Reforming Your Town-Local Issues-Part 2-Bob Davis Podcast 803

When it comes to reform, local issues are often overlooked these days. Jason Bradley and Andrew Richter join me for the second half of our interview to talk local. Click here for part one. Learn more in Reforming Your Town-Local Issues-Part 2-Bob Davis Podcast 803.

Most Towns Have Similar Issues

I joined Andrew and Jason for the 100th Community Solutions MN podcast recently. In that podcast Andrew and Jason made the point that they’ve discovered the most pressing local issues in Minnesota are surprisingly uniform.

Unelected Government Pushing Its Agenda

Moreover what it comes down to is increasing control of local communities by state and federal government. Bike trails. Light Rail. Unelected boards and ghost written city plans. Roundabouts. Higher property taxes and local costs. You’d be surprised to see opposition to these plans from politically unpredictable sources.

Great Ideas Hidden Costs

Certainly some there are some supporters for this kind of development. In contrast support begins to fade when locals learn how much these great ideas cost. Find out about it in Reforming Your Town-Local Issues-Part 2-Bob Davis Podcast 803.

Unsuspecting Locals Forced To Accept National Will

Moreover national groups and sponsors of social initiatives often go around state and federal legislatures to force their will on unsuspecting and weak local residents. Andrew and Jason have called it the death of rural America.

Second Amendment Infringements

Especially relevant here are local infringements on second amendment rights. While state legislatures and the US Congress struggle with firearm legislation regulations are being forced on local communities.

Work Sessions To Avoid Community Action

Community Solutions MN also points out a most noteworthy tactic. Often local councils and boards will use ‘work sessions’ to debate and decide, and have a useless public hearing to take questions at the last minute before levies and initiatives are about to be imposed.

Robbing Us Blind

Finally what about subsidies and costs? Taxes? Levies? Fees? The average american has only five hundred dollars cash in reserve. Financial burdens on the middle class from local governments are more significant than you’d think.

In conclusion everyone focuses on the circus in Washington DC. However local governments are robbing us blind.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating, Metro wide from Saint Paul

Reforming Your Town-Local Issues-Part 2-Bob Davis Podcast 803

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Fixing Your Town-Local Activism-Part 1-Bob Davis Podcast 802

These days there’s so much focus on national issues. Most of us do not realize we can have a big impact on our local towns. Two guys who know the drill join me from Community Solutions MN in Fixing Your Town-Local Activism-Part 1-Bob Davis Podcast 802.

Local Activism

Jason Bradley and Andrew Richter tell their story in part 1 of an epic interview. I like Jason and Andrew because they’ve forgotten more about local activism than most people have learned.

Told To Pound Sand

Jason and Andrew got started as two citizens upset over a proposed road widening. The spark? When they protested, the city government told them to pound sand. Learn more in Fixing Your Town-Local Activism-Part 1-Bob Davis Podcast 802.

The Death of Rural America

I have reported on and talked a lot about national and state issues in these podcasts. Media misses an especially relevant truth. Small towns are often told what to do by state and federal agencies. Jason and Andrew have called this the death of rural America.

You Are Not Powerless

This podcast tells a story. That story helps people understand they are not powerless. Community Solutions MN can help people in townships, small towns, and especially suburbs that ring major cities.

Taxpayers Foot The Bill

Finally, we’ve all heard of the special deals big companies get to put warehouses, plants, stores and ‘research facilities‘ in states and major cities. Did you know this is happening in small towns and suburban villages too? Truth is the taxpayer foots the bill.

Perfumed Princes Thrown Out Of Office

In conclusion most of the time city councils, county councils and township governments get the feeling they can do whatever they want. Part 1 of this interview shows citizens can take back their town and their county, much to chagrin of the so called perfumed princes who act as though their exalted position is their birthright.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating Metro-wide FromSaint Paul

Fixing Your Town-Local Activism-Part 1-Bob Davis Podcast 802

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Podcast 502-The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27

The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27. This was a big week for the Bob Davis Podcasts, with the 500th podcast ‘retrospective’, and an interview with a small town Minnesota Mayor who is struggling with the overbearing power of unelected governance in the form of the Metropolitan Council; Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s panel of planning czars. The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27 includes one segment of original content not heard in the podcasts this week, as well as the Mark Korin interview in Podcast 501, edited for broadcast. The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27 kicks off with a bit of a rant about pundits suddenly trying to walk back their ‘predictions’ about what they thought was ‘supposed’ to happen in the Republican Presidential Primaries and Caucuses this spring, and the ‘presumptive’ nomination of Donald Trump by the Republican party. The latest mea culpa is 538 Blog’s Nate Silver, who says there need to be more internal ‘controls’ so that his predictions concerning Trump won’t happen again. It seems to me that the issue is ego, and the remedy isn’t internal controls, it’s realizing ‘the public’ doesn’t need tarot card reading from the media, it needs reporting. So many people in the media think the public is hanging on their every word and ‘trusts’ their predictions and endorsements, which amount to little more than campaigning for a candidate or cause and they’re making fools of themselves. Our country is experiencing a sea change of political thought, and ideas about how our society is managed. I want to have a completely different conversation about what is actually happening what it is like, once we get there. The last thing any of us need is some media person telling is what they think is going to happen, before whatever happens, happens! Meanwhile, important reporting is getting missed because all any of these magpies are talking about is Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Small town mayor Mark Korin joins the Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27 to talk about his struggle with the Met Council, which is legally empowered to refuse to take no for an answer from elected officials. Korin says its because Minnesota State Law gives the Met Council the power. Korin is the Mayor of Oak Grove, a city which is represented in the state house by Speaker of the Minnesota House, Kurt Daudt, and powerful State Senator Micelle Benson. Isn’t interesting – and typical – that these two completely missed the opportunity to take the teeth out of the met council by amending or repealing the state statutes Korin talks about in The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-27 and Podcast 501. Sponsored by Brush Studio and Hydrus Performance.

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