(City of Bemidji) Can’t You Do Anything Right?

No one likes to be told that they are doing a bad job. And we know that praise works better than put downs as a motivator. Unfortunately, negative remarks seem to tumble out easily, while the positive get stuck. And once the negativity begins, it’s easy to “pile on” with a laundry list of every complaint we have.

A perennial target of complaints is government and locally, the City of Bemidji seems to attract more than its share of impassioned condemnation from critics and gloomy prognosticators in the letters to the editor and in local coffee shops. The Pioneer has discontinued their online comments, but the newly minted Bemidji eDemocracy site provides an online platform for sounding off. Here’s a sampling of recent comments about the City with clarification on some points.

Snow removal: “Why doesn’t the City clear the sidewalks?” There have been a lot of complaints about snow on sidewalks this winter, including a misconception that the City used to clear ALL the sidewalks in town. There was a time when we cleared some of the sidewalks on major routes, but we discontinued that many years ago because of the cost. There is also a misconception that the City brooms all the sidewalks downtown. That is also incorrect. We clear the sidewalks in front of City properties, e.g. the Library, City Hall. Several businesses downtown hire a company to have their sidewalks cleared after every snowfall. My observation is that after many large snow events this year, the street department did a GREAT job of clearing the snow away with a very small crew.

Street Lights: “Why should I pay for streetlights? I don’t even WANT a streetlight on my block.” The reality is that the majority of citizens of Bemidji want streetlights in our community because it makes the community safer. A streetlight fee has been suggested as one solution to the challenge of losing Local Government Aid without raising taxes. According to the City Finance Director, without the fee, revenues will come from a tax increase of 5.2% or from layoffs in our largest departments—fire and police. The reason a fee was recommended rather than a tax increase, is that all properties would be assessed, including tax exempt properties (university, schools, county, churches, etc.). The second reading of the streetlight fee ordinance (and public hearing) was held on March 16. The Council will hold the third reading and vote on the measure at the April 6 City Council meeting.

Event Center: “Why is the City building an event center?” Minds are pretty much made up on this one. People either love this project or hate it, so I don’t think I’ll take space here to explain it. Suffice it to say that site work will start this week and construction will continue through 2010. Many local people will be employed on the construction of this project.

South Shore: “What will happen to the wetlands? Has the City even looked at the environmental impact?” The Joint Planning Board ordered an Alternative Urban Areawide Review of the entire south shore area (about 140 acres) in 2008. An AUAR is a comprehensive environmental review comparable to an Environmental Impact Statement. The difference is that it covers more than just a single development project like the event center and instead proposes three levels of development for the entire site. The AUAR process (including the public comment period and hearings) was completed last fall and the final document has been accepted by all required regulatory agencies. A copy of the final AUAR can be viewed at the Joint Planning office at City Hall.

Recycling: “Why doesn’t the City have a recycling program?” Recycling is a county function. They do not provide curbside recycling, but through their contract with Waste Management (formerly Magnuson Trucking and Leasing), they provide recycling drop-off at several locations in Bemidji and at the transfer station.

Joint Planning: “Why does the City want to annex more area?” The City did not act alone to create the Joint Planning agreement. It was negotiated among three units of government: City, Northern Township and Bemidji Township. The agreement identifies three annexation tiers that the City may annex in 2010, 2015, and 2020. The City may choose to annex some areas and not others or none at all. The distribution of tax revenues from areas that are annexed is prorated and the City would not receive 100% of the taxes generated in newly annexed areas for six years. However 100% of the cost of public safety and public works, e.g. street maintenance, would be assumed by the City immediately upon annexation.

Parks: “Why is the City investing all that money in parks? They’ll never be able to take care of them.” We will collect $9.8 million from sales tax to upgrade our city parkland and trails. We currently oversee more than 200 acres of parkland and several miles of trails. The community will ultimately decide how we should maintain our parks by their support (or the lack of support) for funding the parks and trails budget.

Lily Tomlin liked to quip, “Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

Maybe she was right. It’s really easy to complain. If you’re not careful, you end up complaining your whole life. Concentrating on the good things makes you feel better. Maybe it’s time to talk about what Bemidji does right.