Letter: No need for task forces

To the editor,

On May 5, my letter to the editor was printed here. The newspaper gave my opinion a title that is incorrect.  The city of Rosemount does not pay the citizens they pick for task forces, yet the title the newspaper gave my opinion was, “Who will pay for task forces?”

My point was that the end result of task forces creates costly redevelopment expenditures, sticking taxpayers with millions of dollars which we, the city have to pay for.  We ought not to be spending money to bring businesses to our town who expect taxpayers to pay to set them up while removing businesses already established here who pay their own way.

Actually, the city doesn’t seem to be too keen on more task forces either or they would have had one by now.  It was they who initiated them in the past.

Regarding Jeanne Schwartz’s many criticisms of me in her last week’s letter to the editor, Schwartz must have been speed reading my opinion because she accused me of saying things I never said.  Failure to assimilate such simple information makes one wonder.

1) I never said Schwartz was currently a member of the city’s planning commission. I wrote: “In response to former planning commissioner Jeanne Schwartz....”  Former means it happened in the past.

2) I never said Schwartz was a realtor.  I said, “How many realtors have we had and have we now sitting on council and commission?”  I never named Schwartz.

3) I never said Schwartz said this council’s task forces were consultant-run.  I said they were “city-run, consultant-run.”  How do I know?  People who attended them figured it out, which is probably why task forces ceased to be popular at city hall.

Sounds to me like Schwartz is hankering to get on another city task force like the St. Joseph’s Task Force she was on.  That was another point I made.  The same favorites keep getting picked for city-run, consultant-run task forces.

The title I had given my May 5 opinion was: Show me the money. Before suggesting the city waste more time hosting task forces, first find out exactly how brainstorming results will be paid for.  It is fun to dream up utopias, but paying for them is a more difficult matter.  There are serious problems with our economy and citizens are screaming, “stop spending.”  Open this newspaper to the home foreclosure page and find out what it is all about.  If you are financially well off, go ahead and donate your money.  We don’t need task forces for this; you decide what will be built, buy the land and pay to build it.

No need for city-run task forces.  Businesses will come forward if this city will only let them.

Kathy Klonecky,

Rosemount

Tags: opinion, rosemount, letters