Today’s Star Tribune reports that more Twin Cities public beaches will be telling swimmers to enter the water at their own risk. That’s because several cities have eliminated their summer lifeguard positions due to city aid cuts. While it may seem like a low-impact cost-saving measure, cutting lifeguards clearly shows that city aid programs like LGA help fund the basic services that keep cities safe and attractive places to live, and when the aid is gone, so are the services.
The state created the LGA program to ensure that we all have access to similar services—including lifeguards, police, and safe roads in the winter—at an affordable price. If you believe Minnesota communities should be affordable no matter what corner of the state we live in, contact your legislators and tell them to protect LGA in the 2010 session.