Commentary; Posted: 2/14/07
Metropolitan Council has come far in 40 years
By Don Heinzman
The Metropolitan Council has come a long way in serving the seven-county area in the last 40 years.
The council, though not as visible as some of its backers would like, has improved the quality of life with its emphasis on planning and coordinating development, along with its management of the transit, regional parks and treatment of waste water.
Forty years ago, the Minnesota Legislature established the Met Council to plan for the orderly and economical development of the seven-county area and to coordinate delivery of certain services that could not be done by any one city or county.
This regional body has lasted even though it has had to cooperate with 300 separate local regional units of government, including 188 cities.
When it started, the seven-county area had a sewer crisis, a privately owned bus system in financial trouble and potential parks and open space being developed privately.
Suspicious local communities, fearing domination by a metropolitan body, fought for an appointed council that would have coordinating but not operating powers.
Today, there is less talk about having an elected council which could lead to the politics of a ward system, instead of viewing the metropolitan region as a whole.
Peter Bell, the chair of the Metropolitan Council, sees both sides of the argument but favors the present system that he says works well.
This council has authority over planning and economic development of these counties: Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Dakota, Washington, Carver and Anoka.
The Met Council originally had planning and coordinating authority, but in 1994 the Legislature gave it responsibilities of operating the sewer and transit systems. In 1974, the Legislature gave the council authority over a regional parks and trails system, designating 31,000 acres of existing city and county parks as regional and authorizing $40 million in bonds to acquire and develop them.
An appointed council approves an expenditure budget of $653,629,977 with over half coming from state and federal funds and $67,314,200 from property taxes collected on a regional platform in the metro area.
This year, the Met Council continues to focus on transportation and traffic congestion, which ranks second to crime, by surveyed residents.
A recent study showed that the average Twin Cities commuter spends 43 hours stuck in traffic, costing about $700 in related costs.
The Met Council was active in promoting the Northstar Commuter rail, and has begun preliminary engineering for light rail in the central corridor linking Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In his State of the Region speech last week, Council Chair Bell said plans are moving forward for bus rapid transit between the Mall of America and Lakeville. The first phase will be developing bus-only shoulder lanes, improving signals that give buses a travel-time advantage and new transit facilities in Eagan, Apple Valley and Lakeville.
The long-range plan calls for developing five more bus and rail transit ways by 2020.
In its survey the Met Council learned that the number one attraction in the region are parks, trails and natural area (34 percent) followed by arts and culture (10 percent).
By 2030 the council’s plan is to expand the regional parks system from 53,000 acres to nearly 70,000 acres and quadruple the trail system from 177 to 877 miles.
The Met Council has no intention of extending its influence beyond its borders, but hopes to find volunteer cooperative ways to deal with growth that spills over the seven-county border.
As long as the council continues to focus on issues like crime, transit, affordable housing, clean water, parks and planning, it needn’t worry about its popularity. That’s what residents expect it to do with or without fanfare.
Forest Lake Times
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880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
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