Big Mistake With Commuter Rail

04/07/2008

Paul Munnis


Pawlenty pulled the rug out from under the people in the Twin Cities and the suburbs by vetoing the Light Rail project. The person that will get hurt the most from this is Pawlenty and the GOP. They have just dug a hole for themselves with the commuters from St. Paul and Minneapolis. This stunt, when added to the prior veto of roads and bridges, puts Pawlenty as a failed governor who does not allow for the growth of his State.

Some people will find their property will be worth less money because it was being valued higher because of the coming rail line. Others will curse as they sit in sweltering heat while waiting for traffic gridlock to open up and do it while their car is burning $3.25 gasoline and going nowhere. That is guaranteed now because of the coming construction on bridges that are dilapidated. Still others who are unemployed will recall the jobs that they could have had.

It’s the Twin Cities commuter who gets hurt in the short run.

In the long run, congestion must be solved by building more traffic lanes and widening bridges.

Transportation is a strange thing it’s either “Pay me now; or Pay me later,” but “Pay you must.” If you wait until later it’ll be more expensive. Since the State-wide taxpayers have to foot the bill it’ll be us who end up paying more as a result of this fiasco.

So much for: “No New Taxes.” Pawlenty has just set the stage to assure higher taxes in the future.

With a recession coming the jobs that would have been generated by this project are also lost.

The GOP has made a dumb move, in my opinion, one that will end up costing GOP seats this fall in the 2008 election. Pawlenty is handing the DFL a veto proof margin in the house come this 2008 election as a result.

We’ll take it.

It’ll go nicely with the veto proof margin that we have in the Senate. When those two veto proof margins are consolidated Pawlenty becomes a lame duck Governor.

Let’s remind the people of Minnesota this year the sort of government that Pawlenty is handing our state. Let’s make sure that GOP representation wanes in the House and Senate when this election rolls around. We can do it now that they have given us the keys to the election outcome.