Budget Cuts: Minnesotans find out they're not just for poor folks

[dflprincess]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4261333.html

So, before you read this, let me say in my own defense that I did call my state rep last year and told her to bite the bullet and raise income taxes. My main concern was about the social programs that were being cut, but, being absolutely phobic about driving in the snow, I did wonder what would happen to the roads this winter. There was a definite difference in the quality of road conditions - I cursed Governor (and Bush stooge) Pawlenty and his "no raise in taxes policy" all the way into work Wednesday morning - and that was after it had stopped snowing (luckily, I have the option of working from home and that's what I did Tuesday when things were at their worst.)

snip

The snowfall on Tuesday night was the metro area's first introduction to the state's money-saving snow-plowing plan. Even though it was still snowing and highways were still white, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) cut overnight plowing crews. From 8:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., plowing crews were at slightly less than half staff.

Anyone on the road Tuesday evening would have seen the trade-off.

Joel Stegner of Edina did, and he would like to tell Gov. Tim Pawlenty: "It didn't work. The people of Minnesota are used to a certain level of service, and it isn't there," said Stegner, a system director for market research at Fairview Health Services.
To operate under the state's reduced budget, MnDOT is trying to switch from two 12-hour snow removal shifts (with four hours of overtime built into each shift) to three eight-hour shifts with no overtime.

MnDOT maintains there is no compromise on safety, but the numbers show that plowing power has been reduced. The 12-hour shifts used to put 50 percent of the plowing staff on the road at all times; the new plan puts 40 percent of the plow force on the road in two shifts -- one from 3:30 a.m. to noon and one from noon to 8:30 p.m. At night, the staff drops to 20 percent. Under the old plan, there were roughly 200 plows on metro-area highways at all times, but under the new plan, sometimes there could be as few as 40 plows on the road overnight. On Tuesday, there were about 80 out plowing in the metro area overnight, a MnDOT official said.

I really liked the quote about "being used to a certain level of service"...That would not just in snow plowing I might add.

There was also a letter to the editor telling the gov that the writer would be happy to have a couple more dollars taken out of her check if meant the roads would be clear.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

1. Keep it up, Pawlenty...

And you're going to be a one term governor...
he's going to have to raise taxes in order to make up these problems, or the populous is going to get mad.
Pawlenty is going to pay for his "no raise in taxes policy", and I'm going to laugh when he loses.
...or better yet, can we recall him? (I don't think the Minnesota Constitution has that kind of provision.)