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Hennepin Happening
Welcome to the District 5 June newsletter! Memorial Day is just a few days from now, and there are services in each of the District 5 cities. The details for the events are listed below. I can only serve now because so many have sacrificed their lives for us, and I hope you join me in honoring their memories this Monday, May 28.
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 Minnesotans have a rich history of selfless service in the Armed Forces, and Memorial Day gives us all an opportunity to come together and remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Here are the services in District 5 this coming Monday, May 28:
Bloomington Memorial Day Parade
Bloomington Cemetery: 10340 Lyndale Ave S, Bloomington
9:00am - 11:00am
The parade begins at 9:00am at 94th Street and Nicollet, continuing south to the Bloomington Cemetery. There will be a service in the cemetery at 10:00am
Eden Prairie Memorial Day Service
Veterans Memorial - Purgatory Creek Park: 13001 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie
11:00am - 12:00pm
The ceremony will include a performance by the Eden Prairie High School Wind Ensemble and an invocation/speech by Retired Colonel Kenneth Beale Jr., U.S. Army.
Richfield Memorial Day Service
Honoring All Veterans Memorial: 6401 Portland Ave, Richfield
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Dr. Michael Turner and Judge Mitchell Turner - brothers of Lt. Charles Turner, Richfield native and first reported casualty of Operation Desert Storm - will be the featured speakers.
The board named Transportation Project Delivery Director Carla Stueve to a one-year term as Hennepin County's Highway Engineer, effective May 22, 2018. Stueve is a certified professional traffic operations engineer.
As Highway Engineer, Stueve is responsible for managing
about $50 million of the county’s road and bridge projects in the
capital program every year. She is the ninth person — and first female —
to serve in this role.
She brings 22 years of transportation engineering
experience, including her last five years with Hennepin County working as Planning Division Manager in Transportation Project Delivery. Prior to her time
with the County, Carla worked for SRF Consulting Group in Plymouth, where
she served as a Transportation Safety Manager and was responsible for safety
and traffic impact studies including Statewide County Roadway Safety Plans,
Safe Routes to School, and pedestrian and bicycle safety studies.
On the subject of her employer, Stueve says, "working
for Hennepin County is very rewarding and there is so much opportunity to learn
and grow. I really enjoy the collaborative and thoughtful effort that goes into
each project to best serve all people using our transportation system. County leadership also provides great
vision and support to meet our transportation goals."
From one engineer to another, congratulations Carla.
  In 2013, the Minnesota Legislature created the Corridors of Commerce
program, authorizing the sale of up to $300 million in new trunk
highway bonds for the construction, reconstruction, and improvement of
trunk highways for projects not already in the State Transportation
Improvement Program. This was to advance two major goals:
- Provide additional highway capacity on segments where there are currently bottlenecks in the system
- Improve the movement of freight and reduce barriers to commerce
In 2014, the Legislature provided an additional $31.5 million
in trunk highway funds for FY 2014 and FY 2015. In 2017, the
Legislature added $300 million in trunk highway bonds spread over four
years and $25 million per year in cash. In response, MnDOT decided to
select $400 million of projects in the next round of Corridors of
Commerce, two of which will provide a significant boost to District 5.
The MnDOT elected to construct a turbine interchange at 35W/494 between Bloomington and Richfield that will reduce travel delay by over 1600 hours per day, eliminate
approximately $1.8 million in crash costs annually, and make trips on
the corridor much more reliable.
The second project will construct a MnPASS lane between France Avenue and Highway 77 on highway 494, reducing travel delays by almost 2900 hours per day and eliminating just under $2.0 million in crash costs annually.
Since my last newsletter at the beginning of May, here are a few highlights from my work...
 I attended a presentation by La RED Latina de Educacióne Temprana, They train childcare providers in Bloomington and Richfield
on critical topics like healthy eating, physical activity, and early
childhood development. Inequities early in life lead to lower chances of
educational success and higher rates of health issues, and La Red is
working go get out ahead of those problems.
 Elevate at Southwest Station apartments broke ground in Eden Prairie just a few weeks ago. The county has teamed up with the City of Eden Prairie, the Metropolitan Council, our
residents, and many others to bring a mix of
market-rate and workforce housing units into our cities. This is just
the beginning of the economic boost the light rail is bringing to our
communities.
 The
11th annual Hennergy Awards was a huge success. Eight awards were given
to county buildings and people staffing them for reducing their energy consumption, saving
tax dollars, and moving us towards becoming a greener, more sustainable county.
 Attended Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County's reception for their volunteers. They're
working hard every day to address and prevent poverty in our community.
Our interim executive director Pam Pullman (pictured) served this organization at a critical time, and she's leaving our county in better shape than she found it. I wish her the best of luck as she returns to her home in Missouri.
 Bridging the Red/Blue Divide: A Better Angels Workshop
Thursday, June 14, 6:00pm –
9:00pm
Augsburg Park Library, 7100 Nicollet Ave, Richfield
The workshop brings
together 5-7 conservative-leaning “Red” citizens and 5-7 liberal-leaning “Blue”
citizens for three hours of structured conversation. The goals are to better
understand the experiences and beliefs of those on the other side of the
political divide. This workshop focuses on listening and reflecting rather than
debating and persuading and is moderated by Bill Doherty, a founder of Better
Angels and University of Minnesota Professor.
Prior registration is required; please email RedBlue@hclib.org
by June 1 with the following information: full name, phone number, and your Red
or Blue identification. A limited number of observers are welcome with prior
registration.
Code Camp
Wednesdays, June 13, 20 and 27, 12:00pm - 2pm
Eden Prairie Library, 565 Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie
Students entering grades 7-9 will learn basic and
intermediate coding techniques using JavaScript. The workshop will be divided
into three sessions to learn coding concepts and then build on more advance
concepts to create your own program.
Learn more and
register for this STEM class.
Eden Prairie Library renovations move forward
The Hennepin County Board approved the initial design for
renovations to the Eden Prairie Library, which will close in early winter 2018
for improvements that will take approximately nine months to complete.
Learn more about the
renovation project.
Learn more about
this action.
Add a
hilarious companion to your summer road trip
A funny
audiobook will help you pass the miles between here and there. Our librarians
have curated a list of some of the funniest audiobooks that you can take along
with you.
See our list of funny audiobooks.
Put a
library in your pocket
You can
access audiobooks, ebooks and all of the Hennepin County Library’s online
resources using only your mobile phone and your library card.
Learn how to add hclib.org to your
smart phone or tablet’s home screen.
Get a free library card.
Stream
your favorite music
An exciting
new feature is now available in Freegal. In addition to being able to download
up to five songs each week, you can now stream the entire Freegal music
library, for as many as eight hours a day.
Learn more about how to stream and
download from Freegal.
66th Street in Richfield and Bloomington's Normandale Boulevard are in the midst of major construction projects. Skip the traffic jams and sign up for updates on the projects impacting your commute.
You can also visit the Hennepin County website for updates on road maintenance projects and all other road construction.
Housing crises, energy assistance, child protection, emergency situations; we are here to advocate for you when it comes to navigating local and county services, and we want to help. Please call our office at 612-348-7885 with any questions or for assistance.
Contact
Commissioner Debbie Goettel
Hennepin County District 5
Bloomington | Eden Prairie | Richfield
612-348-7885 | debbie.goettel@hennepin.us
Casey Krolczyk
Principal Aide
612-348-7885 | casey.krolczyk@hennepin.us
Michael Ohama
Policy Director
612-348-7885 | michael.ohama@hennepin.us
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