Across the Great Divide

Should Road Taxes Follow Historical Model?

Small-government conservatives like to hold that transportation users should pay for infrastructure through user fees. That's what drivers do via gas taxes, they argue, and what transit riders don't do via fares.

Another view is that everyone benefits indirectly as well as directly from the entire system. Individual decisions about how to get from one place to another can impose more or less burden on the system, and we all receive some good from the efficient movement of materials, goods and services through our communities.

Rather than trying to quantify individual use, the funding system spreads the cost to everyone through a variety of taxes.

More than a century ago, when the reach and condition of roads left much to be desired, society was experimenting with different ways to pay for better infrastructure. Private companies formed to build turnpikes and toll roads. Groups of farmers and ranchers pooled their labor and equipment to improve roads so they could get their products to market.

And some communities appointed road overseers and collected taxes to maintain the roads, and if citizens couldn't pay cash, they could pay in labor.

Chaska Obscura has surfaced an account of one case taken from the town's historical records:

Charge: Charles Raasch appeared personally before me and being duly sworn and examined on his oath complains and says that he is overseer of the highway of the town of Chaska in the county of Carver and state of Minnesota that A. Lobel, a male person above 21 and under 50 years of age and not a pauper, idiot, lunatic or otherwise exempt, is a resident of said town and liable to road tax or poll tax therein for the year of 1888.

That on the 14th day of August 1888, at Chaska in said county, [Raasch] as such overseer caused A. Lobel to be duly notified to perform such labor in person or by substitute or to commit for the same, but said A. Lobel has wholly failed and refused to do so, and that such tax is wholly unpaid contrary to the forms of the statue in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the state of Minnesota.

Judgment: Defendant in custody before me. Defendant duly arraigned to which he pleaded “guilty.” Whereupon I adjudge that he is guilty of the offence complained of. Thereupon defendant paid the sum of $3 the amount of such tax and the costs of this action taxed at the sum of $3.82, total $6.82. Judgment paid and this action dismissed.

Bringing back the tax exemption for idiots and lunatics might quiet some of the protests that paupers have it too easy today.

When Judges Go Postal: Justice Anderson Fires a Shot.

Eric Black reports on the Minnesota Supreme Court decision to levy an addition $100 to the annual fee paid by practicing lawyers to renew their licenses.

The funds raised will to subsidize the operation of state public defender offices and Legal Aid — which help poor Minnesotans in criminal and civil cases, respectively.

In reluctantly enacting the order, the justices acted left no uncertainty that they are:

royally pissed off at the governor and the Legislature for abdicating their responsibility to raise the taxes necessary to cover the spending they order, including spending that is required by the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions.

Black covers implications of the case in his thorough way, so read his story. But if you don't, here's a taste of the concurring opinion [PDF] written by Justice (and Republican appointee) Paul Anderson, calling out Grover Norquist and his acolytes around the bathtub:

The problem with this approach is that when you continuously put the government's head under water, it is not the government that drowns — real people drown. Floodwaters breach levees and people drown. Bridges collapse and people drown. I have little tolerance for this anti-government rhetoric given the adverse consequences that result to real people, especially the least advantaged among us, when this myopic approach to governing actually gets translated into policy. I believe that government does have a proper, even an essential role to play in creating and preserving a civilized society.

Petters: How to Know When He's Cheating.

Apparently some of Tom Petters' business associates never read those popular features on "How to tell your guy is cheating." Or asked a psychic. Or read a book on how to recognize the signs.

In yesterday's fraud trial testimony, one of Petters' dupes described how he "planned to go to California to inspect the inventory [he was asked to invest in], but Petters said no because it was in a locked facility available only to the insurers of the merchandise."

Right. Available to insurers but not investors.

That excuse sounded to me remarkably like what the married guy says to his girlfriend when she wonders why they never spend any time at his place. 

Some of the other behavior sounded familiar, too. For example:

Tells stories that don't make sense. Paul Feehan, GE Capital's manager of corporate lending at the time, testified that he called Petters directly to discuss his company's mounting financial troubles. "I got a series of promises. There was always a new excuse and the excuses kept piling up," he said.

Accuses you of infidelity. Feehan said he and Marrone wrote Costco to check on the inventory of electronics goods that Petters claimed to have bought with the money he borrowed. Petters immediately called back and "read me the riot act," Feehan said. "He was very adamant that I stay away from Costco."

Takes offense when you make normal and natural inquiries and may demand to know why you are checking up. When Colburn told Petters he intended to call the companies that were supposed to sell the TVs, Petters was adamantly opposed. He said Petters left a voice mail message saying, "You won't get the satisfaction that you're looking for."

Lives a changed or more extravagant life style. The dapper Petters funded his philanthropy, gambling and world travel with money from investors.

Signs of unexplainable exhaustion or restlessness. Petters was notoriously fidgety and had a short attention span, so any change there would be in matter of degree.

Hides or “loses” bills. A classic symptom. Instead of hiding paperwork about his transactions, Petters forged it.

Withholds affection and/or sex. When one lender questioned Petters too closely, he terminated the relationship, saying they were too hard to do business with.

Concocts alibis calculated to elicit empathy instead of scrutiny. At one point in August 2008, Petters told one of his investors that he had a family emergency and would repay the investor "within days," the government said, noting that Petters then sent an e-mail to Coleman that said, "Dancing...my sh[o]es have holes i[n] them."

Petters is still dancing. His defense claims he was victimized by others while he was distraught over the death of his son.

Giant Boombox Sues Train Over Noise.

On the St. Paul Issues Forum, Sheldon Gitis calls the new UofM stadium "the world's largest loudspeaker."

799 loudspeakers broadcast sound into the TCF Bank bowl. The bowl becomes a gigantic loudspeaker as it reflects the sound. Loudspeaker is surrounded by roads, parking lots, and a largely vacant quarter-mile-wide railroad trench. There’s little nearby vegetation or tall buildings to absorb and reflect the giant speaker bowl sound.

So, it travels for miles into the St. Anthony Park neighborhood in St. Paul.

The State’s premiere research institution has just spent $300 million on the world’s largest loudspeaker.

The state's premiere research institution has also just filed a lawsuit over the potential that vibrations from Central Corridor light-rail trains could disrupt its research.

We Need No More Evidence.

"ACORN could be eligible for as much as $10 billion in federal funds and that's simply unacceptable! We need no more evidence that the organization is either unable or unwilling to live up to the ethical standards that the American people demand."

– According to attorney and US Rep. Michele Bachmann

Here is a bulletin, Rep. Bachmann. You can edit videotape. You can delete material that doesn't support your story.  And when the editor is also the shooter and star of the show who happens to have an agenda, there's a wee possibility that the video is not an accurate representation of how the ACORN entrapment mission played out.

ACORN, at least in Minnesota, is hardly the powerful demon organization portrayed by the right. (When it isn't keeping appointments with junior ace reporters wearing gramma's fur coat, it's doing stuff like this.) It is not a complete paragon of virtue and non-profit effectiveness, but to claim ACORN is eligible for $10 billion in funding violates this American's ethical standard of speaking truthfully.

Dan Rather and CBS were disgraced over — though not necessarily wrong about — George W. Bush's National Guard Service because they didn't adequately vet some records used in their investigation. Of course, they couldn't, because originals had disappeared.

The ACORN videos don't remotely approach that standard of reporting. The crack journalists on the ACORN expose — a 25-year-old MBA student and the daughter of a right-wing radio personality — had far less supervision, a demonstrable bias and an expressed desire to bring down the organization. Yet their work is treated as conclusive evidence of corruption calling for immediate action by Congress.

Don't like the CBS/Bush comparison?

How about Blackwater?

Surely you remember the immediate action Congress took on an amendment to shut down funding for Blackwater after five Blackwater guards were charged with killing 14 Iraqi civilians. Don't 14 real dead people count as much for evidence as a dozen pretend illegal immigrants? 

Well, no. The ethically impaired but well-connected Blackwater, now calling itself Xe, is still working for the State Department.

Still no good?

Let's consider UBS, the Swiss-owned bank that has agreed to disclose information about the accounts of 4,450 wealthy American taxpayers — about 10% of its American clients. UBS didn't just provide some sketchy advice to a couple doofuses about their requirement to file tax returns. It actually solicited "wealth management" clients through its U.S. affiliates and helped them hide income to evade income taxes.

Its deal allows UBS to remain a "Qualified Intermediary,"  favorable treatment for a foreign bank in return for complying with certain reporting standards — the standards UBS violated. Congressional action against corrupt banks? I'll have to get back to you.

But for ACORN, an organization that serves low-income people, Rep. Bachmann and Congress have a different standard of evidence. All you need is surreptitious video starring Superflea and Bambi, and the howling jury represented by Strib commenters is ready to convict.

Nazi Party, SS, KGB, KKK, and now, ACORN.

For years, they've gotten away with murder.

If one isn't sickened and outraged over a group that was attempting to bring age 12-14 girls into this country for prostitition with our tax dollars, we have a very serious problem in this country. Acorn not only needs to be shut down, but there should be some long prison sentences for those involved.

This Road is Designed to Kill You.

Via Twin Cities Streets for People: Mark Rosenberg,  executive director of The Task Force for Global Health, writes about "roads that are designed to kill." Three years ago he found a gravely injured woman lying in an Atlanta street and wrote about the experience.

In response:

Half blamed the runner, saying she should not have been running in the street at that hour. Half blamed the driver, for not paying close enough attention. Not a single writer blamed the road.

I took a photograph of the scene where I had found the runner. When I showed this picture to friends from Sweden they asked, “This is where you live? This is your neighborhood? Your streets are designed to kill people.’’

Rosenberg mentions several design changes to roads in other countries that significantly reduced traffic deaths:

• Sweden replaced red lights with traffic circles or rotaries, and death rates at these intersections fell by 80 - 90 percent.
• The death rate on Swedish roads fell by 70 - 80 percent when Mylar, supported by closely spaced plastic poles and used as a median barrier, effectively prevented head-on collisions.
• Ghana put in rumble strips across all the roads leading into the capital city of Accra, reducing fatalities by 35 percent.

Laws mandating seat belt use and prohibiting dangerous acts like driving while texting or drunk still leave compliance up to the driver. Those approaches may be cheaper to implement than road design interventions, but also appear to be less effective.

I guess it takes a "socialist" country to figure out what "accidents" are predictable and preventable — and then do something about it.

Too Few Criminals: Bad for Profits.

We hear again and again that government doesn't create real jobs. Never mind that for every tax dollar put in circulation by government — through employment, purchasing, grants, construction contracts, etc. — it all ends up back in private pockets again.

We've heard the argument that government is just diverting the dollars away from the already productive and higher uses to which they would be put. But even the originalists agree government should be in the business of putting bad guys in prison.

However, imprisoning everyone who steps on cracks in the sidewalk isn't necessarily a great use of tax dollars, so states that have high corrections spending are starting to look for ways to reduce that budget item.

California is facing up to how its draconian crime laws are helping bankrupt the state. On a smaller scale in Colorado, Gov. Bill Ritter has decided to save $19 million for the state budget through early releases of prison inmates who were within six months of getting out anyway. 

Some critics fear reducing the prison population will put criminals back on the street and raise crime rates. Others warn that sending them back into a bad job market increases chances they will fall back on old habits. But there is also concern from the state's privately run prisons [emphasis mine] that too few criminals will be bad for the shareholders.

Colorado's prison system is a mixture of state-run and privately run facilities. The private prisons make a profit largely based on efficiency, and they need full beds to get fully paid.

The largest of those companies working in Colorado, Corrections Corporation of America, is already fretting that reducing the prison population too far would be bad for the company's bottom line.

"We're hoping it doesn't put us in a position where our operations are not viable," said Steve Owen, spokesman for Tennessee-based CCA, which runs Crowley County Correctional Facility, Bent County Correctional Facility and Kit Carson Correctional Facility.

via Square State 

*****

Somewhat related note, Form + Content Gallery has put together a show, called "Unbundling the Housing Crisis," that in part looks at the relationships between crime, private profit and housing. Here's a review of the show, which runs noon-6pm Thursday-Saturdays through September 5.

[Photo: Brandon Stengel]

"Ghosts and Shadows" is a 1:60  scale model of a 26-block-wide swath across North Minneapolis that depicts 270 of the more than 1,000 homes currently designated as vacant, boarded and condemned. 

Behind the large model play barely audible recordings of people who have lost their homes calling Families Moving Forward seeking help  finding shelter. Their voices and matter-of-fact descriptions belie the stress and uncertainty of their situations.

I regularly ride past one of the houses shown on the model.

Minneapolis Cop Made a Life.

I never got around to interviewing Sgt. Bill Blake. The Minneapolis police officer was on a short list of names I was accumulating for a potential series of profiles on people who were spending their time on earth "making a life" and not simply making a living.

Now, it's too late. Blake, 45, died Saturday, from complications related to heart disease. He was living with an external heart pump and hoping to get a transplant.

His obituary tells much of his story — about how his daughter's accidental shooting death led him to start a conference and information network to better coordinate law enforcement efforts in the Native American community. Sovereignty of tribes and the movement of members between Minneapolis and reservations in the region complicated the sharing of crime data.

But Blake wasn't just a data cruncher. The obit neglected the story of Blake foiling an armed robbery at Legends Bar two years ago, where he and his cousin were having lunch. The masked robbers burst in and ordered patrons to "give it up." Blake shot the gun out of one robber's hand and both fled, leaving behind gun fragments, blood and teeth that helped tie them to the crime.

Blake was also busy helping educate care givers about the portable heart device he was using and hoping to be able to get back to police work. Instead of giving in to adversity, he rolled it up in a ball and pushed it forward until it stuck to something better.  

And kept rolling.

If We Don't Open Doors, We're Condemned to Breaking Them Down.

A man in the door installation business was talking to me about his past woes as a small landlord. He and his brother had picked up some rental properties in the course of their work and tried to branch out. They got a lot of work from people ready to unload houses and condos.

The laws are stacked to protect tenants from bad landlords, he said. Professional property managers have the procedures down for screening out and evicting bad tenants. They tell me they never rent to someone with an arrest record, he said. 

An arrest record, not even a conviction.

It's tough finding good tenants, he said. One house he owned had been rented by a jeweler who stripped the house of chandeliers and cabinet hardware before he left. His latest job was replacing a front door smashed in by a SWAT team coming after someone who was flopping in a rental house. 

For part-timers like him, the experience had been nothing but headaches, and he couldn't do that level of due diligence, so he got out of the business.

I have sympathy for the landlord who was stuck with the mess and expense. This "cost of doing business" can be written off, but it never covers the aggravation factor. It's a not unreasonable response to blacklist anyone with an arrest record

But what's the broader effect, particularly in a market where low-income and marginally employed people may be losing their places to live?

It's hard for me to ignore the fact that a white child is extremely rare in the shelter where I volunteer.

As far back as 1994, St. Paul and Minneapolis ranked first and second for having the highest racial disparity in arrest rates among the nation's cities with populations over 250,000. At the time of the report, Minneapolis had a black arrest rate 24 times that of the white arrest rate.

The disparity may be better now, but my point here isn't exclusively about race. It's about whether an already bad housing-law enforcement-employment connection is just going to get worse.

What do you do when you can't find a place to live, are out of work and have little social safety net remaining?

1. You find a place where you can crash. It could be with family, but that may not be an option if relatives are struggling, too. Maybe you sleep in the car. Shelters are beyond capacity. Living rough outside doesn't suit many for long, and certainly not with kids. Eventually, you may find that drug users and other unsavory types are the only ones with room on the couch or on the rug. 
2. You try looking for work. Maybe you can take calls on a cell phone that lets you buy service by the minute, but what address do you put on the application? 
3. One of your room mates has another proposition that isn't legal, but it has a higher prospect of putting some money in your pocket.
4. What the hell, you already can't rent a place under your own name.

There are plenty of people in bad situations who have made a string of bad choices. They focus on the raw deals they've gotten instead of what they need to do to change their lives. I get all that. It's why I've chosen to help their kids instead; I don't have to be making judgments about who's redeemable and whose downward spiral is beyond my ability to affect.

Every 3-year-old is redeemable. We must believe that.

But we can't do it all in preschool. And we can't do much at all if once their dad is arrested, the path toward the shelter gets so much steeper.

No, Officer, I'm not Special. And You're Not a Downtown Ambassador.

Today's news has story about the crew of downtown ambassadors who patrol the Minneapolis business district, giving out directions, watching for trouble and mostly just engaging people. It featured Kaynan Abdirahman, who was assigned Nicollet Mall.

"Most of the panhandlers are pretty knowledgeable. They know their rights," Kaynan said. "If you treat people with respect, anyone will listen."

Since they wear neon green shirts, I'm certain that wasn't a downtown ambassador patrol I saw today on the Mall. These guys were on bikes and wearing blue.

The two police officers were accosting cyclists riding down the Mall. Bicycle traffic is prohibited there between 6am and 6pm, but because the Mall is car free — and because the nearby north-south bike lanes on Marquette and Second are closed for construction — cyclists will take it.

I usually avoid the street because of the bus traffic and often unwary pedestrians, but today I wanted to see the recycled metal sculpture exhibit that's part of the Aquatennial. The display was at the IDS between Seventh and Eighth on the Mall.

Leaving the exhibit, I stopped to take a shot of the bike parking near the corner and then stuck my foot on a pedal, gave a kick and crossed Eighth toward Ninth, a one way pointing home.

At that point, I became a lawbreaker. No, I didn't ride on the street. But instead of walking my bike down the block, I kept my foot on the pedal and propelled myself scooter-style on the broad sidewalk.

At the next intersection, I met Officer Friendly.

"No riding your bike on the sidewalk!" he barked.

"I'm turning right here," I said.

"I don't care if you're special. You can't ride your bike on the sidewalk!"

Although engaging in sarcasm is my trade, I know better than to practice it with a police officer. I don't have a problem with their enforcing the law. I'd even be open to a little correction that my one-foot-on-the-ground-both-hands-on-the-brakes-two-mile-per-hour propulsion is indeed considered riding on the sidewalk. My bad, officer.

But please, let someone deliver it who likes the job, who is delighted to be on a bike on a beautiful day, who believes they are looking out for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians — and who doesn't assume that because I'm on a bike, I'm an arrogant asshole.

I don't need to be treated specially, officer. I'd settle for being treated the way Kaynan Abdirahman deals with a panhandler.

Tomorrow, I'll look for the Mall bike cops and ask to hear their side of it.

UPDATE: Due to unforeseen events, I will have to postpone hearing the cops' side of it.