Thin Ice

"St. Paul is running out of money," asserts Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul), who expressed strong reservations about the hockey plan when running for mayor against Coleman last year. "During this session, the city asked the state for more money to develop Harriet Island along the river. And the chair of the committee said, 'Why isn't the city putting any money in? This should be a partnership.' And the head of the city's riverfront commission told him that with the hockey arena and the Wabasha Bridge and the science museum, the city is stretched too thin to engage in any partnerships.

"That's tough," Pappas continues, "because we just had a big study done by the legislative auditor, and one of the recommendations for approving funding was the need for a match by local government. We have big things we want to do in St. Paul. We want to open up the Phalen Corridor for economic development and provide education programs at Como Park and clean up polluted lands and bring in new businesses." But without the leverage of matching city dollars, Pappas says, "it's beginning to look like we can't get it done."