HF 2865 A bill for an act...to buy land to protect the environment
scandals, standals, opposition, drama, environmental protection
This bill is the culmination of the very reason I started writing these articles and what got me to really care and be involved in government. As the saying goes, when you don’t like something you should take over the job. Get involved. Be the change you want to see.
Here’s the bill that was devised to be a bridge between a landowner and a conservationist looking to preserve and protect one of the last prairie habitats in Minnesota:
A bill for an act relating to capital investment; appropriating money for the acquisition and preservation of prairie and big woods remnants in Hennepin County; authorizing the sale and issuance of state bonds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. PRAIRIE AND BIG WOODS PRESERVATION; HENNEPIN COUNTY.
Subdivision 1.
Appropriation.
$5,000,000 is appropriated from the bond proceeds fund to the commissioner of natural resources to acquire and protect approximately 27.5 acres of prairie and big woods remnants, together with associated Riley Creek, Fredrick-Miller Spring, and associated wetlands and adjacent lands within the Riley Creek Watershed District. The lands and waters to be acquired are located on the South slope of the North rim of the Minnesota River in Hennepin County. These lands and waters shall be established by the commissioner as an aquatic management area under Minnesota Statutes, section 86A.05, subdivision 14.
Subd. 2.
Bond sale.
To provide the money appropriated in this section from the bond
proceeds fund, the commissioner of management and budget, on the request of the governor, shall sell and issue bonds of the state in an amount up to $5,000,000 in the manner, upon the terms, and with the effect prescribed by Minnesota Statutes, sections 16A.631 to 16A.675, and by the Minnesota Constitution, article XI, sections 4 to 7.
Why is the EP Mayor, Ron Case, still not supporting this conservation effort? Isn’t his plan to be carbon neutral by 2050? Isn’t the best way to do that to keep as much green space as possible? Sources have relayed to me that the mayor’s ego and narcism continually gets in the way of making good decisions like this. The property owners seem to continually get bad advice in not wanting to settle this as a conservation offer. Why? What do they have to gain by selling it to a developer? The offer is the same amount of money (maybe even a bit more) than what Pulte offered them.
How can people who support this carbon neutral agenda continue to push large developments and high end neighborhoods that decimate our wildlife and heritage forests and prairies?
Being that the SVF LLC has two lawsuits - one against the City and one against the Watershed - what do you think a settlement offer would look like should the City choose to settle before the trial on March 22? I would hope, if they choose to offer a settlement (remedy), that it would be to support this conservation bill and basically get out of the way and stop influencing property owners to develop their properties.
BIG DEVELOPERS OFFERING MONEY TO HOMEOWNERS
This is called OPPORTUNITY ZONE. When there are properties leaning toward needing improvement or have aging owners ready to move on from single family homes, big developers love to swoop in and buy them up and put up disgustingly large buildings. United Properties bought up several houses on Lincoln Rd in Eden Prairie and are now building this:
I will ask again - how is this ‘green’? Condensing people into these little cell block apartments is going to save the planet? C’mon man. This is part of the ‘Smart City’ plan I wrote about in another article. Creating a Transit Oriented Development plan is all about keeping people in their ‘zone’ and creating a city within a city within a city for easier population control.
We are also NOT in a housing crunch. We are in a housing market where people on normal income of $40,000 - $70,000 a year can barely afford rent or a mortgage, but that has nothing to do with the AMOUNT of housing available. Call the Paravel in Eden Prairie - they have plenty of apartments open - for a steep price. It’s a manufactured housing crisis. They have jacked up the rent and housing prices so much that normal middle class people can’t afford them anymore. Can you say RECESSION? They are finally talking about it.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO NOBLE HILL?
The whole argument for Noble Hill and all these apartment complexes is that we need housing. NO WE DON’T! We need prices to match what people are making so normal middle class people aren’t feeling like they can’t make ends meet. And we need to help people who are in poverty to find jobs and not be reliant on government money. But that’s what they want, isn’t it? For more and more people to be bailed out by the government and to get them used to getting handouts. They’ve been doing it for ages now with the people below the median income level and now they are so dependent on government funding they don’t know any other way to make ends meet. Shouldn’t the government have programs to help them get off assistance instead of punishing them for making more money? It’s called a step off program and it’s Social Work 101. Minnesota never took that class in college apparently. But I did.
PLEASE SUPPORT HF 2865/SF2877
If you want to help take a step to fight Big Brother and preserve our natural spaces, please write our legislators and let them know you support their effort in helping conserve precious land that has a necessary place in saving the Earth.
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Tracey, this is a great post to hold local govt accountable. Good work!