As I watched the joint City Council/Minnehaha County meeting on Monday afternoon, I was still baffled by Jamison’s and Kelly’s opposition to the chronically homeless shelter. Yes, other councilors and commissioners have concerns about the cost. Specifically if a grant will be issued to help build and maintain the facility. There is also still disagreement on how much the county and city is going to pay. Staggers also brought up the topic of SSI and Veterans assistance for some of the shelters occupants. These are all great questions. But what baffles me the most is that Jamison and Kelly are vehemently against helping these people NOT because of the above listed concerns but because they think these people don’t ‘deserve’ the help. Jamison claimed that his constituents are telling him this. Hey, Greg, there is more then one person besides your daddy living in your district you can talk to.
Okay, let me be the devil’s advocate for a moment. Let’s say I agree with Dick and Greg. Let’s say I don’t care about chronically homeless drunk veterans with mental problems, let’s also pretend I don’t care if they rot in a gutter or freeze to death in a snowstorm. Let’s also pretend that I think it is dispicable that one cent of my money goes towards these bums. But, see, that’s where Dick and Greg just don’t get it. Even if you are against helping these people, it just makes economic sense to help them anyway. By building this shelter we will be saving taxpayer’s aproximately 50-70% in public saftey costs because these people won’t be using our most expensive emergency services as often.
It just makes economic sense to help them, whether you like them or not. I suppose we could get rid of our animal control to save taxpayer’s money also, but we know the public saftey repercussions outweigh the expense and that’s why animal control is important.
I would think two guys in the Real Estate business would understand simple economics, but hey, look how these two vote most of the time.
The Gargoyle wrote about it today in an editorial, where once again they praised Munson’s leadership on passing the bonds. Because there is nothing like flushing $8.5 million in interest payments down a monkey crapper toilet for projects we could have budgeted for instead borrowed for. Yup, that’s leadership alright, right to the poorhouse.