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

Tornado & Storm Damage, Memorial Day

On Monday, Memorial Day, I made a quick tour of the district to check on storm damage after yesterday's heavy weather.

Please keep the families who just lost their homes, suffered loss of human life, or who were injured just to the northeast of district 53A in Hugo in your thoughts and prayers. The Twin Cities chapter of the American Red Cross has set up a center in Hugo today and the Governor will be visiting. You can contribute to the Red Cross effort on-line.

The Star Tribune reports this: "Donations toward the tornado relief effort can be sent to: The Hugo Relief Fund, Lake Area Bank, 1400 E. Hwy. 96, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. Volunteers at the Hugo Fire Department are accepting donations of water, food, personal care, bedding and other items for the storm victims. There is no call out yet for volunteer labor. The Hugo Fire Dept. is at 5323 140^th St. N., in Hugo."

Lino Lakes in my legislative district suffered a lot of hail damage. Just about every home I saw just off of Birch Street and east of 35E showed major holes in the siding from golf-ball sized hail. There were quite a few broken windows as well, but no one seems to have lost a roof. Just a half-mile south in Shoreview, there was no damage whatsoever.

Storms like this attract unscrupulous contractors offering to fix your house. If you are going to be requiring work on your home, the Attorney General's office has a handy primer for how to protect yourself as a consumer.

The City of Lino Lakes has a great web page about dealing with solicitors offering to fix storm damage.

Today is also Memorial Day, a time when we remember those who have fallen in our nation's service. PBS has a nice web site where you can read and submit eulogies for those veterans.

While most Americans recognize the service of those who served roughly from World War II to the present, I've been on a personal mission to recognize two earlier veterans in my family.

My great-great-great grandfather Sgt. John Gardner served in the 131st Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. In December 1862, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. His wife gave birth to their tenth child a few months later. He is buried in a small church cemetery outside Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania but when I visited there about 15 years ago I found that all the grave markers from that period had either been neglected or vandalized many years before. The army will actually give you a new white marble headstone if you pay for installation, but my sister and I have struggled for years to get the cemetery association to respond to us so that we can put up a new grave marker for this veteran.

John Gardner's father James Gardner served in the War of 1812 in the Pennsylvania militia. When the British burned Washington, the Governor of Pennsylvania called up the militia to defend Baltimore, and James's unit took part. I have located James's wife's headstone in Millersburg, Pennsylvania, and I think James's grave is next to hers. But again, the grave marker is gone so I don't have any proof that he is there yet.

So be grateful that Americans are tending graves and putting out flags in cemeteries nationwide today. Make sure that those veterans are not forgotten!

Week of November 25, 2007

Schedule: At church on Sunday, the speaker was Tom Gillaspy, the state demographer. He spoke about how our population is aging. That will have massive fiscal repercussions for us as the baby boomers retire. On Tuesday, November 27th, I toured Century College in White Bear Lake/Mahtomedi with the chair of the House Higher Education Committee, Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), and Rep. Carol McFarlane (R-White Bear Lake). Several hundred of my constituents attend Century so I wanted to tag along for the tour, since I haven't been there before. (The number of students from 53A at local MnSCU campuses is listed in a previous post.
Here are a couple of interesting items that I heard at Century:
* The state is not going to have enough dentists in the near future. Century is training hygienists and other dental technicians.
* The state has a nursing shortage, and Century's nursing program now has the state's first paramedic-to-RN accelerated program. (My neighbor is participating in this program.)
* Century has one of just seven orthotics and prosthetic labs in the U.S. The campus is cranking out graduates who then--among other things--are producing artificial limbs for returning veterans. In fact, some Iraq vets are in the program.
* The student body comes from 100+ nationalities. Their digital language lab (DLL) assists many students in their English proficiency.
* Minnesota imports engineers from other states and countries. To meet future labor needs, Century has a fabrication lab (the "Fab Lab") where students learn applied engineering. They get an associate of applied science degree and many complete a four-year degree at the University of Minnesota.

We also met with some faculty and members of the student Senate. More than 200 veterans are students. I met three of them in a meeting with the student senate.

Some other interesting factoids:
* For each additional $6 million annually from the state, the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities System (MnSCU) can reduce tuition by 1% for a year. Tuition at Century went up by only 4% this year after much larger increases in past years.
* Seven percent of full-time equivalent course loads at Century are taken on-line
* There is a dispute between the legislature and the MnSCU board of trustees as to how much the MnSCU office should be spending on technology versus tuition reduction.

In the afternoon of November 27th, I attended a meeting of the Eastern Transportation Alliance (ETA), a group of city and county governments that are promoting transit expansion in the greater St. Paul metro area and areas from Chisago County in the north to Olmsted County in the south. The group is asking the Governor and the Legislature for $140 million in bonding money in 2008 to complete the Central Corridor light rail line along University Avenue. The idea is that this line, along with a refurbished Union Depot in St. Paul, will allow suburbs in the northeast and southeast metro to tap into a larger transit network. Our district is kind in the middle of transit proposals to the east (like the Rush Line) and to the west (Northstar Corridor and a proposed passenger rail line from Duluth to Minneapolis via Cambridge). You can get a better idea of what is proposed in the Central Corridor and the Union Depot at the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority website.

I would like to spend my time relating to transit on bus service and park-and-ride lots for the moment. Speaking of park-and-ride lots, I received a letter from Metro Transit responding to an inquiry regarding lots in Lino Lakes. Metro Transit is trying to build a parking structure at 95th Avenue and 35W (in Blaine) where there is an existing (and full) parking lot of 1,000 spaces. The construction would be from September 2008 to September 2009. A temporary park-and-ride for 200 spaces would be required during construction, and that location could be at the proposed Lino Lakes library site at Highway 23 and 35W in Lino Lakes. Metro Transit also wrote that a park-and-ride for 200 spaces could be possible at the northwest corner of 35E and Highway 14 in Lino Lakes as plans for that intersection develop in early 2008.

On Wednesday, November 28th, I attended a Local Government Officials Meeting for Anoka County in Ham Lake. Anoka County staff presented a draft legislative package. (The 2007 version is on-line and it is very similar.) The most interesting presentation was given by Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah, who spoke on Anoka County Human Services. The presentation gave the facts about what we might otherwise call "welfare" and the myths that are out there about it. Here are some factoids I picked up:

* A breakdown of benefits issued by the county in 2006 for public assistance included 89% ($268,818,008) for health care (especially nursing homes, Medicare), five percent for food assistance ($13,805,648) , and six percent ($17,888,007) for cash assistance. These are state and federal dollars and the county only pays for staff to administer the benefits.
* The average costs for nursing home care are about $3,500 to $6,500 per month.
* 70% of people on MFIP (Minnesota Family Investment Program, a cash program for families with children) in Anoka County have only been on public assistance for less than two years. The cash benefit is $532 per month and $378 for food stamps per month.
* 69% of MFIP recipients are children.
* The average monthly caseload for the County for MFIP is 1,798.

After viewing the Star Tribune's web site on the 35W bridge collapse, I found that there were three of my constituents on that bridge, including one who was killed. I was pleased that the Governor announced some temporary relief for survivors but I was distressed that it took so long for him to take action. The temporary assistance comes from an existing tort claims fund. It looks like Senator Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) and Rep. Dennis Ozment (R-Rosemount) worked with the Governor after the 9/11 fund special master spoke on this issue a few weeks ago.

Visitors: On November 27th I met with a House researcher, MPCA staffers, and another House member on some recycling initiatives.

Constituent contacts: district resident about my bill on scrap metal theft because his company provides alarm systems for construction sites, which have been targets for thieves (the company is RSI Alarm, based in White Bear Lake, and it sells globally); Circle Pines resident about property tax assessments; Shoreview resident about special education and transportation policy; Shoreview resident about MN Board of Medical Practice issue; Circle Pines resident about MnDOT rules about audible pedestian signals for blind pedestrians; Lino Lakes resident about environmental issues; Shoreview resident about health care premium increases and the precariousness of coverage and supporting transit; Shoreview resident supporting fewer mandates and increased competition in health care

Week of November 11, 2007

Schedule: On Tuesday, November 13th, I spoke to a class of seniors at Centennial High School. They asked a lot of good questions! Several members of the class want to boost recycling at the school, so since that's what I used to do I might meet with them later. In the evening, my family attended a Veterans Day concert at Mounds View High School given by fourth and fifth graders from my children's school. What a great job. There was even a WWII vet there from the Merchant Marine! I didn't know that they have their own song. My kids go to this site for the lyrics and music for the service anthems. On Wednesday, November 14th, I met with the director of Friends of Ramsey County Suburban Libraries about the organization's activities and capital campaign efforts. The Roseville Library, the busiest in the state, will undergo expansion next year if plans go ahead. On Thursday, November 15th, I attended part of a hearing for Rep. Ryan Winkler's proposal for disaster victim compensation. Later than morning, I attended a meeting of the Metropolitan Council's Water Supply Planning Committee, where there were several interesting presentations. After that, I made some remarks at an America Recycles Day event at the Children's Museum in St. Paul put on my by old employer, the Recycling Association of Minnesota. In the afternoon, I will have met with the House Capitol Investment Committee in Coon Rapids about the proposed bike trail for the Rice Creek/Chain of Lakes preserve in Lino Lakes. On Friday, November 16th, I attended a book signing for the new history of Shoreview entitled Shoreview Reflections. There is a one-hour DVD that goes with the history, and you can view a trailer or the whole video on-line.

Visitors: None

Constituent contacts: Shoreview resident against Canadian-style health care system in the U.S.; Blaine resident pleased with new legislation for manufactured home (aka trailer) park residents that would help them with relocation costs if the park owners sell the property