The Berglund Decision in PDF

East Side St Paul Blogger Ken Martin has posted a PDF of the court decision dismissing the restraining order against Kevin Berglund, husband of Mayor Longrie.

I think it's good that it is online, and I think people who wonder what is the fuss about Berglund can read the judge's findings and come to their own conclusions about it all.

About Face for Hjelle?

I missed the council/manager workshop yesterday, but thankfully we have the Maplewood Citizen's League to share their notes.

What leaps out to me as truly remarkable is the requirement of Tax Increment Financing for the St. Paul Tourist Cabins project, whether or not the much-ballyhooed Met Council grant application bears fruit. I have to confess, one thing I agreed upon with Mr. Hjelle was that a lakeside spot on the edge of St Paul is not the kind of location where government should be spreading money around to give developers a helping hand. And yet . . . after making such a stink about how the cabins deal proved that the Gladstone process wasn't stalled . . . and strutting and beating his chest at great length over how taxpayer money (or the accounting equivalent thereof) was not needed to get a development on such a parcel of property . . . now we see that the plan, TA-DAH!!, involves TIF.

Our Chumpelopithecus hjelle is settling right into the role of a veteran politician. Now all we need is for him to go on camera and declare "Read my lips -- no TIF financing!" before flip-flopping right back and voting for it. Fiscal conservatism -- that's for campaigns, not governance...

Environment or NIMBY?

You may have caught the Star Tribune article a while back on the topic of the recent unanimous resolution in Maplewood's city council to oppose a bus facility that the school district would like to build on MN Dept. of Transportation-owned land. (The Lillie Press also covered it, at least in one of their papers.)

This situation is the sort of thing the Triumvirate dreams of. They get to:

• (a) appear concerned about the environment, and appeal to those who don't like the idea of a bus depot in their neck of the woods or who oppose development on principle; and yet
• (b) let someone else foot the bill -- in this case, the school district, which has to spend more money on some other locations and on contracting private bus service to fulfill their needs.

They may have promised to hold down city taxes (though whether that promise will hold up is in doubt), but school district taxes are someone else's responsibility. (Besides, Mayor Longrie doesn't even live in that school district, does she?)

Chumpelopithecus Returns

Be sure to check out the September Maplewood City News, where Chumpelopithecus hjelle can be seen attempting to pick the tasty lice out of the mangy coats of his fellow city council anthropoids. In Hjelle-World, the proof that strife on the council is just a chimera made up by malicious reporters is the fact that, more often than not, the council unanimously votes to approve the minutes of previous meetings.

If you want a more serious look at Hjelle's silly assertions, check out the coverage at SaveMaplewood.