenue. Only 62.3% of 2007 Park Board revenues, according to the Park Board, were
generated by locally-paid property taxes.
The St. Cloud Times Editorial Board weighed in on the subject of regional parks funding at the state level, today. Let's look at part of what they said:
(Editor's note: more, and a YouTube too, beyond the fold)
Our view: Parks bills offer help for region
Times Editorial Board • April 7, 2009
Supporters of Central Minnesota parks received a double dose of good legislative news the past few weeks.
One development helped expand a local park while the other could foster a much-needed legislative shake-up in how the state funds regional parks.
***
Historically, regional parks have gotten little funding from the Legislature.
A majority of Twin Cities legislators have long embraced state funding mechanisms that split available state tax dollars between just the metropolitan parks systems and the Minnesota state parks system. The logic appears to be that metro parks serve metro residents and state parks serve outstate residents.
But it doesn't take a geography professor or state demographer to see that state parks match up more with Minnesota's natural wonders than where non-Twin Cities residents live.
The result is that while many outstate residents use regional parks more than state parks, the funding for acquisition and maintenance of regional parks just isn't provided. Look at the last legislative session. Regional parks from about 25 counties statewide submitted $44 million in requests to the state. Legislators approved about $850,000 of those. They gave the rest of the state aid for parks to the metro and state parks systems.
Changing that law, not to mention legislative mentality, has been a decadelong battle. Now the bill from Haws could do just that.
The longtime (and now retired) St. Cloud parks director wants legal definitions for regional parks regardless of location along with changes that create more competition for available aid among metro, state and regional parks.
Those are welcome changes and we urge area residents and legislators to advocate for them. (St. Cloud Times)
Clearly, the Minneapolis Park Board continuing to turn down the additional $300,000 in annual funding Crown Hydro would provide will have political and financial repercussions affecting Minneapolis's parks from legislators across the state. It should be pointed out that the sponsors of Senate File 840 (since withdrawn) included two Republicans as well as three DFL Senators - and only one (Senator Kelash) was from Minneapolis.
The bottom line is that while Park Board Commissioners have been held damned near hostage by NIMBY extremists with regards to Crown Hydro and the additional funding it would provide, regional parks statewide have had their funding needs ignored.
For those who wonder how little regard the Minneapolis Park Board has for $300,000 annually - what Park Board Lobbyist MaryAnn Campo essentially called "Chump Change" - watch this YouTube originally posted by Liberal in the Land of Conservative:
If today's St. Cloud Times Editorial is any indication, the attitude at the State Legislature regarding Minneapolis Park Board's funding is going to change.
Whether or not the attitude at the Minneapolis Park Board changes remains to be seen.
