Archive for the ‘Betsy Hodges’ Category

We know that there’s two things in life that are guaranteed: death and taxes. Actually, based on this article, there’s apparently a third certainty: that DFL mayors can’t resist raising property taxes.

Preya Samsundar’s article starts by saying “Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges finally revealed her budget plan for 2018 on Tuesday including a proposal for a 5.5 percent property tax levy increase for the upcoming year. Hodges’ budget and the address she gave in presenting it covered a laundry list of progressive talking points and policy plans. The budget has a total price tag of $1.8 billion. Almost $6 million in total will be spent on efforts to use non-fossil fuel sources of energy, improve businesses’ climate effects, and increase energy efficiency in commercial and residential areas of Minneapolis. This is roughly a 60 percent increase compared with the 2014 budget the year Hodges assumed office.”

Hodges knows that she’s in a fight for re-election. That’s likely why she criticized President Trump in presenting her budget:

“Minneapolis is facing a challenge that we couldn’t have conceived of a year ago,” Mayor Hodges said. “Though we are shocked by the damage he does every day of his presidency, we have to anticipate that Donald Trump will remain in the White House through 2020. In the next three and a half years he can wreak untold damage to our country with his authoritarian tactics and his policies of oppression and suppression. Once he was elected, we knew it would be a disaster for our country, but even just six months in, it’s already far more disastrous than we anticipated.” Hodges believes that Trump is coming after “our diversity, our right to vote, our artists, our independent media, our workers” with his policies.

That criticism is just a distraction. Hodges knows that she’ll lose if voters focus on the uptick in violence during her administration. She’s been a disaster since taking over for the equally disastrous R.T. Rybak.

It isn’t that I think Mayor Hodges will lose because she raised property taxes. My point is that the DFL annually promises property tax relief, then falls far short of their promises.

Technorati: Betsy Hodges, Property Tax Increase, Climate Change, Donald Trump, DFL

Yesterday, Janeé Harteau resigned as Minneapolis’s police chief. Embattled Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges has picked Medaria Arradondo to replace Harteau. The next question is whether Arradondo is the right pick to succeed Harteau. According to this MPR article, Chief Harteau was “the first woman, first Native American and first openly gay person to serve as chief in Minneapolis.”

R.T. Rybak was the mayor that picked Harteau to be his police chief. Now that Hodges is picking Harteau’s successor, it’s fair to ask whether she’s picking the right person for the job. This article suggests that she’s picking the wrong person. It says “Linea Palmisano, a city councilwoman who represents the ward where the shooting happened, told The Associated Press on Saturday that she’s known Arradondo for some time, relying on him to explain police initiatives and working with him during community meetings such as one introducing ‘implicit bias training’ for officers a few years ago.”

The fact that the Minneapolis Police Department has “implicit bias training” tells me that politicians are interfering too much. The National Initiative for Building Community Trust & Justice explains that implicit bias “can distort one’s perception and subsequent treatment either in favor of or against a given person or group. In policing, this has resulted in widespread practices that focus undeserved suspicion on some groups and presume other groups innocent.”

It’s important that Minneapolis gets this decision right. They’ve had problems for quite some time. Focusing on politically correct training isn’t wise. Apparently, that’s what Minneapolis has focus on. If you want the right results, you have to have the right training.

The point is that picking the right PC isn’t as important as putting the officers through the right training. At this point, the training emphasis needs to improve.

Betsy Hodges’ public humiliation quite likely signals the end of Hodges’ political career. While attempting to announce her pick to be Minneapolis’s police chief, Mayor Hodges was drowned out by protesters attending the press conference.

One protester interrupted Hodges, saying “We ask you for your prompt resignation. We don’t want you as our mayor of Minneapolis anymore. We are asking you that you take your staff with you. We don’t want you to appoint anybody anymore. Your leadership has been very ineffective, and if you don’t remove yourself, we’re going to put somebody in place to remove you. Your police force has terrorized the city enough. Your press conference is ineffective because you won’t let the people in. And you didn’t want to hear us, so you hear me now. We do not want you as our mayor of Minneapolis, and we’re asking you to resign.”

The protesters were there because a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed an Australian woman named Justine Damond:

On Saturday, Justine Damond, a 40-year-old Australian woman living in Minneapolis called 911 to report a possible rape occurring outside of her building in an alley. When officers responded, their body cameras were turned off. When Damond approached the officers’ squad car, one of the officers fired one shot at Damond, fatally wounding her.

This video shows how out-of-control things got:

What’s more is that this isn’t the first controversy Janeé Harteau has been involved in as Minneapolis’s police chief:

Levy-Pounds was among the prominent early supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement in Minneapolis and spoke out against Jamar Clark’s death, pushing for charges against the officers involved. But Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman declined to charge the officers involved in Clark’s death, saying the deadly force was justified. Police Chief Janeé Harteau also found that the officers’ actions were warranted.

The Jamar Clark shooting triggered a city-wide revolt in Minneapolis. It will be difficult to get things under control anytime soon.

It isn’t a secret that Democrats aren’t fans of government reform. They’ve been the defenders of the status quo for years. Hillary Clinton was their presidential nominee. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are the faces of Senate and House Democrats. This trio of fossils aren’t mistaken for having fresh ideas. If they don’t want to be politically irrelevant, they need new management and fresh, appealing ideas.

In Minnesota, the DFL is slightly ahead of the game compared with the DNC. Still, they’re too reliant on cronyism. That’s what this article highlights.

Cronyism is the name of the game that Ted Mondale and Michelle Kelm-Helgen played with U.S. Bank Stadium suites. According to multiple reports, “Kelm-Helgen and Mondale, two government employees, control access to two lower-level luxury ‘Norseman Suites’ for all events at the stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The MSFA controls 36 tickets per game and the agency also got a nearly identical number of free parking spaces in the surface lot used by Vikings players.” That’s just the tip of the U.S. Bank Stadium iceberg. There’s more:

Kelm-Helgen and Mondale said they and the four MSFA commissioners use the suites to host potential clients who are looking to rent all or portions of the stadium, which opened in August. But they also acknowledge they regularly invite friends and family to the suites.

The two say they can’t reveal the identities of their guests because that would hinder their marketing efforts. However, they did release the identities of 12 current and former public officials who reimbursed the authority $200 for their tickets to the suite.

Here’s the description of what’s included in the Norseman Suites:

Norseman Lounge Suites
Highly exclusive 10 person Suites located between the 20 yard line and the end line just 36 rows from the field. Each Suite comes with access to the exclusive Lounge directly behind the Suite featuring a private bar and all-inclusive upscale food offerings, VIP parking, other event access, away game trips and much more. (NEWLY DESIGNED, ONLY 15 BUILT)

ABOUT THE NORSEMAN LOUNGE SUITES        
• 36 Rows from the Field
• Side End zone – 20 yard line
• 6 fixed and 4 drink rail chairs with view to the field
• All-inclusive, unlimited beer, wine, high end food and non-alcoholic beverages
• Private/ Elite Lounge access
• 1 Annual Suite Holder Event on the field
• Super Bowl Access
• Away game road trips
• Access to other events
EXCLUSIVE SUITE BENEFITS       
• VIP Parking Passes in a ramp in close proximity to the Stadium
• All-inclusive food and beverage package with a full-service concierge staff
• Participation in Team-arranged away road trips at points during the term of your Suite Agreement (limited to two (2) persons)
• The opportunity to purchase a to-be-determined number of Super Bowl tickets (not Suite tickets) in any year the Vikings participate in the Super Bowl or the Super Bowl is held at the new Stadium

Frankly, it’s disgusting that Kelm-Helgen and Mondale insist that they “can’t reveal the identities of their guests because that would hinder their marketing efforts.” That’s spin for saying ‘giving out that list would be politically embarrassing.’

I’d say that some DFL (sense of) entitlement reform is required.

Technorati: Michelle Kelm-Helgen, Ted Mondale, Minnesota Sports Facility Authority, Entitlement Reform, Accountability, Mark Dayton, US Bank Stadium, Norseman Lounge Suites, Betsy Hodges, Cronyism, DFL Culture of Corruption, Myron Frans, DFL

If anything demonstrates that Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges is paranoid or isn’t thinking clearly, this Facebook post is proof that a little paranoia goes a long ways.

In the key part of the post, Hodges wrote “At this difficult moment, I also urge every Minneapolitan and every Minnesotan to support and stand firmly with our Muslim, East African, and Somali friends and neighbors. A horrible, violent attack like this should never be exploited to attack a whole community and a whole religion. Yet we have seen Islamophobia rear its ugly head in terrible moments like this far too many times — *and* at a moment when one person in particular is playing to fear and hatred of immigrants on a national scale, I fully understand the worry of the Somali community here that it will happen again. From the first moments after this terrible event, the Somali community of Minnesota came together to decry this horrible act. We all get to come together to reject hate in all of its forms. We must not and will not allow hate to divide us. We are stronger together.”

Why do Democrats think that the first instinct for people they don’t know will commit acts of violence or discriminate without reason? It’s a bit insulting or more than a little paranoid. But I digress.

It’s worth noting that the definition of Islamophobia is “hatred or fear of Muslims or their politics or culture.” Let’s hear Mayor Hodges highlight the times when Islamophobia reared “its ugly head”. Let’s differentiate, though, between distrust and hatred or fear.

It isn’t normal to trust people you don’t know if that community has a history of committing acts of terrorism. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room that Ms. Hodges doesn’t want to talk about. A significant number of Somali Muslims have been convicted of “ISIS-related terrorism charges.”

Gov. Dayton visited St. Cloud Monday and added “I implore the citizens of St. Cloud and citizens throughout Minnesota to rise above this tragic incident and to remember our common humanity, our shared citizenship and our shared desires to live together peacefully and constructively for the benefit of ourselves and our families and our communities.”

The fact that the terrorist’s father has lived here for 15 years but still can’t speak English sets off red flags for me. If Mr. Adan shares my dedication to living as citizens of the United States, why hasn’t he become proficient in using its language? It isn’t like he can’t learn a language in 15 years.

Frankly, I think Gov. Dayton and Mayor Hodges take a lot of things for granted that might not actually be true. Whether that’s because they’re firm believers in wishful thinking or whether it’s because they’re knowingly denying reality is almost besides the point. It’s time for these high-profile DFL politicians to pull their head out of the sand and accept reality.

Finally, let’s remember that Gov. Dayton isn’t a fair arbiter in these fights:

Technorati: Mark Dayton, Betsy Hodges, Islamophobia, Somali Refugees, Assimilation, Dahir Adan, ISIS Terrorists, Crossroads Mall, Jason Falconer, Law Enforcement

The next time that the budget is being put together, I hope Republicans will tell airheaded liberals like Betsy Hodges and Chris Coleman to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine when they ask for their LGA increases. I wrote this post to highlight the fact that Chris Coleman was upset that he’d have to cut firefighters or police officers because evil Republicans didn’t give him an additional $3,000,000 in LGA. Because Coleman spent money he wasn’t owed and didn’t have, St. Paul suddenly had a $3,000,000 deficit.

As stupid as that sounds, Coleman’s in the minor leagues compared with Betsy Hodges. Betsy Hodges wants to spend $11,000,000 “beautifying the Convention Center plaza.” She wants to do that because, in Hodges’ estimation, the Minneapolis Convention Center plaza’s “lush grass, huge, funky animal sculptures, and fine trees” aren’t good enough. She wants to “plant more trees, level its tilted slope, and install electricity hookups and tent anchors so NFL VIPS might hob-knob inside party tents when Super Bowl LII comes to town in 2018.”

This is classic DFL spin:

Hodges’ spokesperson David Prestwood says it’s needed to “maximize the space.” And it “makes sense to do it now” because the city is slated to also host the X Games and the 2019 Final Four.

That sounds good but it isn’t wise when you consider this:

The job of the 33-member, citizen-led Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee is to review spending requests. Most recently, it scrutinized 97 projects, the plaza among them. The others included construction of a new fire station and sidewalk and intersection improvements so that kids can safely walk and bicycle to school.

The panel graded the proposals on various criteria such as level of need, cost, and public benefit. They were competing for a funding pool totaling about $150 million.

After all that, the citizens committee essentially flunked the Convention Center project:

But the committee ranked the plaza 95th out of 97.

Let’s get serious for a moment. This isn’t the exception for Minneapolis. It’s worth checking this post out:

We’ve been staking out the four fabled city-financed artistic drinking fountains in Minneapolis recently. We wanted to see what the nearly $50,000 per fountain from our property taxes and water fees buys. You can judge for yourself from the photos.

That’s right. Minneapolis spent $200,000 on “artistic drinking fountains.” Comparing R.T. Rybak with Betsy Hodges in terms of foolish spending is foolish. Rybak is a conservative compared with Hodges. Here’s the bad news:

Thus, the only ones standing between spending $11 million on lights, grading, and trees at the convention center plaza is the Minneapolis City Council.

It isn’t surprising that people are leaving Minneapolis as fast as their feet will fly.

Technorati: Betsy Hodges, Minneapolis Convention Center, R.T. Rybak, Artistic Drinking Fountains, Property Taxes, LGA, DFL

This morning, I wrote this post to highlight Betsy Hodges’ bizarre quote. Specifically, Ms. Hodges said “I expect everyone in Minneapolis to behave with civility and respect.” Most people who aren’t afflicted with an onslaught of progressivism would agree with me when I said “Expecting people in the Twin Cities to “behave with civility and respect” weeks after BlackLivesMatter threw concrete blocks and construction rebar at police officers on I-94 in St. Paul is like throwing a piece of meat between 2 hungry Dobermans and expecting them to behave with civility.”

That’s just where this bizarre episode starts. Enter House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, the man with a history of thuggish behavior towards Republican staffers. Rep. Thissen responded to my post by saying “Wow @LFRGary! I thought comparing people to dogs went out of style 50 years ago! I guess it is the age of Trump.”

Who in their right mind thinks that I called Ms. Hodges a dog? That isn’t the heart of Rep. Thissen’s argument. This is:

Not Mayor Hodges. The protesters.

I replied, saying “So it’s the DFL way to defend ruthless thugs? Thanks for confirming that.” Rep. Thissen is saying that I shouldn’t call thugs names. With all due respect, calling out thugs when they spit on people is what I’ll do whenever I hear about it and I won’t think twice about it.

Here’s Rep. Thissen’s reply:

So touchy! I’m not defending anyone. I just don’t think any Minnesotan should be called a Doberman.

I finished the fight, saying “Those thugs spat on people & you’re criticizing me. That’s defending thugs. I hate it when politicians defend thugs.” Then I said “Don’t hear what I didn’t say. Again, @paulthissen can’t tell the truth to save his soul. So unbecoming.”

Rep. Thissen is a reprehensible person. Anyone that thinks people who attack others shouldn’t be criticized harshly is a moron. Let’s remember that Rep. Thissen sat silent when he knew that Kerry Gauthier had sex with a 17-year-old boy.

Here’s a final question: When isn’t it appropriate for police officers to enforce society’s laws? Based on what happened in Minneapolis Friday night, it’s appropriate for police officers to ignore the law if the crimes are committed against Republicans.

Is it possible that Betsy Hodges is the biggest airhead liberal big city mayor in the United States? It appears so. After the violent protests at last Friday’s Trump fundraiser, Keith Downey sent Mayor Hodges a letter, which I wrote about here. In response, Mayor Hodges replied “I expect everyone in Minneapolis to behave with civility and respect. Minneapolis has a long history of effectively balancing public safety with First Amendment rights. I continue to be confident in the ability of the Minneapolis Police Department to manage protests in accordance with these principles.”

What planet is she from? Expecting people in the Twin Cities to “behave with civility and respect” weeks after BlackLivesMatter threw concrete blocks and construction rebar at police officers on I-94 in St. Paul is like throwing a piece of meat between 2 hungry Dobermans and expecting them to behave with civility. Anyone with a brain knows that’s a foolish expectation. Anyone with common sense knows that expecting civility from thugs is as foolish as expecting Bonnie and Clyde to not rob banks that advertise that their vaults are open 24-7.

Let’s rewrite Ms. Hodges’ statement for honesty. Here’s what I’d write:

I expect most of the people in Minneapolis to behave with civility and respect. Unfortunately, there are thugs, in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, who have shown a propensity towards anarchy and violence. Minneapolis has had a lengthy history of effectively balancing public safety with citizens’ First Amendment rights. These anarchists and thugs threaten that reputation. Their acts of violence won’t be tolerated. We will do everything we can to apprehend these thugs and bring them to justice.

It’s time for DFL politicians to announce a zero-tolerance policy towards acts of violence and anarchy.

St. Paul Chris Coleman is asking for another major property tax increase. This is likely the first in a lengthy list of mayoral sob stories set to be published.

Mayor Coleman, it seems, expected a “$3 million boost in state aid” that isn’t coming. The sob story will sound something like this: We passed a budget that expected an increase in LGA but House Republicans killed that. Now we’re stuck with a $3,000,000 deficit, which means we’re going to have to cut “up to nine police officers.”

Actually, the entire paragraph reads “The breakdown of talks over a potential special legislative session means the city isn’t going to get an expected $3 million boost in state aid, and simply cutting that money could cost the city up to nine police officers, force one of the city’s recreation centers to close and trim the city’s racial equity initiatives, Coleman wrote Wednesday in a letter to the St. Paul City Council.”

Start cutting, Mayor Coleman. Forcing “one of the city’s recreation centers to close” isn’t a tragedy. Losing 9 police officers at a time when BlackLivesMatter activists are throwing cement blocks and rebar at police offices is a tragedy. This paragraph sums it up perfectly:

“This is not acceptable,” said council member Dai Thao. “We spend millions of dollars on the Palace Theater. Some of the folks targeted by these cuts would never experience the Palace theater,” said Thao, saying the cuts wouldn’t be fair for many St. Paul residents.

The first question that isn’t being asked is this: why did St. Paul spend “millions of dollars on the Palace Theater”? Here’s why they spent millions on it:

Enhancing the vibrant downtown entertainment district is at the core of this project. Expected to attract more than 100,000 people downtown annually, the Palace Theatre will fill a need in the current entertainment venue market by offering a contemporary music venue twice as large as Minneapolis’ First Avenue.

In other words, St. Paul just pissed away millions of dollars to compete with Minneapolis? Now they want to raise taxes because they’re spending like a bunch of drunk sailors at a strip club. Imagine spending millions of dollars on a building like this:

Let’s be clear about something from the start. Today’s DFL activists are thugs without character. They’re people who should be locked up for years. Last week, there was a fundraiser in Minneapolis for GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. DFL protesters didn’t bother trying to act like decent human beings. They acted like thugs. In fact, some of them allegedly committed crimes. That’s right. Some DFL thugs allegedly committed crimes.

Betsey Hodges needs to answer for her decisions. Ken Martin needs to be asked why DFL protesters are thugs, not protesters. Minneapolis police need to explain who told them to not protect people attending the Trump fundraiser. At this point, none of those things have happened.

Apparently, Mayor Hodges didn’t beef up security for the Trump event. Why she didn’t anticipate a violent reception is beyond explanation This is the Twin Cities, after all, the place where Black Lives Matter protesters started the night by blocking traffic on I-94 before escalating that to throwing cement blocks and rebar at police officers.

Even someone as airheaded as Betsey Hodges should’ve figured it out that violence was imminent. This didn’t require a rocket scientist. Betsey Hodges should’ve figured this out. Check out this video:

There’s no need for Keith Downey to demand an apology of anyone. There’s no need to halfheartedly criticize Ken Martin. What’s required is a chairman who would’ve told reporters that Ken Martin is the chairman of a political party that’s composed mostly of two-bit thugs and lowlifes. What’s required is a chairman that will call Betsey Hodges incompetent to run a Kool-Aid stand, much less a large city.

Chairman Downey, there’s a time for politeness. This wasn’t one of those times. Friday night was a time for you to empty both barrels at Betsey Hodges for not protecting citizens visiting her city. Friday night was a night to expose the DFL as the party that panders to the violent thugs of the Black Lives Matter movement of thugs.