Readers Write (April 21): 'Snowbate,' housing, wolves at Isle Royale, transgender accommodations

With typical predictability, the Republican-controlled Minnesota House is once again seeking to eliminate "Snowbate" tax incentives for production companies making films in Minnesota. This is typical of the tunnel vision that permeates the mind-set of legislators who fail to see the benefits these menial discounts bring each time a production chooses Minnesota as the location for its production — going far beyond the "industry" jobs that accompany each film and extending to the hotel, food and limousine services and other ancillary factors that are a natural concomitant to each company that chooses Minnesota as its venue. Other states have no problem in recognizing these benefits.

Moreover, since tourism is one of the top sources of revenue in this state, this legislative shortsightedness fails to even consider how many people are motivated to visit and spend their dollars here, inspired by a "Grumpy Old Men," "Dear White People" or "A Serious Man" (to mention a few).

There are fiscal savings that have legitimacy and make sense. This is nonsense!

I fully agree with Alan Arthur's concern (Readers Write, April 20) for the families who are being squeezed out of their homes during the Twin Cities apartment boom. And I appreciate Arthur's efforts to seek private investments that would help preserve the affordability of the region's lower-priced apartments. But a note of caution: As important as these investments will be, they cannot begin to replace public funding for affordable housing. In fact, more public dollars than are now available will be needed to leverage these private investments in order to help the low-income population that Arthur, as president and CEO of the nonprofit developer Aeon, intends to serve. Our state government is a primary source of this funding, but unfortunately there are threats at the Legislature to the state's housing programs. To benefit from Arthur's new private investments, the Legislature must pass the bonding amount for affordable housing proposed by the governor as well as vote down attempts to diminish existing housing resources.

The writer is director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership.

For a number of factors, the wolf population on Isle Royale is nearly extinct ("Wolves on Isle Royale are down to last two," April 19). Researchers attribute that to disease, fewer ice bridges and, of late, too much inbreeding. At the same time, the moose population has more than doubled in just a decade to a level that is unsustainable.

The opposite is happening in northern Minnesota — the moose population is dwindling, and the wolves are flourishing. This is being blamed mainly on climate change, though the island should have the same climate effects as the mainland. Wouldn't this have more to do with the numbers of predators than climate?

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All state and federal lands with indigenous species — many long-managed for the sustainable harvesting of deer, wolves and other wildlife — are under multiple threats from climate change to invasive species. These call for a different, ecology-centered rather than human-centered approach to maintain optimal, healthy biodiversity: namely CPR — conservation, preservation and restoration. This does not mean killing more in-state wolves to help save moose, but it does mean introducing a healthy, vaccinated and acclimated wolf pack on Isle Royale. Such restoration is sound science and is the direction state and federal authorities need to consider in these environmentally changing and uncertain times.

Recently, Republican lawmakers introduced a bill calling for restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms to remain reserved for males and females as biologically defined. That seemed to many "traditional thinkers" inoffensive and logical, but an uproar ensued. A March 26 letter writer proclaimed "being able to safely use a bathroom of one's choosing is one of the most basic rights I can think of … ."

An April 12 commentary ("Anti-discrimination laws in Minnesota: Are we progressing or regressing?") drove home something I didn't see coming — a growing desire to separate the definitions of biological sex and gender. To quote an expert from a separate publication: "Sex refers mainly to biology … . Gender is more about your personal sense of who you are." OK, that's all clear, right? Nope!

The April 20 Star Tribune editorial ("Keep government out of bathrooms") introduced the term "potty police" in reference to "heavy-handed" Republican-proposed legislation. I suggest that Gov. Mark Dayton, in his official capacity, is also being heavy-handed in his executive order to cease official state travel to North Carolina to protest legislation there.

If progressives want calm and order to surround this issue, they should do a lot better job of educating the masses. Otherwise, many will continue to consider this a silly issue.

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I've been a customer of Target for well over 30 years but today I am ending that relationship because I no longer think the retailer cares about the safety of my family or me ("Target steps into debate on restrooms," April 20). I am referring to the public statement it made Tuesday regarding transgender use of bathrooms and dressing rooms in its buildings. In America, you are free to believe what you want, but when your beliefs have the potential to put someone in harm's way, you've crossed a line. Am I afraid a transgender person will harm me? Don't be ridiculous — of course not. But I do know this gives opportunity to those who could harm me. I choose not to put my family or myself at risk. So farewell, Target, and thanks for the memories.

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On a trip to the Legislature last week, I was reminded how passionately many of our fellow Minnesotans are about any new laws regulating the everyday occurrences of daily life.