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In this Issue
Earlier this year, the Met Council celebrated it’s 50th
anniversary at an event at the University of Minnesota. When the Council was
created in 1967, sewage was polluting our lakes and rivers, suburban
development was gobbling up open space, and we had a booming population with no
real roadmap for infrastructure and development. Metropolitan Council Chair
Alene Tchourumoff shared a story that showed the civic wisdom behind a regional
approach didn’t materialize from these problems. I was surprised to learn that it came from Major
League Baseball.
An article from the 1960s in Harper’s Magazine detailed how
both Minneapolis and Saint Paul wanted to get a major league baseball
franchise. Each city put in its own bid, and because they competed with each
other, both lost. “To their chagrin,” the author wrote, “they realized that they
could not get or support a big-league team in baseball – or football or hockey
– unless they operated it jointly as a Twin Cities venture. Thus, on the sports
pages appeared the first sprouts of civic wisdom.”
50
years ago, the governor and legislature realized that many issues we experience
as a region don’t respect city limits or a county line. The Met Council was
created to plan for these challenges, rather than just reacting to them. This
is true whether you are talking about climate change, sustainable growth, or
traffic congestion. When the Council was created, community leaders saw value
in collaborating to solve regional issues. And most still do!
I am fond of saying
that the Met Council is more than just “buses, flushes, parks, and housing.”
Among our recent achievements are:
- The Environmental
Services division treats 225 million gallons of wastewater every day from 2.5
million residents at a 40% lower cost than our peers.
- Metro Transit was awarded
the American Public Transit Association’s (APTA) System of the Year in 2016.
- The Metro HRA is the
largest provider of housing vouchers in Minnesota.
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Promoting equity is
one of five outcomes that define our shared regional vision.
Our
region is expected to grow by more than 800,000 people and 550,000 jobs by
2040. In the decades to come, we will face challenges including constrained
fiscal resources, new demands from demographic shifts, environmental change,
new regional planning priorities, and the increasing necessity of regional
economic cooperation. I am confident that the decisions we make today will
ensure that the region is still up to the challenges of the future.
With
the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Council’s creation, I think of the
many ways in which we have helped the metro region thrive since 1967. I am
proud to be part of this great region and to be your representative to Met
Council.
If
I can be of service to you, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Munt
Metropolitan
Council member | District 3
I proudly serve Chanhassen, Deephaven, Eden
Prairie, Excelsior, Greenwood, Long Lake, Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach,
Minnetrista, Mound, Orono, Shorewood, Spring Park, St. Bonifacius, Tonka Bay,
Wayzata, and Woodland.
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Visitors to the Metro Mobility website will notice big changes as the Council updates the site. In response to feedback from users, the site has been reorganized, simplified, and is more compatible with mobile devices.
Visit the new site.
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Gov. Mark Dayton has advanced three Metropolitan Council initiatives in his 2018 bonding bill. The major line items include:
- $50 million for regional bus rapid transit projects (like the A Line)
- $50 million for the Heywood II Bus Garage
- $5 million for a Council partnership with Metro Cities to reduce municipal infiltration and inflow (I&I), which is clean water seeping into the wastewater treatment system
The funds are part of Dayton’s overall $1.5 billion bonding proposal. Most of the proposal is focused on restoring aging buildings in Minnesota’s public higher education system, upgrading sewer and water infrastructure, improving and repairing state buildings, and investing in road, bridge, and transit infrastructure and affordable housing.
Learn more about what the funding will accomplish. |
