Friday Funny: Concerned, Obstinate Citizen Impacts Local Planning

18 March 2005 - 2:00pm

Irv Draper fought ten long years to save taxpayers' money and ensure that a community pool would not be built.

After the City Council struck down pool funding, Draper declared, "'Today, the city council stood up in favor of the long-term interests of tax-paying Mankatoans. After 10 long years of ceaseless toil, I can finally say that a swimming pool will not be built!'...Draper, now 47, began his long battle against the public pool in May 1995, when the former director of public works, Bart Janklow, proposed it. Draper mobilized a coalition of six citizens who opposed the pool due to its expense and the traffic congestion and noise it might create."

Source: The Onion, March 15, 2005
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The following list shows the top 10 metropolitan statistical areas, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, where commuting by public transportation has grown the most. None of them are among the nation's top 10 most populous metro areas, and yet seven are within the top 20.