How About "green, as in cash AND energy"??!?

by: TwoPuttTommy

Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 14:01:48 PM CDT

Parks think green, as in cash

Minneapolis' Park Board is looking at business partnerships and other ventures to bring in needed bucks.

By ALEX EBERT, Star Tribune
Last update: July 25, 2010 - 9:19 PM

Faced with a shrunken budget, Minneapolis park leaders hope a combination of bikes, burgers and an Italian sculptor named Brioschi will stave off further cuts to the popular and nationally known park system.

Hey, it's deja vu, all over again!!!

Last year, I wrote a whole bunch of posts about a clean and green project that couldn't get done in Minneapolis, The Crown Hydro Project.  Posts included "Protecting A Parking Lot, or..." and "Crown Hydro Update: The Park Board Already Takes Water From The River" and  "Crown Hydro, Minneapolis Parks, and a St. Cloud Times Editorial".

And many of the points I and others pointed out have come to pass.

Except for the Crown Hydro Project.

Excuse me, but:  anyone remember wanting to reduce our dependence on oil?  Remember the BP Spill, too?

And now the Park Board is hurting for cash.

Are they hurting enough to do a deal with Target, to solve a cash-crunch problem?

Hey, we know - KNOW - they're not hurting enough to do a deal for a clean energy project - Crown Hydro - to solve a cash-crunch problem...

Crown Hydro, Minneapolis Parks, and a St. Cloud Times Editorial

by: TwoPuttTommy

Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 12:07:22 PM CDT

I've been writing about how the Crown Hydro Project is - by State law and by definition - "a valid public use" and how this project fits in with President Obama's Renewable Energy Plan in general, and President Obama's call for renewable energy from public land in particular.

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)