Grand Rapids L and M to move into old Wal-Mart

From the Grand Rapids Herald-Review: homegrown farm, fleet and hardware chain L&M to relocate into former Wal-Mart location on Pokegema Avenue.

Franken tours Minnesota today, including Grand Rapids stop

DFL endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken tours Minnesota today, including a stop at Brewed Awakenings in Grand Rapids at 5 p.m. I am working with the campaign on getting an interview with Franken for this blog. Unfortunately, I have business in Hibbing today and can't get over to Rapids. But if you're in the neighborhood, stop in. Franken is great at these meet and greets and it will be interesting to see what his message is after the controversies of the past weeks and his commanding, indeed surprisingly fast, first ballot endorsement at last weekend's DFL convention.

Critical Greenway referendum fails

Greenway's referendum failed after Tuesday's votes were counted. My information comes second hand from someone in administration. I don't have vote totals, but what I heard was the measure failed by about 200 votes out of about 1800 -- roughly a ten-point defeat.

(UPDATE: From the May 21 Grand Rapids Herald-Review, referendum fails 1170-898. That's a 272 vote spread or about 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent ... not especially close)

This pivotal referendum would have combined and extended three existing excess levy referendums for the Greenway school district on the western Iron Range. The district is in massive debt and is facing a defeat in an important lawsuit with one of its bargaining units that will further deepen the district's financial woes.

The word was that the district would try again in the fall, but I seriously doubt that the outcome will change. The district has survived off operating levies for years as declining enrollment, skyrocketing legacy costs and some poor long-range planning savaged the dwindling budget. Unless given a iron-clad long term plan to A) get out of debt, and B) return the district to its past level of quality, I doubt voters are going to change their minds. It's very sad to say, but the district's only legitimate choice now is to find a way to cover the debt while entering into some kind of consolidation with Grand Rapids or Nashwauk-Keewatin. There are efforts underway to build a new school for N-K, so this might be the perfect time to talk about ways for Greenway to get involved.

I'm never happy to see hard times for schools. As a teacher myself, this is tragic to watch. But absent a solid long range plan, Greenway's leaders need to face the fact that they probably aren't going to be able to pass a referendum in the fall.

Meantime, everyone in northern Minnesota needs to be worried about the long range health of their school districts. Greenway has some special problems, but most of their problems are shared by everyone on the Range. Wise planning is the only way districts will survive declining enrollment. And all this simply underscores the fact that large, "proposed" jobs projects that might bring new families with students mean nothing when reality requires actual economic activity. Let's take this as a rallying call to modernize our thinking and fight for the Iron Range.

Flash: Iron Range Stalin voters breaking for Clinton

I just love the crime section of the Grand Rapids (Minn.) Herald-Review. Most of the dailies up here on the Iron Range gloss over the small town crime, trimming out the details that make weekly and twice-weekly crime blotters more interesting.

This is from Wednesday's Herald-Review:

The words, "Hillary for President," were spray-painted in green paint on a vehicle parked on 21st Street Southwest in Grand Rapids. Three days earlier, the owner of the vehicle reported "Stalin for President," was painted on the same car. No damage estimate was given.

I don't know if this is a sophisticated joke, random vandalism or the reflection of a genuine Stalin-to-Clinton political trend. Stay tuned.

Franken in Grand Rapids today

Al Franken is in Grand Rapids today. He'll appear with Rep. Tom Anzelc at Brewed Awakenings at 4 p.m. Three candidates are making a serious pitch for delegates in the DFL U.S. Senate race, Franken, Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. As I've posted before, I see a three-way split on the Iron Range over these candidates. I think only the delegate count after the March county conventions will show which of these candidates has the advantage. I am supporting Franken (a disclosure), but objectively I'd say that Franken has shown the best ground game so far but that the most passionate supporters belong to Nelson-Pallmeyer. Ciresi is clearly setting up as the "Franken alternative" for those squeamish about endorsing Franken next summer.

A note: If the Democratic Party nominates Hillary Clinton and Mike Ciresi I will vote straight-ticket Bull Moose. I'm just saying.

Join me in 'real time' for 1/23 blogging seminar in Grand Rapids

For those interested in joining a special project for northern Minnesota, take note. KAXE is part of a community journalism initiative to create a website to share local news and culture. They have been holding Community Journalism seminars for people interested in gathering, analyzing and sharing information. Starting this week MinnesotaBrown is getting involved.

This week, on Wednesday, Jan. 23, I will be conducting a seminar on blogging for this group. There is still time to join if you are interested in finding out more about the community web project or if you'd like to attend the seminar. It will run from about 7-9 p.m. in the Itasca Community College computer lab in Grand Rapids, Minn. If nothing else, it will help you start a blog if you have no idea how.

To join, subscribe to the group at grandrapidsjournalists-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or call Scott at KAXE, 218-326-1234.

Behold ... THE FUTURE!

Here's an invite that I almost ignored, but now I'm going. My book will include a section on the future of the Iron Range so this gives me easy material. I get lazy when the deadlines start snarling at me. My notations are below as well.

Have you ever wondered what Grand Rapids will be like in the year 2050?

I always assumed it would be occupied and ruled by some sort of viceroy from the CanadiaRange Alliance. I'm curious to see what others think.

Ever thought about what you want it to be - what kind of world you want to help create for your kids and grandkids?

Yes.

Please join us for an opportunity to answer these and many more questions. 91.7 KAXE/Northern Community Radio is co-hosting a Dialogue about the Future with the Meadowlark Project. This is a great time to meet fellow community members, talk about the future, and think about what we can do today to build the future we
want.

OK, but if they start talking about "the space ship" I am OUT of there.

When: Monday November 26th from 6-8 p.m. (Snacks and visiting 5-6 p.m.)

Things with snacks are usually legit.

Where: Grand Rapids Area Library

If things go south I can always pretend to be looking for tax forms.

The discussion will be based on four scenarios written by the Meadowlark Project. The Meadowlark Project is a 2-year project to create new ideas and pilot programs that will address some of the region's critical issues. As a part of that process, the Meadowlark team wrote 4 stories about how our region might look in 2050. These scenarios are springboards for our community to look forward. Meadowlark scenarios will be discussed in several communities around northern Minnesota in coming months.

But our community is probably the most special to them. I have to believe that.

The project is supported in part by the Blandin Foundation and the Northland Foundation.

No comment. I might need their cool dollars at some point in the future.

Ness wins Duluth mayor's race

Don Ness will be the next mayor of Duluth.

The two-term Duluth city councilor and former Jim Oberstar campaign manager will take office after the new year. Ness beat businessman Charlie Bell by about 1,600 votes for a 52-47 percentage point victory on Tuesday.

Regular readers (notice I say "regular" and not "normal") know my predictions for the mayor's race had bounced around the last week, but I was close. Ness won 52-47; my last call was Ness by 51-49. My original prediction two weeks ago was the closest: Ness by 52-48. Bell threw it all away with a poor media cycle last week because he probably could have won this one. I'll point out to the blogosphere that prominent political blogs like MNPublius and Checks and Balances had Don running away with a 60 percent landslide. It looks like I was a little closer to reality. (I am, after all, the 2000 winner of the Checks and Balances John Spanish Political Prognostication award).

Why so close? Ness is, after all, a popular city councilor and veteran DFLer in a strong DFL town. Two things: Charlie Bell is well-liked and very popular on the city's west end (he carried ever West Duluth precinct, some by a whoooole lot). Even though he's not a DFLer, Bell won a lot of support for being a trusted community servant. Also Don is young (33) and had to fight a perception battle over his toughness in dealing with major issues and allegations that he's an opportunist looking for higher office. Hence, a very close election that still went the way of the proven DFL rising star.

As for what I think, Don Ness will be a good mayor. I've worked with him on political projects in the past and he's always been good to deal with. He's got a brand new city council that should be fairly proactive (Oh yeah, the Duluth council races were a slaughter. All five incumbents whose terms expired are leaving either by choice or voter will). Ness has been successful in balancing his ideology with compromise and coalition building. Also, I honestly don't think Don plans to run for higher office. I think he could potentially be a legacy mayor in the city of Duluth.

For the record, there is a 90 percent chance that Jim Oberstar's successor in Congress will be named Tony: State Rep. and House majority leader Tony Sertich, State Sen. Tony Lourey, or -- heads up -- this new guy Tony Cuneo who was just elected to the Duluth council. There is a 10 percent outside chance that the candidate will be some unknown from the woods or exurban portions of the 8th CD (or, in 2012, 7th CD after Minnesota loses a Congressional seat to reallocation and redistricting). Point is, Ness's critics were off in assuming he would run for Congress from his mayor's post.

So there it is. Congratulations to Mayor Don Ness and the new Duluth City Councilors.

Meantime, on the Range, we have a new mayor and council in Virginia that will probably fight just as much as the old one. The school bond issue passed in Hibbing but failed in Grand Rapids and the St. Louis County schools. As I said yesterday, Rapids did a poor job of selling their referendum and Hibbing did well. That's reflected in the vote totals. I did not mention the St. Louis County Schools referendum and that's actually bigger news. The failure of this bond issue will probably threatened the viability of some of the schools in this vast rural confederacy of small communities. This district needs help.

Now we political junkies have to wait for the Iowa caucuses. Stay tuned.

Election Day notes

It's election day! In the odd years this only excites nerds like me, but if you have an election in your area you should get out to vote.

In my section of Itasca County all we had to vote on today was the District 318 school referendum. In Hibbing, where I work, residents are voting on their own school referendum. There are dozens of these referendums going on all over Minnesota and it's because the state still isn't living up to its funding obligations for school districts. That's the conservative plan, Gov. Pawlenty's in particular, to shift the financial obligation from the state income tax to property taxes which are more regressive. This is essentially a reversal of the tax reforms of Wendell Anderson and Rudy Perpich of the 1970s that made Minnesota the pride of the nation for education, community strength and service delivery. So what's better? Vote "Yes" to authorize this shift or vote "No" to harm school districts in the short term? No one wins until we fix the state tax trends.



Meantime, here's a roundup of the other elections that seem worthy of following:


Regionally:
There's a humdinger of a mayor's race and several competitive council races in Duluth today. In the main event, city councilor Don Ness is battling businessman Charlie Bell for the mayor's office. Ness is a longtime DFL activist and former Congressman Jim Oberstar campaign manager. He's also the city council's youngest member and even with eight years in office is still in his early '30s. Bell is a community activist of sorts and is making his second run for this office. Both have been well financed and I really think this one could break either way. We'll see tonight.


In the Iron Range town of Virginia, longtime incumbent mayor Carolyn Gentilini is on the ropes against city councilor Steve Peterson. These two have been squabbling for years. Peterson crushed Gentilini in the primary (if this were Louisiana we wouldn't even need a general election) and she has a lot of ground to make up if she's going to prevail. There will also be some turnover in the Virginia council but even if all the incumbents are swapped out I get the feeling that not much is going to change in Virginia.


Statewide:
Lots and lots of referendums. Like I said above, if they pass Pawlenty gets to justify not funding eduction as well as he should and middle class property owners are burdened with an unfair portion of the bill. If they fail, the next two years will be hard for districts all over the state. It's hard to celebrate a victory for either Yes or No in my mind.


Nationally:
Not much to report. Governor's races in Mississippi and Kentucky. In Mississippi a portly ex-lobbyist Gov. Haley Barbour will cruise to re-election and the short list of GOP V.P. candidates. In Kentucky, a scandal-laden incumbent Republican will probably fall to a Democrat in an election that won't prove much about Kentucky's electorate. Meantime, the state of Virginia has legislative elections that might be an interesting bellweather for the state's recent Democratic swing. If you hear the Dems took the Virginia legislature, they might have a shot at that Republican stronghold in 2008.


Meantime, my friend and former news director Cindy Kohlmann is running for city council in Dubuque, Iowa. Do the right thing, Dubuque's 4th Ward. She'll treat you right.



Internationally:
You know, everything up until this part is irrelevant. If Pakistan falls to extremists in their January elections we'll all be farming potatoes with grow-lights in our bomb shelters within the decade. Our solution so far? Give Pakistanis only two choices: President Musharaff or General Musharaff. Uffda! Democracy is hard.