Perfect Duluth Day

It’s not Mars; it’s my streets.

On Facebook, I saw a picture that could have been from Mars, or from Hibbing (where the earth has been gutted by mines in a monstrously, sublimely beautiful way).

But it wasn’t. It was a Duluth street.

(On Facebook the photo is cropped without the yellow line. This makes it look even more out-of scale Martian.)

In the next election, I understand, there is something to be done about it.

From the ballot:

Should the city of Duluth request the Minnesota State legislature to authorize the city to enact a 0.5% general sales and use tax on sales and use of goods and services as currently applied within the city for a term of up to 25 years from the date of first collection thereof dedicated to funding implementation of the city’s designated Street Improvement Program? A “yes” vote means you favor the city of Duluth requesting authority to enact a 0.5% sales and use tax dedicated to fund the Street Improvement Program. A “no” vote means you do not favor the city of Duluth requesting the authority to enact a 0.5% sales and use tax dedicated to funding the Street Improvement Program.

I’m mixed on this one — I see a problem, and I see a solution. And the current solutions aren’t working. (The internet also tells me that “The current funding level only allows us to reconstruct less than 2 miles of roads each year.”)

But I am pained every time I buy a sandwich and see the tax rates as high as they are, and to be honest, years of reading Ramos in the Reader makes me even more wary of taxation in a town that seems to print money for Spirit Mountain but not to the roads that lead up to it.

Anyone offer some help on this one?