Readers Write for Monday, Feb. 15

Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria, makes the first reasonable suggestion toward a new Vikings stadium. Give the Metrodome to the Vikings (or perhaps lease at $1 year with no property taxes). And do away with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. In the meantime, the Vikings get all revenue (and all expenses) on the current Dome and any replacement they care to build.

But if the team leaves after this transaction, make it pay big time -- like a fee or back taxes for the time it owned the Dome. If needed, give it the sales tax from all items sold there that are connected to the team.

ROBERT DEBUS, ROCHESTER

The Feb. 7 article "In housing meltdown, cities turn into buyers" highlighted important issues affecting nearly every city, suburb, township and county across the country. However, the story leaves the impression that cities are the major buyers of properties in their communities and stick taxpayers with unused properties. While heavy government intervention and sitting on properties may be the proper strategy in many communities, that is not the case or our approach in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis' Three-Point Foreclosure Recovery Plan is based on the simple notion that the city only takes possession of a property that is blighted or vacant and thus, by definition, is not attractive to market buyers. First and foremost, we seek to prevent foreclosures and, to date, we have helped more than 400 homeowners avoid foreclosure, and our 2009 numbers show foreclosures will be down by almost one-third in Minneapolis when compared to 2008.

When purchasing a property is necessary, the Minneapolis Foreclosure Recovery Plan relies on a market-based approach that uses for-profit and nonprofit partners to buy, rehab and sell properties to homeowners as quickly as possible.

Another example of our market-driven approach to neighborhood stabilization is our innovative and nationally recognized Minneapolis Advantage program. It is a five-year, $10,000 forgivable loan program that to date has resulted in more than 230 new homeowners buying vacant and foreclosed homes in our city.

THOMAS STREITZ, MINNEAPOLIS; HOUSING DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

In response to the Feb. 8 Letter of the Day asserting that only some students need to be ready for college, I ask, which ones?

Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson's goal that all students be prepared for college is ambitious, courageous and absolutely essential to Minnesota's survival and prosperity in a world economy.

To promise students a bright future without some education or training beyond high school is simply misleading to kids and harmful to Minnesota's future. Every Minnesota student and educator must understand that the days of well-paying, lifetime career opportunities for people with only a high school degree and a strong back are over. Whether students want to fix cars, repair computers, wire homes, become a plumber, clean teeth or perform neurosurgery, they need a plan that includes postsecondary education.

While a four-year bachelor's degree is not for everyone, all students should plan -- at a minimum -- to continue their education beyond high school at a community college, a technical college or career college to prepare for a promising future in a changing, high-tech world.

DAVID R. METZEN, ST. PAUL;

DIRECTOR, MINNESOTA OFFICE

OF HIGHER EDUCATION

One Feb. 11 letter writer was decrying the "pusillanimous" small-businessmen who erected the "Miss me yet?" billboard with former President George W. Bush on it.

Perhaps the issue with them not posting their names on the billboard had nothing to do with their courage. It probably had more to do with insufficient space on the sign to list everyone.