A few days ago, I noted that the City of Minneapolis was steering a few hundred thousand dollars of federal taxpayer money to open a bike sales and repair/coffee shop in north Minneapolis. Not to be outdone, their rival east of the river is going much bigger.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on that city's decision to subsidize an apartment and grocery store complex at the edge of downtown. On a split 4-3 vote, the City Council voted to kick in $15 million of city-taxpayer money in the hopes to gain a $40 million loan backed by the federal-taxpayer funded Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The new apartment building is not "affordable housing," with rent on a studio unit running more than $1,000 a month. The grocery store will be an outlet of a higher-end local chain.
In the Minneapolis Star Tribune's take on the project, the paper reports that not everyone was happy, writing
"Private developers and rental property owners complain about tax dollars going into a project that competes with their businesses. The three opposing council members wrote a lengthy commentary article detailing their distaste for using the entire pot of available--and scarce--development money for one project while others go begging."
and
"Opponents spoke against subsidizing market-rate housing and risking development dollars. Cheryl Golden-Black said, "We're all struggling. Any risk at this point that would burden the taxpayers further is too big, way too big."
As Mark Steyn says, America is the brokest nation on earth, yet the City of St. Paul has decided to spend $55 million of money we don't have to get into the property development business. What happened to just say no?
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