Beginning on Monday of next week a series of posts will be running which will cover the questions and answers Lazy Lightning did with the nine candidates running for Burnsville City Council during the special election to replace Charlie Crichton. Each of the nine candidates were e-mailed on Monday June 20th, 2011 and asked whether they were willing to participate and if they were they were asked to respond to the five questions posed to them by July 1st, 2011. You will have a chance to read the answers of those who responded and then discuss what they had to say.
The first four questions were penned by Lazy Lightning and the fifth was provided by a reader who wanted to know how the candidates felt they were going to be able to differentiate themselves from Charlie. The other questions are very similar to the questions asked of the four candidates who ran in the main election in 2010.
Notes:
1. There will be two posts per day Monday through Thursday and one post on Friday.
2. Both posts each day will go up at 7 AM.
3. The Q&A responses are posted in the order in which they were received.
4. Relevant biographical information is included and may offer links to websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts for those that were easily found.
The special election will be held on Tuesday July 26, 2011 and you can find out more information about the election on the City of Burnsville’s website.
Feel free to ask any questions below about the process and please provide any other feedback you have about the Q&A. In addition please comment about your thoughts on asking the candidates how they feel they differ from Charlie. Do you think that this is an important piece to the council or would you have preferred they all be just like him? Whatever you have to say about next week’s Q&A posts go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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July 8th, 2011 at 9:52 am
I am not a voter, nor a Burnsville taxpayer, but if I were, I would want to know *specifically* what needs to be done with the BPAC in the opinion of the candidate.
July 8th, 2011 at 9:53 am
I meant to say, not a voter in this election. I do vote otherwise.
July 8th, 2011 at 11:20 am
It’s a business and government really has no idea how to run a successful business. I personally think that the BPAC should be sold to a private company, most likely for a slight loss, but at least it would no longer be losing money on an annual basis and taking up more taxpayer dollars trying to pay back the loan to build it. A company that has a real vested interest in the successful operation of the BPAC would be able to turn it around. It would not only bring money into the BPAC, and thus money to the city in the form of property and business taxes, but also bring in revenues to the surrounding businesses such as Med Cruise Cafe, Jensen’s, Rise and Wine, Red Lion, BP, etc. from customers walking out that are hungry, need gasoline, alcohol, or whatever. With increased business around it it would also entice more businesses to fill those empty suites and office spaces which in turn would bring even more revenues to the city. It would be a win-win situation for everyone around.
However, with the current council and mayor, I doubt that would ever happen so an alternative would be to get rid of Venuworks and the commission. Hire a new management team and put together a new commission that has a strong interest in the BPAC succeeding and has a clear plan to do that. I don’t think more taxpayer money should be going into the place unless it has a plan to be profitable.
July 8th, 2011 at 11:22 am
Aaron, you do realize that selling the BPAC is not a wise financial move right? It cost over $20 million. There’s no way they’ll get anywhere near that. Would it still be worth it to you if they made even 50% of the money back ($10 million)?
July 8th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Plus, no business will likely be interested in buying it, even at a fire sale. Remember, businesses turned down the idea of partnering with Burnsville before it was built because their due diligence said the business model wouldn’t work.
July 8th, 2011 at 11:54 am
I honestly wonder if the city were to offer the BPAC for free, if anyone would take it.
July 8th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
I know it cost $20 Million to build, which was ridiculous to begin with, but with it losing money it cannot be sustained at all. Like I said though, it is ideal to get it out of the city’s hands; however, if the city can turn it around with a different management team then sell it a few years (5-10 years, sooner would be better) down the road would be fine. A slight loss is better than losing an additional million each year besides the $20 Million initial cost. The point is it the city cannot afford it in its present state unless something drastic is done with it soon. The city will be bankrupt sooner than you think if it continues down this road of unnecessary spending. Eventually it needs to get off the city’s books.
July 8th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Aaron, as a council candidate, what do you think of the job that the BPAC Commission has done so far?
July 8th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
To be honest, I think there is too much conflict of interest with the members of the commission. I think a few members are on the right track with the rest trying to politicize and throw the blame of the BPACs failures to something or someone other than Venuworks. Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t Venuworks been involved with several failed projects prior to taking over for the BPAC? How long can BPAC last with them at the helm?
I guess to answer your question, I think the commission has been too busy lollygagging around and not doing anything to make positive changes to either light a fire under VW or get them out.
July 8th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
I am letting all of you know that I am going to carefully read the responses from each of the candidates that answers and I am going to give the lefty seal of approval to one of them.
If you are a candidate and think that the lefty seal of approval will more likely cause you to lose votes than gain them, please let me know no later than Thursday, July 14 at 11:59 PM Central time and I will not let everyone know that you are the best candidate.
You may want to review my rant on public assistance from earlier today before you just assume I am a left leaning liberal douche.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Aaron, I appreciate you engaging in a public forum like this. More candidates should do the same.
I do have to question your understanding of city government though when one of the four issues listed on your website is education. What role do you propose the city plays so that we “continue to fund our schools and strive to provide quality education at all levels,” as your website states?
July 8th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
FYI: Mr. Hoy’s interview is being posted on Monday morning.
July 9th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Maybe it’s time to be more creative with the space. Make it a studio sound stage or something like that and then attract production companies with lower rental rates then you can get on the West Coast (even with traveling here).
I’m thinking something like a “Prairie Home Companion” type of show that runs weekly.
I gotta believe that the acoustics are perfect so very little would need to be done(or maybe it is already set up for that).
Then you can build off of that.
Then maybe someone can do something with that abandoned TCF building on Nicollet over there.
July 19th, 2011 at 6:48 am
[...] remind you that he’s running for a city council position, not the school board. On June 8th I commented on a post about the council race over at Lazy Lightning. Hoy had left a comment of his own so I [...]