The redistricting map approved by Olmsted County is a textbook example how to ensure cities, minorities, and urban poor are not given fair representation. It is a shameful act of disenfranchisement that relies on fictitious principles of redistricting while ignoring real redistricting considerations. As a result of the redistricting, Rochester is not likely to achieve the representation that the deserve.
The justification for the selection of “Option 15″ basically came about by weighing arbitrary or meaningless metrics while ignoring more important metrics. Basic principles such and compactness, respect for political subdivisions, and respect for communities of interest (neighborhoods) were ignored needlessly. Read the rest of this entry »
Rochester Day at the Capital appears to have had an impact on Rochester’s #1 priority the Mayo Civic Center and Olmsted County’s #1 priority a Zip Line study. Here is Sen. Senjem proudly wearing his badge supporting the MCC project. In addition Sen. Nelson also affirmed strong support and indicate that she was actually the person introducing the bill. Previously Rep. Liebling and Rep. Norton have expressed support in the house. City staff, officials, and residents met with a tremendous number of legislators in both parties and chambers and they most all said 1 thing. “If we have the support of Sen. Senjem supports the project, it will happen.” As an elected official in Rochester my goal is to have our state and federal reps deliver for us, so I was delighted to confirm the senator’s support. We also heard similar support for the Zip line study so we are looking good there as well.
Here is one of many county roads in Rochester which fails to account for pedestrians, cyclists, businesses, transit users, the young, the old, or the disabled.
Mark Bilderback and I were fortunate enough to join some great kids from Rochester on their day at the capital. This group was very engaged despite some coming from challenging circumstances. There were some great exchanges with Senator David Senjem and Mark Dayton. Both Governor and the Majority were as non-partisan as human beings could ever have been. This was all about the kids. I also loved that we had a diverse group of kids who actually represent what Rochester looks like. Not the “white and wealthy that elected officials from other parts of the state sometimes envision.
Senator Senjem took time out of his schedule to visit with the kids. My favorite questions was, “Are you the governor?” Sen. Senjem also told the kids that you are successful when you help others to be successful. The kids met with most local elected officials. I even went back and forth with Sen. Nelson who offered to meet with the kids. Unfortunately schedules did not permit.
I am processing the video, but I will eventually add the video of kids asking Mark Dayton questions. The best part of the whole day was Mark Dayton blowing off his staffers and later our own Mayor so that he could keep answering questions from the kids. Even after his staff finally wrestled him out of the room, he came back again for a picture.
Most the questions were quite good, there were a few that were overly scripted. One person from the press corps commented that the kids asked better questions than the press corps.
Working closely with staff I drafted the following note that will be sent to Olmsted County for input on redistricting. On Monday evening the city council approved the comments with a 7-0 vote. Right now the city of Rochester is severely under represented on the county board of commissioners. Our residents represent 5.1 of the 7 seats in the county, however we have only 4 of 7 seats on the county board. By the time of the next census, I expect that we will have nearly 5.5 of the 7 county seats and once again be under represented. As such it is important that we get fair districts established today. I also weigh in on some general practices which need to be addressed in county districts 1 and 5. So as to be consistent, I expect the city will follow these same principles. Read the rest of this entry »
Mitzi Baker has done alot of nice work in the area of active living in Olmsted County. Here is some information on public investments in active living. Basically this is just another reason why safe non-motorized connections in my community are vital. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a list of Projects funded or partially funded with local option sales tax dollars since 1983. Every time Rochester has voted on this we have approved the sales tax by better than a 2-1 margin. I hope that this continues in 2012. Big thanks to Gary Neumann for keep track of these projects. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a nice piece done by the leadership of the CGMC.
Guest Column by:
Alan Oberloh, Mayor, City of Worthington, President, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities
Bruce Ahlgren, Mayor, City of Cloquet, Vice-President, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities
Last month I met with Mike Sheehan, County Engineer. One of the items we discussed was how citizens could contact the county about safety issues. Here is how to do it. For my cycling friends, I want to specifically point out that if there is gravel on a road, report it and it will get fixed. Read the rest of this entry »
The real size of Rochester city government has shrunk 17 percent since 2003. Over that period, Rochester property taxes have increased 28 percent because of state Local Government Aid cuts. Unlike some other figures that have been thrown out in the media, these are true and not misleading. Read the rest of this entry »
