On October 4th, 2017 the Office of the Legislative Auditor released the first in a new series of quarterly audits of our sprawling regional authority, the Met Council, with a focus on its transit financial activity. Transit financials are of particular interest right now, as the Met Council is pursuing nearly $1 billion in federal funds for its much maligned Southwest Light Rail Transit (SWLRT) line that it hopes to impose on the Twin Cities as part of expanding its Metro Transit system.

However, as that project has stumbled, an apparent disconnect has emerged: On the one hand, the Met Council appeared to be telling the federal government that Metro Transit's financials were in good enough shape to earn SWLRT the second highest rating available (Medium-High) from the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA).
 
And on the other hand, the Met Council was telling the Minnesota Legislature (and anyone else who would listen) that its Metro Transit division is facing a structural deficit that must be addressed with additional taxpayer funding.

And the OLA's verdict is...

I joined Justice and Drew on KTLK on Wednesday to discuss the just released audit from the Office of the Legislative Auditor on the Met Council's finances. Rep. Nash joins us in Part 2 of the discussion. I'll have more details on this later in the week.

Listen to the podcast here.

The long and crazy story of the the Twin Cities' proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit line took another twist today as the project sponsor, the Great and Wonderful Metropolitan Council, rejected all four construction bids they have received for the $1.9B boondoggle.

The source of the problem may well be that bids are 30% more expensive as a percentage of overall project cost as was the construction phase of the original leg of the Green Line (SWLRT is an extension of that line, which runs from St Paul to Minneapolis).

Of course, there is much more going here, with a new $20M "Crash Wall" proposed for the line, a lack of environmental analysis, and even a host of left wing critics who are astonished at the brazen way in which the Met Council has tried to ram through recent "tweaks" to the project. 

As Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin recently noted, they "haven't won the argument" on putting through this overpriced Met Council toy.

Stay tuned - much more to come!

Per a press release today from Rep. Jason Lewis (MN CD-02), the FY2018 federal budget request will not fund the Twin Cities' infamous Southwest Light Rail (SWLRT). This expected development is the result of at least four things:

• Rep. Lewis specifically requested Transportation Secretary Chao to not fund the nearly $2 billion boondoggle project, as it does next to nothing to solve congestion issues in the region.
• The entire MN state GOP Caucus did the same, and reminded the Secretary that there is no commitment from the State to subsidize the ongoing operating costs of the SWLRT, as is required.
• The Trump administration has made clear that it does not intend to fund projects that do not already have a federal Full Funding Grant Agreement - which  SWLRT does not have.

Of course, this is really the result of actions by the line's local champion - the unelected, unaccountable Met Council, which has broken promises, lied, and ignored lawsuits as it schemed to ram through SWLRT. The Met Council is now faced with having foolishly spent around $160 million to "plan" for the line.

That $160 million hole in our taxpayer wallet is a natural outcome of the broken governance structure of the Met Council.  That structure features a governing board filled with 17 patronage positions held by unelected friends of the Governor. With its complete lack of local elected officials who represent voters, is it any surprise the Council has utterly failed to build a true regional consensus around this wasteful project (or much else for that matter)?

When this story ends, how  will the Met Council pay for its malfeasance?

What direct recourse do citizens have to demand change and accountability to prevent more Met Council disasters like this?

On March 24th, 2017 Rep. Jason Lewis (MN-CD2) sent a letter to US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asking her to deny the full funding agreement to the Twin Cities' Southwest Light Rail line. 

Lewis references the Minnesota Legislature's excellent letter from March 17th, which delineates the many reasons why this funding should be denied. 

This is part of Lewis' developing efforts to reel in the out-of-control and unaccountable Met Council, which is our local "regional authority" that is doing its best to plan every aspect of your life, like it or not.

It's great to have a strong voice for local control in Washington. Let Rep. Lewis and your Minnesota legislators know that you support these efforts to...

Stop the Train!

On March 17th, 2017 the Minnesota State GOP caucuses in the House and Senate sent a 14 page letter to US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asking her to deny the full funding agreement to the infamous Southwest Light Rail line here in the Twin Cities.

It undoubtedly comes as a surprise to many people that the unaccountable Met Council, which plans and operates the transit system,  has been barreling along spending tens of millions of dollars on SWLRT without any certainty as to how the rail line's capital expenses would be funded, much less ongoing operating costs. But that's in fact the case, as the Federal Government has yet to approve $895 million in capital funds of the line.

The excellent letter from GOP legislators points out that the Met Council has circumvented the legislature in order to get the rail line project this far, violated its commitment to not use the obscure funding mechanism known as Certificates of Participation,  and it appears that the Met Council is in violation of US code that prevents the cannibalization of bus service in order to fund new light rail. 

The business case case against SWLRT is even more stark, as the Met Council's own projections show that they expect to generate only 6,500 new-to-transit riders per day as a result of the nearly $2 billion in capital spending!

Southwest Light Rail is a boondoggle project crafted by a self-perpetuating bureaucracy, led by the only board in the country that is completely filled by patronage positions.  

Let you legislators know that you support their efforts to bring fiscal sanity to transportation and transit planning in Minnesota.

Stop The Train!

Interested in telling your legislators what you think about the Met Council?

On February 15th at 430pm, citizens have the opportunity to testify before a joint session  of the House Transportation Policy and Regional Governance and the Senate Local Government committees. 

Wednesday, February 15th
4:30 PM
Bunker Hills Activity Center (Oak Room)
550 Bunker Lake Blvd, NW
Andover, MN 55304

Contact Abby.Loesch@house.mn or 651.296.8875 to sign up to testify.

Let your legislators know what you think about the least accountable, highest spending regional "planning" organization in the country.  A few talking point ideas...

1. GOVERNANCE:  If we are going to have a regional planning authority, could we at least have one that meets the federal requirement for it to be composed primarily of sitting, elected officials? (Today we get by with an exemption from the feds, courtesy of the Obama administration's recent "review".) We need people in charge who are accountable to the People, not appointed bureaucrats who dictate actions to citizens. The legislature can fix this.
2. SCOPE: The Met Council has by far the broadest scope of any "planning" authority in the country. It owns and operates the transit system, public housing, parks and wastewater systems. No other region comes close. Break apart the planning function from ownership and operation of these activities so that a single agency can no longer dictate actions to local communities by withholding funds or service as part of the "planning" process.  Again, the legislature can fix this.
3. STOP THE MADNESS:  A last minute rule from the Obama administration mandates that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), e.g. the Met Council, MUST expand their geography to include the entire Urbanized Area (UZA) in a region. This means the Met Council now has its fingers into Sherburne and Wright Counties. Furthermore,  the rule mandates that the MPO use the 2020 census to identify where the UZA is likely to be in 20 years, and take over planning for those areas as well. Chisago County, here we come! Not to mention Hudson, Wisconsin, which is also in the UZA.
4. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL: The new Obama rule declares that MPOs that have overlapping geographies should merge. Take a look at the map, and what you see is that Sherburne County has urban clusters that stretch all the way to St. Cloud, where the local MPO then stretches to western Stearns County.  The likely result? A single MPO run by the Met Council that reaches from western Stearns County  to Hudson, Wisconsin. WHAT???
5. Citizens Rise Against the Madness:  Ok, what CRA really stands for is the Congressional Review Act. This little law allows Congress to review and reject last minute rules issued by the previous administration. In other words, the crazy Obama rule and the expansion of the Met Council's MPO authority can be rejected by Congress. And the really great thing about this is that once Congress does this,  the bureaucrats can never come up with another rule that is substantially similar to the rejected rule. But Congress needs to do this within the next couple of months. TELL YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES TO TELL CONGRESS WE WANT THIS RULE REJECTED!
6. BE READY FOR PUSHBACK:  Of course, the Met Council will not take kindly to any challenges to their status as the unelected overlords of the Twin Cities. They'll tell you and the legislature that the new rule is "just" the planning function. But remember, the feds get to decide what's included in that planning function, they've just reinterpreted rules to expand what's included, and they'll do so again. Not to mention the fact that the Met Council started as a way to plan for efficient wastewater facilities. Now it's a billion dollar, sprawling monster. STOP THE MADNESS!

If you want to learn more about the new Obama rule, review this presentation.

If you want to learn more about what an outlier the Met Council is, review this one.

Remember, you get the government you deserve. Rise up and demand accountable, competent government, and put the unelected bureaucrats at the Met Council back in their place!

On Thursday Hennepin County County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin sent a letter the Hennepin County delegation and others in support of new metro-area taxes to support light rail. In particular he is looking to fund Southwest LRT.

McLaughlin notes that a metro area sales tax to fund transit would give Minnesota the same approach as other regions in the country such as Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, and Los Angeles.

Of course, he forgets to mention that all those regions  have a completely different, far more accountable and legitimate governance structure for the regional authority charged with using those tax funds.  That authority in Minnesota is the Met Council.

All other regional authorities in the country are run by a board composed of locally selected elected officials. In contrast, all board members of the Met Council hold patronage positions, and are appointed by Governor Dayton.

Legislators who are considering this plan for new taxes need to demand wholesale changes in the governance structure of the Met Council. At the very least, we need locally selected elected officials running the Council. Anything less is just more unaccountable government, and taxation without representation.  

Learn more here about how the Met Council is THE extreme outlier as the only regional authority that is 100% appointed, with a scope and spending far beyond any other such organization.