Anoka County-Blaine Airport Update

On August 18th, I attended a public meeting convened by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). The MAC was interested in having an annual meeting where they could answer questions about the airport, especially noise, from local residents. There were about 25 residents there, including some city council members from Blaine, Lexington, and Circle Pines.

The first issue raised by residents was that there was not a lot of advance notice about the meeting. I heard about it from a member of the airport's local community advisory council by e-mail on Monday, as did many of the attendees. There was a newspaper ad in one local paper but it was not very obvious. The MAC staff said that they would improve on communicating about the meeting in the future. (This all took about a half hour to discuss and people kept bringing it up, so I think they were sincere about improving communication next time!)

There was discussion about local perceptions of what the MAC, Anoka County, and/or Key Air (the operator of the airport) has or has not been trying to do regarding airport expansion. MAC staff said that there was no effort by the MAC to request extension of the east-west runway to 6,000 from 5,000 feet. The initiative last year came from Key Air and then Anoka County but then local residents began objecting. MAC staff also said that their planning document for the airport would have to show the need for an extension but there are no plans to do so. After some direct questioning, MAC staff responded that it was "not impossible but improbable" that any change would be made in the near future.

Here are some other informational highlights:

* Lifelink has a helicopter base at the airport for their air ambulance service in the north metro. This is new.
* Airport staff deliver a pilot guide for the airport to non-local pilots upon landing and re-fueling. The guide shows what steps pilots should take for takeoff and landing to minimize noise. (I asked about this since on any given day the airport may not know what out-of-state planes will be heading to Minnesota.)
* Federal law prohibits the airport from requiring the steps in the pilot guide, such as quiet times from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The guide is advisory.
* A 2005 study from Wilder reports a local economic impact of the airport of $35 million as well as 103 on-airport jobs and 350 jobs total. (We didn't have a copy to look at though.)
* About 80,000 "operations" (one takeoff or one landing = one operation) are expected in 2010.
* There are 437 aircraft based at Blaine.
* Recreational flights in the U.S. are expected to decline over time and corporate flights are expected to increase.
* Newer jet aircraft are usually quieter than older models so technology is trending toward quieter planes.

The MAC has a noise complaint phone line at 612-726-9411. It is staffed from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. You can leave a message at other times. We met the staff person who takes the calls. You can also make a complaint on-line. MAC staff said that complaints often involve one or two specific aircraft and they can follow up with the operator to give them to adhere to the pilot guide. Residents at the meeting discussed one particular type of plane that they have noticed making all lot of the noise--a Piaggio Avanti II--that looks like a "hammerhead shark."

Overall, I thought it was a good meeting. More like this one will take place in the future so that residents can discuss noise issues with the Metro Airports Commission. They DO want to hear from you.

Week of February 22, 2009

Budget listening session in White Bear Lake: About ten of us from the legislature attended a public meeting at White Bear Lake High School on Wednesday night. The purpose was to hear ideas from the public about balancing the budget. We heard from 72 different people. The most numerous comments came from advocates for the disabled, the judiciary, health care, and quite a few people who were against taxation generally. The press coverage of a similar meeting in Woodbury pretty much sums up what we heard in White Bear Lake.

Legislation: This week four of my bills received committee hearings:

• HF239: This bill would allow homeowners to permit the recovery of damages incurred due to faulty construction. There are several of us from the suburbs who are carrying legislation to assist homeowners related to breaches of warranties by builders and remodelers. This bill would allow homeowners to recover the cost of lodging, meals, and incidental expenses if they have to leave their house due to repairs. You can see video of Friday's hearing. The bill passed with an amendment and the resulting 1st "engrossment" will be the second draft of the bill and it will be heard in the Commerce and Labor Committee soon.
  
• HF403: This bill will help create jobs and add value to the economy in both the compost industries and the bioplastics industry. The compost industry has had problems with plastic bags in yard waste, leading to lower interest from buyers like landscapers because of the contamination. The bill would expand Dakota County's existing requirement that yard waste in plastic bags must use compostable bags to the entire seven-county metro area. At the same time, Minnesota is home to many bioplastics manufacturers like Cortec Corp. in White Bear Lake, Natur Tec in Circle Pines, and NatureWorks LLC in Minnetonka who make the compostable bags. The bill passed with amendments and now goes to the Commerce and Labor Committee. You can watch video of the hearing on-line.
  
• HF663: This bill would require that truth in taxation notices for your property taxes get mailed before the November general election. You can see the video of the hearing. The bill was "laid over" by the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee so it might get included into an omnibus bill by that division. There were several lobbyists for the school board association and the Association of Minnesota Counties as well as the Department of Revenue who testified against the bill.
  
• HF170: This bill would require publishers of telephone directories to allow consumers to opt out of delivery. I asked for an informational hearing only since I want to spend most of my legislative time helping to create jobs or address the deficit. The Yellow Pages Association and R.H. Donnelly testified about the bill and demonstrated Dex's opt out web site. You can hear audio of the hearing on-line. This hearing concluded my work on this issue for the year. KARE-11 did a web article on the bill on the KARE website.

Blaine Airport meeting: On Tuesday the Concerned Citizens of the North Metro had a meeting about the possible extension of the runway at the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. It was fiery in a few spots. You can view the meeting on the North Metro 15 web site-the video on-line is a .wmv file.

Stimulus tracking site: The official web site about the recently passed federal stimulus package is at http://www.recovery.gov. (This the site that Vice President Joe Biden forgot.)

Schedule: Monday included a meeting with Senator Jungbauer and some stakeholders about HF500 on recycled water standards, a meeting with compost stakeholders on HF403, a caucus meeting, and a floor session that went pretty long. (The floor session covered a bill regarding the fund for the 35W bridge survivors and a bill that would provide the structure necessary for the incoming federal stimulus money.) On Tuesday, I attended a bi-partisan meeting of legislators seeking to promote comprehensive immigration reform, a committee caucus meeting, a Health Care & Human Services (HCHS) Policy Committee meeting, an Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee meeting (a joint meeting with the Transportation Committee on reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector), and a meeting of the Concerned Citizens of the North Metro regarding the Blaine airport. Wednesday included presenting my bill HF663 in front of the Property Tax Division of the Taxes Committee, a meeting with the Speaker and Majority Leader, a meeting of House and Senate members from the fourth Congressional District regarding recommendations of a candidate for the U of M Board of Regents, a committee caucus meeting, an HCHS committee meeting on single-payer health care, a caucus meeting, and the town hall meeting at White Bear Lake South High School to hear from the public on the budget. On Thursday, I attended a pre-session caucus meeting, a short floor session, did short interviews for cable for North Metro 15 and CTV15, an HCHS committee meeting on a range of mental health legislation, and an Environment & Natural Resources Committee on the Green Acres program. On Friday, I presented my phone book bill (HF170) to the Telecommunications Division of the Commerce and Labor Committee and my homeowner warranty bill (HF239) and compost bill (HF403) to the Labor & Consumer Affairs Division of the Commerce and Labor Committee. In the afternoon I met with special education staff at Mounds View High School.

Visitors: Shoreview resident seeking reform of charitable gaming tax rates; Shoreview resident regarding funding for the developmentally disabled; lobbyists for waste haulers regarding HF403; several arts advocates from NE Metro; four constituent nurses for the MN Nurses Association day on the hill; high school student about recycling and composting issue; Lino Lakes college student about the private college grant program; three constituent dentist for the MN Dental Association day on the hill; Shoreview constituent about property tax cap legislation; St. Paul retailer about pharmaceutical product stewardship legislation; three constituent students for Support the U of M day

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident and North Oaks resident supporting voter ID; Lino Lakes resident against taxes and spending; Shoreview resident inquiring about federal stimulus package; Shoreview resident inquiring about how to become a vendor of a product to the state; two Shoreview residents and Lino Lakes resident supporting HF1037, a bill to reduce mandates for home schools; Lino Lakes resident supporting platform of MN Dental Association; three Shoreview residents supporting single-payer health care; Shoreview resident supporting HF359 that would require health plans to cover autism treatment; Shoreview resident against cuts to providers of services to the developmentally disabled; Shoreview resident and grouse hunter supporting aquisition of conservation easements in northern MN; Lino Lakes resident with a car payment problem; Shoreview resident supporting legalization of marijuana; three Lino Lakes residents and Shoreview resident seeking integrity in the use of new dedicated sales tax revenue for the outdoors; Lino Lakes resident against Governor's proposed cuts to rehabilitation services; two Lino Lakes residents supporting medical marijuana; Shoreview resident pining for Ronald Reagan; Shoreview resident against Governor's proposed cuts to the courts; Shoreview resident supporting cutting spending; Blaine resident with idea to keep businesses from going offshore; North Oaks resident against voter ID and against mileage-based gas tax; Shoreview resident supporting racino gambling

Week of January 25, 2009

Governor's Budget Recommendations: The Governor's office has released his proposed budget and you can see it on-line. I have to sift through the details before commenting further.

Recovery legislation: On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "American Recovery and Investment Act." This is the so-called "stimulus plan." You can read the details of the plan on-line.

Anoka County-Blaine Airport update: On Thursday night I attended a meeting of Concerned Citizens of the North Metro, recently formed to oppose any potential expansion of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport. I thought several of the organizers did a very good job of determining what the potential increased noise impacts would be if the airport runway was expanded to 6,000 feet.

Phone books: Several people have asked me why there is so much publicity about my proposal to allow consumers to opt out of getting phone books. This was to be a pretty minor piece of legislation that should take a back seat to solving the huge $4.8 billion state budget deficit, but for whatever reason, local reporters have been calling me up to ask about it. I wonder if the reporters are of an age where they grew up with the Internet and see the phone book as an outdated product. Anyway, readers should know that I am working on a bunch of other stuff that helps make specific state-funded programs more efficient but the legislation isn't ready yet. As one of my colleagues says, "Good legislation takes a while to draft properly."

Legislation: Here are two pieces of legislation that help reduce costs to taxpayers. HF298 is a bill that would make it easier for nonprofits that serve the disabled to use their vans and buses to pick up clients at other locations. These day training & habilitation (DT&H) providers have their own fleets but if they pick up other clients when their vans are idle, they are considered "for hire" and are subject to much higher insurance rates. My bill would seek to remedy the problem and would allow these fleets to be used more efficiently.

HF403 is a bill that would help boost the bio-based plastics industry in Minnesota by cleaning up our yard waste compost sites in the Twin Cities metro. Right now, taxpayers and ratepayers are paying much higher tip fees through their waste hauler to get rid of leaves and grass at the curb when they use plastic bags. If metro residents used a compostable plastic bag instead of the non-degradable plastic bag, the value of the finished compost would rise, waste haulers and counties would reduce tip fees, and Minnesota's compostable bag industry would see added business. The private sector would also be enticed to establish compost sites instead of government because high quality compost sells very well. Dakota County already has an ordinance that does this, but the legislation would require that one would have to use a compostable bag in the seven-country metro. It sounds a little weird at first, but when you get the facts you can see how the economics work.

Managing expectations: Our biggest task at the moment is to manage expectations for the budget. It is clear that not a lot of people realize how huge our deficit is and how limited our options are. Many groups are asking for new money or asking not to be cut. The groups that get our attention are ones that say, "I hope you don't cut us, but if you do, we have some ideas for how we can save money in the long term." These savings usually come in the form of streamlined or reduced state mandates or consolidation of certain functions. I have received a bunch of good ideas from the Anoka County attorney, the Association of Minnesota Counties, and MN School Business Officials so far.

Schedule: On Monday I stopped by a forum held by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts on the future of education funding, attended a short floor session, a caucus meeting, and a joint meeting of the K-12 Education Finance Committee and Taxes Committee (on the use of Other Post-Employment Benefits--or OPEB--bonds). OPEB bonds are used by school districts to borrow money to pay for retiree health care benefits. There is no referendum requirement for these bonds and some districts are using the short-term cash to pay for operations, which sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

On Tuesday, I attended the Taxes Committee, two committee caucus meetings, a Health Care & Human Services Policy (HCHS) meeting, an Environment Committee meeting, and a meeting of the Mounds View School Board. I chaired the Environment Committee since the topic was on drinking water issues and I was going to end up asking most of the questions anyway!

On Wednesday, I attended two committee caucus meetings, the Taxes Committee, the HCHS committee, the Early Childhood Education Summit on the House floor, and a reception held by the Rochester delegation in the St. Paul Armory.

On Thursday, I attended a meeting held by Congresswoman McCollum about the federal stimulus package, a short floor session where we approved an extension of unemployment benefits, an HCHS committee meeting (about developmentally disabled waivers) an Environment Committee meeting (on fish and animal diseases), and a meeting of opponents to an expansion of the Anoka County-Blaine Airport.

On Friday, I attended a caucus meeting and a meeting of stakeholders working on a plan to change how we pay to recycle and safely dispose of used paint. Rep. Sailer and Sen. Doll had a bill last year that the Governor vetoed that would shift the $5 million that taxpayers pay statewide to handle the paint to those who actually buy paint using a small fee. They will bring this bill forward again in 2009.

Visitors: lobbyist for MN Oncology and Hematology (MOHPA) opposed to new moratorium on radiation facilities in the metro area; lobbyist for Xcel Energy; lobbyist and members of MN Beverage Association about solid waste and recycling issues; lobbyist for Medica introducing their organization; about ten staff of MN's credit unions, including three constituents; representative of MN Licensed Beverage Association; staff from Eureka Recycling about composting legislation; lobbyists for SEIU and TakeAction MN about universal health care legislation; lobbyist for Allina about ambulance issues; lobbyist and representatives of MN Works, a group that coordinates employment for disabled adults on recycling projects; staff and lobbyist for MN Credit Unions; staff from Environment MN about phone books; staff from Healthy Legacy about toxic products legislation; lobbyist on organ and tissue donation issues; lobbyist for MN building officials about building code and home construction legislation

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes resident about domestic violence issues; Circle Pines resident against Q-Comp; Lino Lakes resident about data sharing between the state and insurance companies; Shoreview resident and Lino Lakes resident suggesting that phone books is not an important issue; Circle Pines small business owner asking that health coverage for MN Care not be cut; Blaine resident upset about recent actions of the Obama administration; Shoreview resident supporting tighter welfare requirements; Shoreview resident with an idea to promote green jobs; two Shoreview residents asking that education be the top priority in the state budget; Shoreview resident and Circle Pines resident supporting MN Health Security Act; Shoreview? resident leaving message disappointed about a recent education vote (we're not quite sure what vote that was since I haven't voted this year on education yet--no phone number left); Shoreview resident urging a spending freeze and that the state not accept any federal money from the stimulus package; Circle Pines resident against airport expansion; Shoreview resident asking "exactly" how I am going to balance the budget; Lino Lakes resident supporting early childhood education; Shoreview resident about a charitable gambling issue; Lino Lakes resident supporting phone book legislation; Circle Pines resident upset with my vote for the federal stimulus package (I mentioned that Congress voted on this bill not the state legislature); Shoreview resident supporting puppy mill legislation; Lino Lakes resident supporting phone book legislation; Shoreview? resident supporting marriage equality legislation; North Oaks resident against deep cuts to state health care programs; North Oaks resident supporting instant runoff voting; Shoreview? resident asking about long-term care legislation; Circle Pines MAPE member supporting agenda for public employees; Lino Lakes resident asking that cancer prevention and health care access be #1 on state agenda; two Lino Lakes residents, Shoreview resident, Circle Pines resident asking that K-12 education be the #1 state priority; Shoreview resident supporting findings of the Budget Trends Commission; Lino Lakes resident supporting repeal of changes to the Green Acres legislation from last year (she was REALLY mad!); Lino Lakes resident against airport expansion; Lino Lakes resident asking for a balanced budget; Shoreview? resident sharing views on "reverse" racism and sharing quotes from Thomas Jefferson

Week of January 11, 2009

DTV conversion: Our telecommunications committee heard from experts about the impending conversion to digital television signals. There is a ton of information available about what you may need to do on-line.

My transportation project for the session: Senator Dibble and I are working on an initiative to find efficiencies for community based transit (CBT). CBT is transit that serves seniors and the disabled. Because of all the "silos" of money from the federal government that fund different programs, many of the vans and buses for these services are idle when they could be serving additional people. CBT is expensive--dial-a-ride service is often $20-$25 per ride one-way, although riders usually only pay a few dollars so that they can afford it. This is three or four times as expensive as mass transit. State agencies have been working on this so we have an opportunity to save money and improve service. More to come!

State of the state: The Governor gave his State of the State address on Thursday. During the last speech I heard from Tim Pawlenty at the Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago, I agreed with 95% of what he said about the need to get smarter with state and local government spending. Another time in the last month or so he suggested that a fiscal crisis can bring people together and the barriers that we put up to good ideas will be lowered out of necessity. Another good speech that focused on problem solving. However, I was pretty confused with the State of the State. The Governor said that taxes are out of the question (no surprise) and talked about removing a lot of costly state mandates for local governments. But then he outlined a bunch of new mandates for school districts, additional spending for K-12 schools, and a cap on tuition for higher education. I look forward to seeing how are we going to pay for these new projects and mandates in about two weeks when his budget is released.

Per diem: WCCO did what seems like an annual story about legislative per diem. Yours truly is third from the bottom out of 201 legislators.

Suburban DFL co-chair: At a meeting of the DFL Suburban Caucus on Monday, I was elected co-chair along with Rep. Bev Scalze and Rep. Mike Obermuller. There are 39 Democrats from the suburbs out of 87 members.

Revenues down for last two months of 2008: We received an update from Minnesota Management & Budget (the old Department of Finance) that shows that tax revenues in the last two months of 2008 were below forecast, or more than $100 million, or down 4.5% percent overall, with sales tax down 4.4%, corporate tax down 42%, and income tax down 3.3%. That means that there could be additional budget cuts before the end of the current fiscal year that ends June 30th.

Budget trends commission: The Budget Trends Study Commission issued its recommendations this week. The legislature asked a group of former finance commissioners and other experts to help figure out how to even out Minnesota's tax revenue over time. Their report covered a variety of issues including: the impact of Minnesota's changing demographics on the budget; revenue volatility; trend growth rates; current spending pressures; long term revenue forecasts; and projected expenditure obligations. The recommendations included boosting our budget reserves so that the state can weather a major deficit without cutting major services or raising taxes excessively; taking note of a long-term demographic shift to an older population with fewer taxpaying workers; and reining in health care costs. The Commission noted that it will be hard to change the tax system to provide more even revenue flows and even then the volatility will not go away. The U of M has commented more on this on-line.

One Minnesota Conference: All legislators were invited to attend a conference on Wednesday to hear about global and economic trends that affect what we do at the state. One of the better speakers talked about how states and regions have done well economically when they figure out what they are good at and then create "clusters" of businesses and industries that feed into that strength. Other speakers talked about how states can boost economic development of these clusters--like "green jobs"--with tax credits, grants, and investment in higher education institutions. So I had to ask a question, "In a time of fiscal austerity, how can the state boost the green economy without tax credits, grants, and investment in higher education?" The audience burst out laughing, mostly because it correctly characterized our fiscal situation and lack of options. Dark humor I guess. The panelist responded that even without funding, government can set rules of the game for the market.

Blaine airport public meeting: A citizen group called Concerned Citizens of the North Metro Area is having a meeting regarding the possible expansion of the Anoka County Airport in Blaine. The meeting is Thursday, January 29th from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mounds View Community Center. Blog readers will recall that citizens were not happy about Anoka County trying to push for expansion at the legislature without much public input.

Schedule: Monday included a meeting of the DFL Suburban Caucus, a short floor session, a meeting of the Tax Committee, and a meeting with local Education MN members; Tuesday included meetings of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, the Tax Committee, and Health Care & Human Services Policy, plus meetings with Healthy Legacy about their legislative platform and DFLers on the Environmental Policy Committee. On Wednesday, I was at the Humphrey Institute for the OneMinnesota Conference. Thursday included meetings of the Environmental Finance Committee, the DFL House Caucus, Health Care & Human Services Policy, and Environmental Policy, plus a floor session for the State of the State address and a meeting of the Ramsey County legislative delegation. Friday included a meeting of the Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Division, and a training for committee chairs and vice-chairs.

Visitors: Representative of Parks & Trails Council of MN; representatives of bio-degradable plastics industry about compost issues; DNR staff about drinking water legislation follow-up; lobbyist for Coalition of Greater MN Cities about local government aid; lobbyist for MN Paratransit Association about legislation; former district resident about internship; staff from Chief Clerk's office about tracking legislation in omnibus bills; House Research staff about legislation I'm working on

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes resident pleased that I'm third from the bottom in per diem; Shoreview resident who liked the Governor's speech; district resident about workers comp issue; North Oaks resident against allowing the school year to start before Labor Day; Shoreview resident against higher per diem; Shoreview resident against cuts to K-12 education; Shoreview resident against tighter licensing of interior designers; Lino Lakes resident against requiring private homes to have sprinklers (the Pioneer Press ran a story about some experts proposing this); Lino Lakes resident commenting about the $700 billion bailout and how it should go to regular people instead of banks; Shoreview resident suggesting that property taxes should be replaced with a 2% income tax to local governments; Shoreview resident about internship; Shoreview resident against Rep. Rukavina's idea of an income tax surcharge; Lexington resident with ten suggestions for balancing the budget; Lino Lakes resident wanting the state to get subsidies back from Northwest Airlines and against per diem; Shoreview resident about a matter with drivers and vehicle services; Shoreview and North Oaks residents sending cards with legislative platform of MN Utility Investors

Week of November 16, 2008

Met Council Water Supply Plan: The Metropolitan Council has prepared a draft of its Master Water Supply Plan. Since I work on drinking water issues, I have been plowing through the draft, which is available on the web. There are public meetings coming up before the end of the year, and you can see when these meetings will be held on the link above. You can also read the plan.

Airport follow-up: The Metropolitan Airports Commission has a web page on the Blaine Airport (aka Janes Field), as does Anoka County. I also found a list of noise abatement procedures for the airport. ABC Newspapers did a pretty complete article on the recent situation. The operator of the airport is Key Air. Finally, legislation would be required to expand the airport runway to 6,000 feet, since it would move from a minor airport to an intermediate airport. (Look at subdivision 4 for details in Minnesota Statutes 473.641.) The MAC also has a noise complaint website where you can report airport noise issues.

Schedule: Monday, November 17th included meetings with the Citizens League on their water governance initiative, Senator Rummel on drinking water issues, and a former intern who is working on an instant runoff voting initiative. Tuesday, November 18th included attendance at the Anoka County Airport Committee (see next post), a meeting with St. Paul-Ramsey County Environmental Health Division staff about solid waste issues; and a visit to a Lutheran Social Services intermediate care facility in Shoreview where eight developmentally disabled adults live. The latter included an in-depth discussion of state funding issues that affect this facility. It was an eye-opener! In the evening, I attended a meeting of the full House DFL Caucus. On Wednesday, November 19th I met with a North Oaks resident about a health care legislative proposal and met with canvassers at Clean Water Action to discuss my work on drinking water. (I also turned 41 on the 19th.) On Thursday, November 20th, I attended a meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, whose state funds are allocated by a committee I serve on. On Friday, November 21st, I met with two St. Thomas students working on a class project on scrap tire recycling and met with different house researchers about potential legislation. In the afternoon, I attended a meeting of the Working Group on Ethnic Heritage & New Americans. We participated in a video conference with the Iowa Workforce Development agency and a similar Illinois agency about their efforts to integrate immigrants into their workforce.

Constituent contacts: Approximately two dozen constituents e-mailed me about the proposed Blaine airport expansion. One was neutral on the issue and two were in favor, and the rest were against it. Shoreview resident seeking an interview for a college paper; North Oaks resident and high school student seeking meeting about class project; Lino Lakes resident seeking information about how to start a recall petition for Anoka County Commissioners; district resident asking about stipulations for contractors on Twins stadium; Lino Lakes resident supporting get-tough policy on immigration; North Oaks resident about special education

Blaine Airport Expansion Public Meeting

The Blaine Airport expansion issue has gotten a lot of attention during the last few days. This morning in Anoka, the county's airport committee (Commissioners LeDoux, Erhart, and West) recessed their meeting so that a public meeting could be held to get input from local residents.

That meeting will be December 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at Kingswood Church, 1264 109th Ave NE, Blaine (just west of Hwy 65). Representatives of Key Air (which operates the airport) and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) will be there.

[11/21 note: This meeting has now been cancelled as Anoka County will not be acting on the resolution to support airport expansion.]

There were several dozen county residents in attendance this morning as well as numerous reporters.

Early November 2008

Blaine Airport Expansion: I just received word that Anoka County is considering an expansion of the Blaine Airport from 5,000 feet to 6,000 feet. About four years ago I was aware that an original expansion to 5,000 feet would allow planes to do "instrument landings," meaning that they could land without having the engine cranked up and therefore could reduce noise over my district in Lexington, Circle Pines, Lino Lakes, and possibly Shoreview. The expansion to 6,000 feet would allow more safety but would bump up the Blaine Airport up to "intermediate airport" status, which could allow more flights and larger planes flying over 53A. Minnesota Statutes 360.365 has a list of the aircraft that can fly into an intermediate airport: single engine or light to medium multiengine aircraft. Right now the airport can accommodate single engine or light multiengine planes.

[11/17 update: I have received a ton of e-mail from constituents in Circle Pines, Lino Lakes, Lexington, and Shoreview complaining about increased noise from flights just in the last year.]

Anoka County is considering a resolution that would support the expansion, but there hasn't been a whole lot of public information about it. However, on Tuesday, November 18th, Anoka County's airport committee and intergovernmental committees will be meeting to act on the resolution starting at 11:00 a.m. in the Anoka County Government Center. The legislature would have to act on this expansion as well but this would be a good opportunity for citizens to give their input. I will be attending the meeting, and would appreciate any input from district residents to pass along.

Park and ride update: The Met Council informs me that a park-and-ride at Highway 14 and 35W (in Lino Lakes just a few blocks east of Centerville) is likely to be designed in 2009 and then built in 2010 or 2011.

Shoreview to Minneapolis express bus to stay: Metro Transit reports that it will keep running the 261 express bus from Shoreview City Hall to Minneapolis three times a day in each direction. Metro Transit set up a demonstration route of the route last year by extending to route from Roseville City Hall to Shoreview. If there were more than 16 riders between Shoreview and Roseville, the route would stay. The ridership has been strong and steady, and the route is now permanent!

E-waste: There was a story on 60 Minutes on November 9th about how some electronic waste from the United States ends up poisoning communities in China. I'm working on some legislation that would help address this issue in Minnesota, but much of the responsibility and enforcement lies with the federal government. In another development, a non-profit group called the Electronics TakeBack Coalition just issued a report card on the major TV manufacturers on their recycling programs.

Conservation Rate Structure legislation follow-up: Legislation I authored last year required public water suppliers to create a conservation rate structure to promote conservation of our drinking water supply. The DNR has prepared a two-page primer for water authorities to better understand how the rates work.

Higher Education Veterans Programs: While at Century College in November, I found a helpful brochure and web site informing veterans, military personnel, and their families of their opportunites for higher education.

Schedule: Things have picked up since the election! On Thursday, November 6th, I spoke at the Recycling Association of Minnesota's annual conference about legislation related to solid waste and recycling. In the evening, the House DFL Caucus met in St. Paul and we elected Margaret Kelliher as Speaker and Tony Sertich as Majority Leader. On Monday, November 10th, I attended a Metropolitan Council District Dialogue in Maplewood, where Peter Bell gave an update on actions by the Met Council. Many city, county, and state elected officials attended. Later, I attended a meeting of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission in St. Paul. Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) is the organizer and I'm the DFLer on the committee. On Thursday, November 13th, I spoke to a group of canvassers at Clean Water Action in Minneapolis about recent drinking water issues at the Legislature. In the afternoon, I attended a Veterans' Day ceremony at Century College to help open a new veterans' center. My colleague Bob Dettmer (R-Forest Lake), who has been a member of the MN National Guard for several decades, gave the keynote address. Later in the afternoon, I attended a meeting in Circle Pines regarding the future opening of a county library in Lino Lakes, and then I stopped by a reception in North Oaks to welcome the new members of the city council. On Friday, November 14th, I participated in a meeting by the MPCA on product stewardship of beverage containers. The states of Wisconsin and Minnesota are engaging the beverage industry about how to increase recycling of cans and bottles. (Recycling cans in particular helps reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.)

During this period I have also been working with House Research staff to figure out what legislation I will be working on in 2009. Constituents and colleagues have been suggesting a ton of ideas of things to address where I might be able to help. I also managed to clean up my office so I can find stuff and be ready for the session.

Constituent contacts: Lino Lakes and Circle Pines residents about proposed Blaine Airport expansion; Shoreview resident asking about legislative plans to balance the budget for the 2010-2011 biennium; Shoreview resident about Congressional action on a federal lands issue; Shoreview resident asking for legislation prohibiting dog tethering (we all got about 200 identical e-mails on this from all over the state); Lino Lakes resident and Circle Pines resident supporting get-tough strategy for illegal immigration