It might be dead this year but it’s not dead. Just two minutes ago on the radio they quoted Hortman as saying they did it in Colorado and people like the gas tax less than the delivery fee. 17 billion surplus and they just can’t help themselves.
So, it’s 50 cent fee on $100+ deliveries now. I have bought things for $2. So I think I am good.
All I can say is look at Minnesota if you want to know how fast you can drive over the cliff with one session and a one vote majority. I think the founders referred to it as the tyranny of the majority. With a 17 billion dollar surplus, they managed to spend it all and increase gas and other taxes. Plus eliminate gas and oil and dependable energy production. The were also some dreadful social programs that I won’t go into. They didn’t get everything done but there is always next year.
I had a great time in St Paul a couple of weeks ago. The 54 bus from the airport to near the hotel was clean and safe. We had no problems walking around downtown St Paul at night either.
Not sure why anyone would fly into mpls airport and then stay in stpaul hotel. There’s little to do in stpaul. I lived in stpaul and worked downtown. But not recently.
We had a conference at the Intercontinental Hotel. I stayed a few blocks away. As business travelers, we only cared about good food and a couple of drinks. I was just trying to put a positive spin on MSP. I live my blood type: B positive.
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I guess that things haven’t changed too much since I was last in The Twin Cities in…
I think… 1978. Our friends who lived in MPLS referred to St. Paul as “the withered twin”.
Glad you had a good time in St. Paul. I was there every day for years with no problem. Still even then I would not have walked down dale street at night.
For you geographically challenged, you cannot fly into St. Paul (except the small airport) without going to the main msp airport that serves the whole area. Going back to the late 1800s though, St. Paul was known as the most corrupt city, especially the police force. There are some great novels featuring Sherlock Holmes written by a local architect (authors name escapes me right now) that captures the conditions back then. Sleepy though compared to Minneapolis. A fun book on Minneapolis in the early days was a biography by the famous Sid Hartman. St. Paul allowed the gangs from Minneapolis to escape to St. Paul for safety as long as they behaved themselves in St. Paul. Over his life, Sid dealt with all of the movers and shakers, legal or not, and knew the back stories.
Edit: Larry millet is the Holmes author. Very good books that I have donated to the local library.
I should have known that Sid’s book is just “Sid”.
According to the new rules, you must have a car problem to post on this board. If you want to start a revolution over taxes, it has all been done before.
No, no… the most corrupt government entity in the US would have bee Franklin Borough in Pennsylvania before, say, 1980. The steel mill paid a huge tax bill and the residential area was just a few blocks. The Borough manager used the tax receipts to buy votes. My relatives swore they knew people across the creek in Franklin that told them of the money they received in return for votes.
I found that downtown at night was deserted, or safe if you prefer. I saw far more homeless people early in the morning while I walked a couple of blocks to get breakfast. It set me wondering: how can any homeless person survive a Minnesota winter?
Well here’s a car problem. Were ya gonna work when they are all electric? Maybe brakes, and body work will flourish.
I have read the same thing.
Who woulda’ thunk!
Don’t forget tires and alignment. As for brakes, a lot (all?) EVs have regenerative braking available and that will reduce disk brake work dramatically. I’ve talked to the people up front at the repair shop I use and they are very concerned about how EVs will affect the business. We will still get Odyssey work done there and I will have my tires changed there on my Model 3.
+1
Unless someone driving an EV or a plug-in hybrid does a LOT of panic stops, his/her braking will be mostly–or almost entirely–done by the regenerative braking system. The brake pads on plug-in hybrids typically last for 70k miles–or more. With EVs, it remains to be seen, but it is likely to be similar, or maybe even better.
So brakes are out. Rotations are in and body work, although I’ve heard some body folks won’t work on electrics. There is always detailing for rich people that don’t do their own cleaning.
I’m guessing Larry Millet. I haven’t read any of his mystery novels myself, but by the summaries, they look pretty good.
Electric cars still need to propel the wheels, so plenty of stuff to fail & mechanics needed to fix. Some of the repair methods will likely be different though, especially if the electric-motor-drivetrain part fails. Instead of taking it apart and replacing a failed part, likely the entire motor/battery and drive system will be replaced. The main problem isn’t the mechanics so much, but the cost to the car owners, some repairs which are within reach for ic designs could prove very expensive for electrics.
Yeah I edited my comment to add his name. All the books are good. I’ve read them all. They are novels though but his St. Paul history and dealings with hill the railroad Barron, pretty accurate.
I drove my car to St Paul occasionally either to a sporting/boat show or a car show. Then of course I would drive my car to the Fair Grounds and to Como Park, which I think may have been within St Paul city limits.
Watch a stock car race at the fair.
I lived 6 blocks from ford plant. It’s a new city there now. Kinda like Disney world. 100 acres of bare land in heart of city. Well, vacant land between stpaul and mpls. Actually far enough away from crime ridden downtowns to be safe. Safer I mean
I was concerned about taking a metro bus to the hotel. While waiting for the bus I asked a fellow passenger that looked local about public transit safety. He said the buses were safe, but that light transit was not. He thought the rail cars smelled bad much of the time due to junkies riding the light rail and he never felt safe.