The "growing" problem with 2040

"Is there still hope? Is there still time? Yes, barely. Wake up from your stupor, take the red pill instead of the blue one, and vote for Jeff Johnson for Governor. One of the first things he will do is drive a knife in the heart of the Met Council." 

Today I almost wanted to rename the op/ed section in the newspaper to be the humor section. Why? It was funny. No, hilarious. It was all about Thrive 2040, that POS document the Met Council came up with to dictate how we all will live in the year 2040 and beyond. For the those who have been paying attention to this statist boondoggle (like myself), we have been all over this mess for years. For the "blue pill" (as in The Matrix) folks living in the core of Minneapolis, they are just now finding out the stark reality of this toxic document. And they don't like it - not at all.

Why was this so funny to me? First off, it won't affect me. Heather whats-her-name, who is trying to peddle this garbage to the masses, had some great lines which were quoted in the paper this morning (slightly paraphrased). "Okay - we blew it in Seattle. We blew it in Portland, And we blew it in San Francisco." Blew what, dear Heather? Oh, yes - this density thing. The "city planners" in those western blue cities, have made them all but unlivable. 

Anyone with a half a brain has seen or read about what has happened to those cities (as well as others) where density planning has gone amok. Expensive homes, unlivable neighborhoods, loss of city culture, and huge areas of homelessness. What? In today's economy, how in the world could that happen? Simple. Just let a bunch of idiot bureaucrats with almost unlimited authority (hello, Met Council), get in and tinker with the gears. The next thing you know, you have a city in deep, deep trouble. 

The town halls discussions in Minneapolis have not gone well. The city planners start off by telling folks that Minneapolis had more people living in there in 1950 than it does now. They go on to tell folks that "if we could be denser back then, we sure can in 2040". What they are not taking into consideration is things were a whole lot different back then. Things were not vertical, as the planners want to make them today. Small shops and stores were close to every neighborhood. Now planners want big vertical housing downtown, and fourplex housing in every neighborhood. "Ah, no thanks", many of the residents are saying.

Ever wonder why so many of us liberty minded patriots are so death on the Metropolitan Council? These people are a renegade bunch of un-elected, un-accountable, un-repentant statists. If this group had been elected by, and accountable to the people, citizens in Minneapolis would not have been turned into subjects. But it is not. That is why this monolith, this juggernaut, called Thrive 2040 is coming rolling down the hill. You don't like it? Suck it up buttercup! As the lovely Heather said, "This is not about you - it is about the next generation."

Note to the subjects who now helplessly reside in the once fair city of Minneapolis. You did this to yourself. You kept electing statists and greenies. And each election cycle, they became more socialist than the last. Finally you end up with this - tryanny. Freedom? Gone. Choice? Gone. Republicans or Libertarians? Long, long gone.

Is there still hope? Is there still time? Yes, barely. Wake up from your stupor, take the red bill instead of the blue one, and vote for Jeff Johnson for Governor. One of the first things Jeff has pledged to do is drive a knife in the heart of the Met Council. Or - you can keep voting for the status quo. After all, living in some cramped quarters on the 42nd story of some high rise might not be that bad after all.