A Destination
About 35 people gathered November 29, 2016 at the White Bear Lake City Hall for the second annual legislative breakfast, packing the available space. Senator Roger Chamberlain (District 38) spoke first saying his caucus is committed to good work for the people but there are no hard plans yet. His recurrent question was, Why, after 50 years and trillions of dollars, are there more people on food stamps, more people homeless, education gaps, etc.?
His personal priorities included less broken families/single parents, improved high school graduation rate and more jobs in manufacturing and mining.
After Senator Chamberlain, a panel of regional/local representatives talked, including: Mayor Jo Emerson, White Bear Lake; Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt; and Met Council members Sandy Rummel and Harry Melander. They all affirmed the need for affordable housing and reminded us that housing and transportation must go hand in hand. They also said that all sectors need to work together to solve problems today. Sandy Rummel emphasized equity as a primary focus for the Met Council. Harry Melander urged us to understand that the world is changing and that we all need to acknowledge and deal with this. They all spoke to the comp plans for individual cities and urged us to be involved in being sure that affordable housing is included.