A gathering of some of the South Metro’s biggest political dynamos occurred on Tuesday with the groundbreaking for the shiny new Apple Valley Transit Station. As I mentioned earlier this week, they chose to do this groundbreaking while the rest of us were hard at work to pay for the new station because they are still $12 million short with little hope of closing the gap any time soon.
That fucking idiot Will Branning is back at it again, complaining that they are still $11.9 million short and that they need that money to do such forward looking things as take over more property that they shouldn’t be permitted to and build even more bus stations that should have been consolidated into a single larger station. He actually had the fucking audacity to say that they need the money within the next 12 months, something which is quite unlikely to happen.
They are already starting construction on this project, of course they need the $11.9 million within the next 12 months. The project is slated to be completed in short order! Well, unlike brainless Will Branning, who seems to forget that he’s spending $170 million of other people’s money, any other logical person would work to try to come up with the funding themselves. But because Branning feels he’s done enough, he got in US Representative John Kline’s face about the missing funds and asked him to come up with the money. After Kline laughed, and then apparently quickly apologized–why I don’t know, someone should fucking laugh in Will Branning’s face so he realizes what a fucking horse’s ass he is–and then made a joke about not even being able to get the amount of money Branning is begging for when he was doing earmarks. Kline then proceeded to suggest that the county hook up with the state and Met Council to compete for funding from that source and mentioned this his own staff has been working with the county to attempt to get some federal dollars for the project. A novel idea!
Overall I continue to be extremely disappointed with Will Branning’s actions. He’s wasting his time and energy and the time and energy of those around him by staging stupid events like this one while whining to a member of the US House of Representatives about not having enough money for his own pet project. Boo on Branning.
So, three questions for you:
1. Is Branning doing what’s in the best interests of the county’s citizens by begging John Kline for money and complaining about Kline’s stance against earmarks?
2. Should Branning be working hard to secure funding in other ways instead of attending stupid press conferences for photo ops of him looking ridiculous in a hard hat and a suit behind a mound of dirt that should have been used to fill some of the giant potholes in the unpaved “parking lot” (seen above) next door?
3. Do you know what these are and why they shouldn’t be piled up next to a poorly setup chain-link fence?
So comment on and share your opinions on the lack of funding available for the Cedar Ave BRT system.
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April 15th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I’m not sure what I’d do with a streetlight, but I could certainly find a use for those cameras.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
bill, letter to the editor, pioneer press today, dated yesterday!
Resisting earmarks
Pioneer Press
Updated: 04/28/2009 06:49:24 PM CDT
I think it is a breath of fresh air that Rep. John Kline is sticking to his principle of no earmarks (“Kline’s earmark opposition frustrates bus project backers,” April 26). Once again, a person or group sees a pet project as the only answer to a complex problem and thinks it should be funded at all costs.
Kline campaigned on the promise to try to stop the earmark process, and he is being true to his word. There are normal channels to go through, and the Dakota County commissioners should be familiar with the process.
About 225 years ago, we had men running our government who were patriots and statesmen. They did what was right, not what might gain them some votes.
We in District 2 have a “statesman” in John Kline. I am proud to call him my representative and encourage him to remain steadfast in his promise.
end quote. this was signed by a burnsville resident.
here’s the link.
bb
May 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
[...] three years. Sure, they’re wasting tax dollars building new transit stations while douchebag Will Branning’s pleas for cash fall on deaf ears, all while backing traffic up on 35W to add unnecessary and expensive toll lanes [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
[...] Cedar Avenue Transitway project would lose $22+ million in much needed funding, something to add to the $11.9 million they still need in addition to this. So it’s no wonder that the survey methodology used by the county’s [...]