In Minneapolis, the Dots Remain Painfully Unconnected

You really have to give RT Rybak a break; it's just so hard to do all that pesky mayor stuff when you're spending all day proofing your campaign for governor brochures. Today, it's "Oh, crap; we didn't get enough free money from Obama:"

President Obama and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak both got political mileage in February out of same-day speech shout-outs about federal stimulus money saving Minneapolis police jobs. The nearly $5 million that Rybak expected to get from Washington has now shrunk to $3.73 million.

Among the budget victims will be 17 community service officers who were told this week that they will be laid off from their support-staff positions that are intended, along with college studies, to prepare them for jobs as officers.

But last week it was "Yippie; we got so much free money from Obama, we can sink more into that loser theater that'll keep the Democrats voting for me!"

The City Council voted on Tuesday to spend the majority of its $3.6 million community development bonus under the federal stimulus act on the long-delayed Shubert Theater. Backers said the $2 million is the last piece of the $38 million they need to start construction as soon as this fall.

The Shubert, on Hennepin Avenue downtown, was moved 10 years ago and the project will rehab the nearly century-old theater for dance and music events. It will also make supporting improvements in the adjacent Hennepin Center for the Arts and build a link between the buildings

Mayor R.T. Rybak also lauded the council decision.

Of course he did, as he kept solidifying Minneapolis as part of the Land of Make Believe - keep cutting public safety while crime ruins the neighborhoods. Oooo, check out the basketball arena, it has a grass roof, so they have that going for them . . .