Not as warm as yesterday but plenty OK, still more than 10 degrees above average.
Heavy cloud cover. Dark.
I started out without any particular objective but ended up with one of my favorite rides, the State Capitol loop.
I like riding a bit on the Fairgrounds and did so again today. I get in a couple of miles while circumnavigating the grounds on very largely traffic free pavement and I get to keep up to the minute with what is happening over there. Today I got this evidence that we STILL have not had a frost, a nice mixture of annuals and shrubbery near one of the north end gates.
This one is interesting as it shows how grey the day was. It is also good because I took that picture at 1:45pm.
I saw elsewhere on the internet that building restoration at the State Capitol has advanced far enough to allow the building to be unwrapped.
In a major upset it appears that some sort of work is underway on the parking lot in front of the Capitol. There is a fence with canvas so I couldn't get a really good look but it just may be that the parking lot is on its way to removal with possibly a restoration of the mall to grass.
Unexpected.
Most people who know me don't need to be informed about my likely electoral choices tomorrow. Well, it is a secret ballot and I choose to keep those choices secret anyway.
Except for one.
Vote NO on the constitutional amendment.
Currently only the state Legislature can set salaries for members of the Legislature. The amendment proposes to establish an "independent" advisory board of some sort to assume this responsibility. On the surface that doesn't seem like THAT bad of an idea.
Except. Ramsey County Commissioners will make about $90,000 in 2017, Hennepin County about $110,000, Dakota County about $75,000 and Anoka County about $64,000. Legislators in Minnesota make $31,140. The Legislature has for many years been reluctant to raise their own salaries for fear that raising their own compensation will be used against them in the next election. My point is that the system is working. Those self-important egomaniacs absolutely do not need to be paid MORE. There are 201 members combined for the House and Senate, the second largest Legislature in the USA. Either cut the size of the two bodies or keep on accepting that $31,000 is what the job pays.
The system is working.
Vote NO on allowing the Legislature to transfer the authority to set salaries to some "indepedent" body which is almost certain to decide that this extremely important work deserves a higher level of compensation. Vote NO to keep responsibility with the Legislature, responsibility squarely on a group that we all have the power to vote out of office if we decide they have acted irresponsibly in increasing their own pay.
Vote NO!
2 comments:
Bushes really come into their own in the fall -- all summer long they were just green.
That Capitol building is almost too white. And oddly two toned.
We did pretty good on our time pieces this time around -- I think we got them all changed yesterday.
Love the bushes on the fairgrounds.
I plan to vote No.
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