South metro letters

Letter had dubious facts and motives

I am writing in response to Elwood Narum's letter regarding the Burnsville mayor taking credit for getting the Mediterranean Cruise Cafe to relocate in the Heart of the City. Knowing that Mr. Narum is one of the leaders of a group that has consistently opposed the Heart of the City and the Performing Arts Center, I thought I would do some fact checking. I called and spoke to the owner of the Mediterranean Cruise Cafe, Jamal Ansari. He took the time to explain how Mayor Elizabeth Kautz came to meet him and personally invite his business into Burnsville's community. He also cited an article in the Star Tribune (April 29, 2008) where he was quoted giving Mayor Kautz credit.

Mr. Narum goes on to say that the Mediterranean submitted a proposal a year ago that was rejected by the council. Mr. Ansari has no recollection of a proposal or bid rejection. City records show that the 2007 proposal was from the Ruehl Group, the Anderson Group and Gene Happe. The Mediterranean was not one of the proposals the city received.

Mr. Narum also is extensively quoted in an article in the Pioneer Press the day before the mayoral primary portraying the Heart of the City as a complete failure. Clearly Mr. Narum has once again not checked his facts. The Heart of the City has increased city tax income on the area from under $400,000 per year to over $1,000,000 with minimal city investment, and projected tax income will be about $3 million per year at full completion. We now have a city park that is used by tens of thousands of Burnsville residents every year for multiple events, weekly concerts and movies. There are some unsold condos and retail space as there are everywhere in the United States. However, Burnsville now has a new shopping center anchored by a new Cub Foods at full capacity. We have a new ice cream shop, a gift shop, a florist, two new coffee shops, a new bank, commercial offices and several new restaurants with more coming.

The Performing Arts Center will be opening in early January and projects to bring in over 100,000 visitors to Burnsville and will probably be the home to a new magnet school being proposed by School District 191. This is being done without increasing taxes for homeowners and may actually lower taxes because of increased taxes from the Heart of the City development. We should all be delighted by the efforts of Elizabeth Kautz to improve our city.

I hope that the citizens of Burnsville will look past the tactics of this naysayer group, Positive Change for Burnsville. I have yet to see or hear anything positive from them, nor have I seen any proposals of change. Please join me in reelecting Mayor Kautz.

DEAN LARSON

BURNSVILLE

I am getting a little tired of our politicians playing politics and not doing their job, so I will briefly explain to them the root problem of the credit crisis and offer them a very simple solution.

Greed caused this crisis. Nobody made anybody do anything. Nobody made banks make, buy, sell or participate in any loan or security. Contrary to what many people are saying these days, there is no law that requires financial institutions to make loans if they do not want to. People saw a chance to make money, they took it, and for a while they made money. We all got lax and greedy and we are now paying the price. My mother told me that is what happens if you get greedy.

Here is a pretty straightforward and simple solution. If a firm needs to be bailed out, do as the Europeans do: Have the government buy out the company or make an investment in the company. The most beautiful thing of this is that it holds capitalists responsible for their decision. Shareholders and creditors who made bad decisions to invest in a failed company will lose their money before any taxpayer loses one red cent. Please go back to my previous paragraph and remember that the shareholders and creditors are greedy; and had they made money off their investment, they wouldn't be offering it back. To the contrary, they would be lobbying Congress to lower their taxes.

JACK YOUNGBERG

EDEN PRAIRIE