Looking forward to 2016, the Sun Post asked several community leaders three questions about the opportunities and challenges that they see in the coming year. Here are the answers from Jeff Lunde, mayor of Brooklyn Park; Dean Henke, chairman of the school board for Osseo Area Schools; and Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, who represents District 36B in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Jeff Lunde
1. What do you feel are the biggest opportunities for the city in 2016?
1) Launch a great plan for new Coon Rapids Dam Park, soon to be known as Great River Park. 2) I am very hopeful this will be the year where we will start to deliver the additional retail and restaurants everyone has been asking for in Brooklyn Park. 3) Successfully pursue another large corporation to continue large scale development on Highway 610.
2. What do you think are the biggest challenges for the city in 2016?
1) Continue to push forward with efforts to provide more hope and opportunity for youth in our community. 2) Move forward on a plan to support our retired and long-time residents as their needs change. 3. Decide if we want the Blue Line Extension Light Rail Transit in our community as we have planned for years. 4. Survive the madness of a presidential election.
3. What can the community do to best meet those challenges and seize upon those opportunities in the coming year?
1) Continue to engage with all members of our community to gain as much input as possible into our decision making. 2) Accept different people have different needs whether they are young, old, affluent or not. 3) Face the tough issues and avoid easy paths to nowhere. 4) Ignore the presidential race and all its divisiveness, except on election day.
Dean Henke
1. What do you feel are the biggest opportunities for the school district in 2016?
• One of the biggest opportunities for the Osseo School District in 2016 is to continue building a school district culture where all teachers and students are engaged in active, purposeful learning.
2. What do you think are the biggest challenges for the school district coming in 2016?
• One of the biggest challenges for the Osseo School District in 2016 is teachers that are not engaged in a student’s education and/or students that are not engaged in their education.
3. What can the school district do to best meet those challenges and seize upon those opportunities in the coming year?
• For the Osseo School District to meet one of our biggest challenges, we need to first identify who is not engaged in the education process and an understanding of the reason. Once identified, we need ‘people’ resources to mentor the individual whether it’s a teacher or a student. This is where our school district and community can help; when you’re talking about changing and/or influencing the human nature of a person, you need someone with a connection/a relationship to that person to mentor them.
• The Osseo School District can seize upon our opportunities by continuing to work on both our challenges and opportunities, they go hand in hand.
Melissa Hortman
1. What do you feel are the biggest opportunities for the state in 2016?
Higher education opportunities: Minnesota has an opportunity to continue to have one of the most well-educated and most highly paid work forces in the country by helping students and families afford higher education. Minnesota now has a surplus in excess of $1 billion, thanks to responsible fiscal policy enacted in 2013-2014 and robust economic growth. A significant portion of the surplus should be used to help Minnesota students and families who are struggling to pay for higher education. Minnesota policymakers can structure this assistance as one-time tax credits for families paying tuition bills and making higher education loan payments. For the portion of the surplus that is predicted to be on-going (as opposed to one-time), we should pay for a one-year freeze in college tuition.
Clean energy economy opportunities: Minnesota also has an opportunity to remain in the top tier of states creating jobs from clean energy. Minnesota’s past leadership on renewable energy policy has created 15,000 good-paying jobs over the past 15 years. We should continue to act on climate, and stay in the lead of states benefiting from the clean energy economy. I have authored a bill to give tax credits to individuals and families who choose to invest in energy efficiency, electric vehicles or solar energy. State policies like this help drive the market for clean energy technologies, which many Minnesota companies profit from.
Campaign finance reform opportunities: Large, out-of-state special interests have brought dirty campaigning to Minnesota elections. In the past election cycle, we saw record amounts of money spent on state legislative races – with very little disclosure. It was almost impossible to find out who was spending money on negative advertising, because special interests used loopholes in campaign finance laws to keep their identities and their spending secret and hidden from voters. We should close these loopholes and require corporate special interests to disclose their identities and the total amount of their spending to voters in advance of the election. If out-of-state interests seek to buy elections in Minnesota, then Minnesota voters have to right to know who these entities are and how much they are spending.
2. What do you think are the biggest challenges for the state coming in 2016?
Challenge: Look to the long term. At the state level, we have seen one-time surpluses lead to future deficits when policymakers have made long-term commitments to spending or tax cuts using short-term surplus revenue. It is important to structure any use of one-time surplus as one-time spending, rather than making ongoing commitments.
3. What can the state do to best meet those challenges and seize upon those opportunities in the coming year?
Addressing our challenges and opportunities: In order to address the challenges and opportunities 2016 will bring, we need to engage in responsible, collaborative policy-making that keeps an eye on the long-term economic health of all Minnesotans. We should invest in higher education opportunities, continued growth in our clean energy economy, and reforms that keep our elections free from the corrupting influence of outside special interests.
At the same time, we need to maintain a strong balance in the budget reserves, and not overcommit to future spending or tax cuts. Minnesotans have the chance to help keep our state strong and on the right path by learning about public policy issues, getting involved, making their voices heard and by voting. I greatly appreciate the input I receive from residents of our district, and I look forward to continuing to work with residents in 2016.
Contact Gretchen Schlosser at gretchen.schlosser@ecm-inc.com