Why Repeal The Bemidji Sales Tax?
There are always a lot of attractions at the Lake Bemidji waterfront such as the watercarnival, polar daze, arts festival and the such. Another one of these attractions is occurring this weekend with a group called CITIZENS FOR A REVOTE, which is leading a petition drive to have the people of Bemidji revote on the 1/2 cent sales tax, which is currently now in effect going towards Parks and Trails. The legislature approved a continuation of this tax this past session to be used on the Southshore/Event Center project once the $10 million dollars is raised dedicated for Parks and Trails.
I have always been a fan of sales taxes. What a great way for people who come to our city as visitors and drive our streets, use our water and sewers, receive help from our police and so forth to contribute back to the city. In a indirect way it relieves the tax burden from the people of the city. The legislature realizes what a "plum" this is and no longer wants to give up tax money the state could be getting, and as a group is no longer giving any new cities in the State the possibility of collecting this. A lot of dedication and hard work was done by our local State area Senators and Representatives to get this tax extended for Bemidji this past session. Not only their votes, but the votes of other state legislators. What an embarrassing "slap in the face" this would be on our city to consider rescinding this "gift". (Not even to mention the ludicrous idea of giving the state back the $20 million dollars in bonding money).
And what a gift it is! Here are the latest numbers on what our .5 sales tax is doing in Bemidji.
Sales Tax Collected:
ending 12/31/2006 ending 12/31/2007 ending 7/31/2008
$1,222,729 $1,529,371 $1,032,522 TOTAL: $3,784,622
Not only is this a lot of money...this number has and will continue to increase as Bemidji grows ! In only 2.5 years we have raised almost $4 million dollars with the .5 sales tax. This money has been used for our beautiful Diamond Point Park and will raise the total $10 million dollars in a relatively short period of time...maybe reaching that goal in another 3 years.
So lets say its 2012 (not that far away) and the $10 million has been reached for parks. Are we going to just let that revenue stream disappear?? That's what would happen with any attempt on revoking the sales tax. This is a proven sure revenue stream for the Southshore/Event Center project. On paper, it just looks like a backhanded way of derailing the project. And don't think the legislators will vote to allow us to use the sales tax on any other "need or cause" for the City of Bemidji after this potential embarassment.
Our city manager made a great point in the paper by his referencing the Southshore/Event Center project with the Diamond Point Park project. Original project costs were early on at $1.65 million and yes the final number came out around $3.4 million dollars. The "naysayers group" were out in force at the beginning of the Diamond Point project. Comments in the planning process ranged from ..."Oh my gosh...they are taking down trees...our city will never be the same!!" to " The City does not know what its doing". Yet none our "naysayer" group is being vocal now ....with a packed Diamond Point park facility receiving "kudos" everyday from residents and visitors alike. People would not give up on fighting this ....even after the dirt was being turned. Looks like it will be the same way with the Southshore project.
Let's put our energy into making this project the best it can be. I challenge the "naysayer group" to lay out some economic plans for the growth and future of our city. What will be the driving force for the next 10 years for our city? Will it be manufacturing? (nothing much here now or anywhere in the state). Will it be wood/timber? (industry is slumping big time). Will it be Bemidji State University? (we're kind of telling them they're not important enough or trustworthy enough to be part of the event center project...so probably not here). I am not against challenging building plans, infrastructure, looking at income and expenses potentials. But there is a difference between intelligently and positively doing this and trying to "sabotage" and "derail" the entire project. Lets keep the discussion ongoing and lively, but positive to get the best out of the Southshore/Event center plan!
Posted by: bemidjimike on 8/21/2008 at 3:30 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Hooked On Phonics?
Americans doen't aulwaez go for whut's eezy-witnes th faeluer of th metric sistem to cach on. There is now a group who want Americans to adopt phonetic spelling. Those in favor say children would learn faster and literacy rates would drop. An Associate Press article that appeared on the MSNBC website last week about this caught my eye.
Part of the duties of my "paid" job is to read job applications. This past month I probably looked over 30 of them. A surprisingly large amount have spelling errors. I guess I have given people the benefit of the doubt as they are required to do the applications "on line" and typo's may occur. But after re-reading many of these after seeing this article...a lot of the spelling errors are really applicants spelling words phonetically. And what is driving a lot of this concept? Email and Text messaging use similar elements of the phonetic spelling system.
The group pushing this is called the American Literacy Council. The group says English has 42 sounds spelled in a bewildering 400 ways. Doughnut also is donut, they and weigh rhyme but comb and tomb don't. Wuudn't it maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound? In languages with phonetically spelled words, like German and Spanish, kids learn to spell in weeks instead of months. Lurning English reqierz roet memory rather than lojic the grup sed.
The article points out this is not the first time people have tried to change the spelling of the English language. In 1906 Andrew Carnegie helped create the Simplified Spelling Board to promote a retooling of the written English. He aulso uezd simplified speling in his corerepondens, and askt enywun hoo reported to him to do the saem. President Theodore Roosevelt tried to force the government to use simplified spelling in its publications. Benjamin Franklin, Melvil Dewey (Dewey Decmil System), Daniel Webster and Mark Twain took on the spelling of the English language at various times in their lives. Even the Chicago Tribune used a simplified spelling system in their newspaper for a while in 1975. But for aul th hi-proefiel and skolarly eforts, the ideea of funy-luuking but simplr spelingz didn't captivaet the masez then -or now.
Th cuntry's larjest teecherz uennyon , aulso objects. They say learning would be disrupted if children had to switch to a different spelling system. Michael Marks, a member of the the National Education Association's executive committee said "It may be more trouble than it's worth.
My opinion...nothing ever takes off if it is forced on people. My guess is with texting and email and the unfortunate natural laziness of people, it will be only a matter of time. By the way...I've attached an email sent out to me this week that kind of plays off the phonetics debate. HAV A GR8 DAY!
(P.S. I tried to do spell check on what I just wrote and I think I blew my computer. Just think...it really would be the end of spell check!!!)
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it
Posted by: bemidjimike on 8/16/2008 at 7:48 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Go West Young Man...There's OIL in ND!!!
To put the craziness into perspective...the JOB SERVICE office in Williston, North Dakota currently has 448 jobs posted to its site. Compare this to the current Bemidji Job Service location which currently has 97 jobs posted to its site.
I have several friends who have businesses that are flourishing with the new found oil exploration in the Bakken Formation in NW North Dakota. I really shouldn't say new found...oil has been pumped in this area since back in the 60's. My dad grew up around Williston and I have been there a few times. My Grandfather died in the 70's and at that time oil was cheap and most of the wells were capped. Williston had 173 houses for sale at that time just within its city limits. So the locals know very well of the boom and bust cycle of oil. The story was when oil went over $45 a barrel, the wells would start up. When it fell below ...they'd cap them. Needless to say at $115 per barrel, money is being made. This story also explains the reluctance of local officials to "roll the dice" on development. But with the chance of the price of oil not falling much...and the new technology of horizontal drilling which makes wells very productive...success is in the air.
Back to my friends in Williston and Minot. The other day he opened his business in Minot and the first customers of the day were oil executives which purchased long sleeve shirts for their workers to the tune of $1100.00. There is also the bad aspects...these same oil executives walk up and down the mall trying to get workers to leave their jobs to work in the oil fields for big bonuses. The guy in Williston tells me he can't get anyone to work for him. Starting pay at McDonalds is now $9.00 per hour in town. And they are now offering a $300 signing bonus AND a $300 referral bonus. The Walmart manager in town is now sending a bus out into the surrounding area giving free transportation into town as an incentive to get workers who possibly couldn't work before. His district manager and a regional president recently flew the company jet into Williston for a visit. He couldn't get a rental car for them and ended up getting somebody's used GMC Surburban to escort them into town. Hotel rooms are also at a premium with oil companies taking blocks of rooms at a time.
Besides having Canadians come to their State for a favorable exchange rate, Ethanol, and Oil, be on the watch for wind farms for power. A recent one just opened up on the North Dakota/South Dakota border that will produce enough energy to provide 60,000 homes with electricity. I have attached a video clip from KARE 11 from Minneapolis and another from CNN about Stanley, ND (where my father actually grew up). It talks about a water truck driver who is making $100,000 per year hauling water to the oil fields. Unbelievable. My father is turning over in his grave!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/05/oil.boomtown/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
Posted by: bemidjimike on 8/11/2008 at 7:30 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink