Fish don\'t come to mind as the most intelligent
creatures on the planet, but they
think well enough so that anglers believe
every fishing pole has a hook on one end and
an idiot on the other.
Fish have their
own psychology.
They\'re affected
by something
called \"The Big
Fish-Little Fish
Syndrome.\" If a big
fish is placed into
a tank with smaller
fish, it often
eats them, because
it sees them as small. But, when placed as a fingerling
into a tank with bigger fish, it appears
to remember itself as smaller while growing to
full size, and is less aggressive. In the big lake,
where hunger and competition are severe, fish
learn quickly to perceive size and danger with
accuracy.
Fish logic often applies to politics. Minnesota\'s
voters have restocked the State Capitol with
many new faces, a new administration, and an
invigorated Republican Party. To figure out
how Minneapolis will do in this new environment
going forward, someone needs to determine
if the 2003 State Capitol is a lake or a
tank, and if Minneapolis will be treated like a
big fish or a little fish.
A GOP Governor, and additional Republicans
in the House and Senate, will find ways to
face a projected $3 billion budget deficit
without first raising taxes. The theme that
unites these leaders is to find creative
ways to provide services, doing more with less,
downsizing government and imposing new concepts
of accountability in key departments.
This might not be a good time to be a senior
staff officer of the Department of Transportation,
which has seen sharp criticism by Republican
leaders in recent years.
Many of the new legislators avoided taking a
no-new-taxes pledge, which gives them the
flexibility to do what\'s necessary to avoid an
unbalanced budget, a condition prohibited by
the Minnesota State Constitution. Governments
in Minnesota behave like fish, taking a bite out
of smaller levels that swim by in a time of need.
It seems likely that some reductions in state
aids to local governments are ahead, which hits
Minneapolis at a bad time, already trying to
cope with its own budgetary shortfall. How
much of a bite Minneapolis will in turn take out
of your tail or dorsal fins is unknown at this
point, so stay alert.
Business representatives from around the state
tell us that transportation funding came up frequently
during local elections. During the six
years I\'ve followed this issue closely at the
Capitol, I\'ve seen transportation, including
roads and transit, grow from a small fish to a
large one, with teeth. Eventually, transportation
will eat every priority in the tank.
I\'m hoping that Governor Pawlenty will be a
force for reason on transportation issues. In
2002, any inclusion of money to study rail lines
could scuttle bills for transportation. Pawlenty
said after the election that he knows \"we cannot
build our way out of congestion.\" He
intends to hold anything from rickshaws to
rocket ships to a test of how many people are
moved, what it costs to build and subsidize and
who pays for it. If the playing field is that honest,
all options have a chance.
Minneapolis voters have again sent an all-DFL
delegation to the Capitol, which means that no
one may press for City of Lakes priorities in the
GOP caucuses. Governor Ventura cut many
projects from the 2002 bonding bill, including
every Minneapolis project. Bonding requests
for the Guthrie Theater, Children\'s Theater,
planetarium and federally designated Enterprise
Zones may be recycled in 2003. Unless
Minneapolis is viewed as a trophy class lunker,
that group of priorities won\'t survive as a set.
Hennepin County will almost certainly be
allowed to participate in a ballpark financing
proposal in 2003. The proposal will have similarities
to the 2002 package approved by legislators,
but some key differences. Hennepin
County is perceived as a bigger fish than Minneapolis
these days and needs to carry this priority
for both. As for me, I\'m one of those bottom
feeders that try to keep out of the way.
Sam
Grabarski is
president and
CEO of the
Minneapolis
Downtown
Council, a
group of
business
leaders.
