What follows is a commentary on the latest in the embarrassment that is the negotiations to build a new Vikings stadium (owned by the 1%) here in Minneapolis, WITHOUT putting the matter to a voter referendum (which would involve consulting the 99%).  It was written by Ed Felien, publisher & editor of Southside Pride, and is excerpted here with his permission.  

Photo via The Uptake

A “People’s Stadium?” Really?

By Ed Felien

[Minneapolis mayor] R T Rybak and [Minnesota governor] Mark Dayton are going to tear down the existing Metrodome because, we are told, it’s outdated. It doesn’t have enough luxury boxes, so it doesn’t make enough money for billionaire Zygi Wilf . Ticket prices have to be higher. Ticket prices for a Viking game are already so high that most people who live in the City can’t afford them, but R T and Dayton are going to send us a bill for $338.7 million to tear down the existing stadium and build an even more expensive one. And they’re calling that a “People’s Stadium”…..

In 1977 the Minneapolis City Charter was amended in a referendum with almost 70% of the voters approving a provision that requires the City to get the voter’s approval on any expenditure for a sports stadium that exceeds $10 million. R T and the legislature believe they can sidestep a Minneapolis referendum on this question because the City of Minneapolis is granted its charter by the State of Minnesota. And what the State granteth, the State can taketh away….

How is this stadium a “People’s Stadium?” The existing Metrodome is quite adequate for high school football, soccer games and monster truck rallies. The only difference between the existing stadium and the new one would be the addition of more luxury boxes for Viking games. That’s a benefit for Viking ticket holders.

There are 64,111 seats in the current Viking stadium. There are 5,344,861 people in the State of Minnesota. So, that’s not a case of the 99% subsidizing the 1%. That’s a case of the 99.9% subsidizing the 0.1%.

It’s certainly a case of the taxpayers of Minneapolis subsidizing the ticket prices of wealthy people generally living in the suburbs. Those same people elect State Senators and Representatives that have cut financial aid to the cities, so that city property taxes now subsidize suburban and rural police and fire departments.

Carol Becker, the city-wide representative on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, has said, “$300 M at a modest 3% a year interest rate is roughly about $20 M a year each year for 20 years. When you divide this by the number of people in Minneapolis, you get a figure of $53 per person per year. Or for my family, it is a whopping $159 dollars a year for a football stadium. $159 a year!”

Minneapolis could buy a lot of police and fire protection for $20 million a year.

If this were a genuine “People’s Stadium,” it would be open to kids in the neighborhood; it would be a sports and health club that poor people could enjoy; it would have a swimming pool so people could exercise in the winter; it would be built with strict affirmative action guidelines making sure that neighborhood people (where there is the highest unemployment in the City) would be employed.

R T claims he’s a tough negotiator. He’s not. He gave away the store.

We’re giving away $368 million that could have been used to help the City budget in exchange for the privilege of watching rich suburbanites come in here and tailgate.

 ”MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS, NOT FOR STADIUMS!”

A funny thing happened at SlutWalk NYC last weekend–a white woman was photographed carrying this sign:

Yes ouch can you believe it I know oh my god.  Wow.  It hurts my brain.  It makes me feel terrible.  It makes me want to hit this fellow PWW* for making me look like an asshole by association.

Racialicious posted a discussion about it, featuring comment from the woman herself, but if you’re in a hurry all you need to read is this summation by the site’s editor Latoya Peterson:

Slutwalk is one of the many long, long conversations about relationships between feminism, racism, class, nation-states, colonization, and power… some people don’t want to understand why women of color would be angry at that phrase, and they don’t care why John Lennon isn’t the best representative on race issues.  

Ironically, I’m working on a piece today that’s NOT about SlutWalk (or at least it wasn’t a minute ago), but about a very heartfelt and thought-provoking discussion on racism that occurred in my neighborhood last week.  It was sponsored by Building Bridges, a new south Minneapolis organization that “seeks to understand how race and racism impact our communities and to build the future of our neighborhoods together.”  The group brought local-girl-made-good Michele Norris to town to discuss her memoir The Grace of Silence, selected as the first book in the city-wide One Minneapolis One Read.  Turtle Bread on 48th & Chicago was packed to the rafters with people of all colors who wanted to talk honestly about the history of racism in our community.  It was exactly the kind of nuanced discussion that, in my humble PWW opinion, has the power to make the transformative change that we claim we wish to see in the world.

And this photo turns up on Facebook.  Ugh.

In her book, Norris writes:

All the talk of postracial America betrays an all too glib eagerness to put in remission a 400 year old cancerous social disease.  We can’t put it to rest until we attend to its symptoms in ourselves and others.

I agree….but I need to take a handful of Advil first.

*privileged white woman

Why happening, Prince? Have we offended you? Consider:

Neal Krasnoff has closed up most of his blog, leaving behind only four posts: an “apology” for offending anyone with his SlutWalk rantings, his resignation from local Democratic Party leadership, and two posts from 2008 about…..ME! Read and chuckle along.

If every child in Minneapolis were as safe, well-fed, healthy, and appropriately educated as these two little girls, I would support your plan for a new football stadium.

But they’re not. These two girls are the lucky ones.

Consider this: the poverty rate in Minneapolis is 22.6 percent. Hennepin County admits that, within its borders, “on any given night….more than 3000 men, women, children and young adults are homeless.” Minneapolis Public Schools expects a budget deficit of at least $30 million, which will have devastating effects on the district’s already abysmal achievement gap. Recent reports that half of mortgages in the Twin Cities are underwater should tell you that the need for social services will only rise, not lessen, in the decade to come.

Just say NO to public funding for a football stadium.

I was born in Minneapolis and have lived nearly all of my life here, so I don’t fear snow. What I do fear are snow days, and last week the kids had two. I am fortunate that I don’t have a 9 to 5 work schedule that required me to take unpaid leave to keep an eye on the little goofballs–I’m unpaid all the time! Sadly, I was hoping to use last week to change that (have I mentioned The Radical Housewife, my completed manuscript, lately? Yes? No? Maybe?). Still, I was able to scratch out a little time for writing, with the following treats now available for your online enjoyment:

Minneapolis is justifiably proud of its many hometown institutions, but none are more precious than our parks and lakes. Coming in close second to these natural wonders might be the annual MayDay Parade, brought to us since 1975 by the artists who comprise In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre. Back then, the company called themselves the Powderhorn Puppet Theatre, in honor of the large park that gives the neighborhood its name. To most people in south Minneapolis, my home and hometown, Powderhorn Park is synonymous with this yearly celebration of community, an event so grassroots you can see dirt under the fingernails of everyone involved.

I repeat: I love the Midtown YWCA. Their official motto is “eliminating racism, empowering women,” which is delightful, but isn’t quite enough to justify the enormous wad of cash I lay out every year for our family membership. I keep re-upping because my kids and I feel welcomed and safe by a staff that always goes above and beyond for us.

I daresay that the Midtown YW is the most diverse place I know in Minneapolis. There are bodies of all colors and sizes (yes, this is a health club that hires instructors who aren’t stick figures. Some are quite large and can still kick my butt in Body Pump). Some people wear hijabs, some are covered with tattoos. Some push walkers, some push strollers. Some are queer-identified, some are not. Quite a few speak little English, but the babysitting staffers have a cheat sheet so they know how to say “let’s play!” in Somali.

I LOVE THIS PLACE.

So why am I so surprised that Nazis hate it? I shouldn’t, because the melting pot at the YW represents all they hate. Yet this has me in a state of shock:

NSM Twin Cities Protest

– ANNOUNCEMENT -

On October the 3rd, the NSM Twin Cities unit will be holding a demonstration against an anti-white privilege and white supremacy workshop being held at the Minneapolis YWCA. This event entitled “More Than Skin Deep: Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy one cell at a time” is targeted at whites who are aware of these so-called issues and want to learn more about how to destroy it in themselves and others.

As a White civil rights group NSM Twin Cities plans to take action, by defending the rights of Whites not only in Minnesota but nation wide; showing the promoters of this event that we will not stand for such treachery . This event is open to all peoples that want to take a stand along side us, against the people who want to destroy our race and all that it stands for.

For more information regarding this event please e-mail Twincities [@] NSM88.org .

Cpl. Erik Flann
NSM Twin Cities unit leader

I guess my real surprise is this: THERE ARE NAZIS IN MINNEAPOLIS? WHAT?!! But a little research revealed that this Erik Flann fella is actually from Lino Lakes… which actually doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better. Luckily, Minneapolis is not the kind of town that puts up with this crap for long. Already there are plans for a counter-protest that will drown out the few assholes who don’t manage to get lost on our big, tangled, urban freeways.

As for me, you know I never met a protest against racism that I didn’t like. However, this Saturday, like all other Saturdays, will find me inside the Midtown YWCA. I’ll be getting Miriam to her swimming lesson, taking Elliott to the Fit Kids’ Gym, dropping Miriam in the babysitting room once she’s dried off, then enjoying a blissful hour on the elliptical whilst reading Mother Jones and plotting all-out revolution based on LOVE, not hate.

BECAUSE I LOVE THE MIDTOWN YWCA.

A tornado touched down in my neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

It happened too quickly for the sirens to warn anyone, but miraculously, no one was injured. Our house escaped unscathed, but many homes nearby have been damaged by the enormous, 100+ year old trees that the tornado yanked up from the ground. Here’s Elliott surveying the damage yesterday evening:

We are a lucky family. My neighborhood is a lucky place. My town is a lucky town.