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Bob's answers to voter questionnaires What principles guide my thinking on what government should and shouldn't do? All elected government officials and bureaucrats must follow the law that they take an oath to up hold: The US Constitution, the MN State Constitution, and the City Charter of Columbia Heights. Government employees need to know that they serve at the will of “The People.” Any ordinance passed needs to benefit the vast majority of citizens, be in its final form, provide for “Due Process” to protect innocent citizens, experience rigorous citizen debate, and have a meaningful sunset provision that requires research to see if the ordnance produced the expected result and the the result benefited the majority of citizens. Any bonding bill no matter what its called (lease-to-own, TIF {tax incremental financing} etc.) needs to be placed before the voters for approval. Presently, most of the above is not being done. Following this will help to restore citizen pride in their Community. How will I as Mayor improve transparency in the City government? I will have the city budget put in a more easily read format and placed on the City's website. I will encourage citizens to look at the budget to see if they can find any savings. Have council workshops and board meetings televised. Have the City Council citizen forum moved up in the agenda to better accommodate citizen input. Slow down the passage of ordinances to remove the appearance and passage of shady deals that happen under the present Mayor. I will ask those on the Council who have conflicts of interest on the matter before them to abstain from voting. I will not delete controversial City Council agenda items only to put them back on the agenda at a time when no citizens show up. I will let citizens know when the City is using surplus money in its budget to make tax increases smaller than they should be. Let's get rid of the shell/smoke & mirrors budget game played by the Council. Before a spending bill is passed, it should be explained how it will affect a property tax increase. Then the citizens should be told what the total increase to date if the bill passes for property taxes the next year will be. I as Mayor will also host informal monthly meetings at convenient times for any citizen to attend so they can ask questions of me or the City in general. The above are all items that would give the City more of a small town feel and increase citizens' pride in their community. Why I am the best candidate for Mayor: I truly understand the “Golden Rule.” I will treat citizens like I would want to be treated. I will not act like the present Mayor who knows what is best for citizens, no matter how much the citizens voice their disagreement. I will not, like the present Mayor retract my Council vote in the local newspaper and put down the citizens that showed up for a City Council meeting by calling them “selfish” or “extremists.” I am not rich nor do I call developers my best friends or associate with persons on the present City Council that do. I am not involved in alleged shady Council deals like those reported in the Sun Focus newspaper. I want every one in the City to be treated equally and with respect. After all, you can not have Liberty (the exercise of freedom that does not impinge on the rights of others) until you give Liberty to others first. You can not have a civil society without first respecting others. I will not single out areas of the City for gentrification using TIF (tax incremental financing) or any other monies the City may have. I will not bail out developers. Developers like all investors know the market has ups and downs. I would not have given a bailout to investors like the investment group that owns the Northeast Bank building at 40th Ave NE and Central Ave. The City Council, with the Mayor voting yes, in the last couple of months gave the investors $250,000. Do you think that the average citizen without money would get a City bailout? I also watch what is going on with the Federal Reserve Corporation, the Federal and State governments, and government departments. I then use this information to make financial forecasts. I told the Mayor two years ago that it was not too late to stop the foreclosure problem. However, the City would need to stop over building “housing stock” (the Mayor's term). This was printed in the August 9th, 2006 edition of the Northeaster newspaper. Some economics were predicting a housing market bubble foreclosure problem as long ago as 1999 and the Mayor did nothing. A mayor should be looking out for the welfare of the Citizens that he was elected to represent. Not only have I tried to do this in the past, I will be looking out for the Citizens as Mayor, if you as a voter decide to vote for me. Finally, quite frankly, I am very concerned for the citizens of Columbia Heights if the City Council doesn't stop its reckless spending habits. During the present recession, the City should be doing its part to reduce the burden it imposes on citizens. The City bank investor bailout was outrageous. Many people have lost jobs, many more are on fixed income, and the economy has not come close to bottoming out. The citizens are not all rich like some persons on the Council. The increase in property taxes has a much greater impact on lower income citizens than the rich. Then saying the increase isn't that great in terms of dollars is showing lower income citizens disrespect. Citizen pride in Columbia Heights can be increased by a Mayor. I will:
When the Council tells outsiders where they live, they are told that they live with “trailer trash.” They don't defend the City of Columbia Heights or get different friends. The Mayor to fix this “perception,” wants Columbia Heights to be "affordable luxury" and upscale with coffee shops and art studios on every corner. Peterson Bacon & Egg Café and Jerry's Sign Shop will be torn down and replaced with the same old big boxes now found everywhere. I will make sure the City is about affordable homes, low taxes, quiet neighborhoods, low crime, owner run businesses, friendships, and small non-invasive government. I know what Columbia Heights has that other near by cities do not and I intend to play Columbia Heights up while pointing out the problems that those elitist other cities have. The City's “housing stock” is an important issue. How would I as Mayor work to improve “housing stock” and address foreclosed properties? The “housing stock” term indicates that the City owns our residences and can treat us as cattle. I want to prevent our homes, a place where our affections are centered, from becoming city owned “housing stock.” The Mayor's RIBS (residential inspection before sale) ordinance that he tried to pass on July 28th, would have taken away our right to own our homes. You don't own something if you have to ask permission from Big Government to sell it. The MN Supreme Court has already struck down parts of similar ordinances in other cities because RIBS violated our rights. The city of St. Anthony has found no need for RIBS. In addition, the RIBS ordinance was not a finished document. The Mayor told citizens not to worry, that the final enforced version would not be too invasive of people's Rights. No unfinished ordinance should ever be passed. Citizens need adequate time to read, digest, and discuss all proposed ordinances. The Mayor tried to ramrod the ordinance through before citizens could figure out how RIBS would affect them and if it would actually address foreclosures. The ordinance would have forced more citizens into foreclosure by significantly increasing the time to get a home on the market and by requiring “code violations” be fixed first. Citizens try to sell their homes before going into foreclosure because they don't have money for mortgage payments. So how are they going to pay upfront to fix costly “code violations.” Years ago I told the Mayor how to avoid a foreclosure property problem (see my website). Instead the Mayor went on a tax spending spree building condominiums and townhouses, giving citizens an impression that housing was a great investment. This Big Government created euphoria to invest in developer built “housing stock” created a enormous housing oversupply, creating a crash in the housing market and the nation's economy. When I asked the Council/Mayor if they accepted any responsibility for the foreclosure problem, the Council/Mayor stated that the problem was caused entirely by citizen “greed.” Now, most of the foreclosed homes have been sold. Out of 11,595 City households, foreclosures affected about 400 since 1997. In other words, foreclosures involved 3.5% of City households over 11 years with most foreclosed homes sold. This does not represent a crisis that required the Mayor to shove down our throats an unfinished ordinance that would have increased foreclosures and taken away a citizen's Right to own property. I have found in conducting surveys of hundreds of people, that crime rates influence foreclosure rates. I have found that most people move out of an inner city if the citizens believe that crime rates are high. This movement out of a city drops home values increasing foreclosures. On the other hand, people move to cities with low crime rates, driving up home values, increasing stability, and increasing the financial health of locally owned business. The City's new Police Chief has already lowered crime rates in the City. His efforts in addressing crime will reduce the number of foreclosures. The two other items that bring new citizens to a city like Columbia Heights are:
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