Below is the statement I made on February 12th to the Transportation Finance and Policy committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives. It is regarding my opposition to House bill HF 14 which would stop the state's funding of the Blue Line Extension.
Thank you Representatives for giving me an opportunity to speak. My name is Aaron Wagner and I serve on the Robbinsdale City Council. Robbinsdale is a tight knit community with a small town feel. To illustrate, our former mayor describes our downtown as “authentic and human scale”. The many small businesses and restaurants contribute to that spirit, and I encourage you to visit if you haven’t.
Increasing the connections for our downtown and businesses to the greater metro area is why this project is important to Robbinsdale. I believe that our city’s full potential will be realized with light rail. Not unlike the president’s promise to usher in a new “golden age” for America. The specifics of his plan are still unfolding, but there is a clear emphasis on increasing domestic manufacturing and prioritizing American-sourced inputs for that production. The hope is to increase high paying jobs here at home. This project does all of that and more.
A number of companies that employ Minnesotans will be working on the construction of the Light Rail Extension and the corresponding private development it spawns. These are good jobs that otherwise wouldn’t be there. For a small, fully developed city like mine, any new development is de facto redevelopment and is therefore more expensive. Builders need an extra incentive to invest, and light rail access is that incentive. Just the hint of extending the Blue Line has breathed new commercial life into the city.
These investments don’t only benefit cities on the route. Labor, materials, and other components for the extension and other developments, are going to be sourced from around the metro and state. Workers from these projects will be spending their paychecks everywhere. As great as Robbinsdale is, we don’t have an H&M or REI like Maple Grove does. We don’t have apple orchards, but many towns in greater Minnesota do. That means project-generated wealth will be spread around.
I want to make this crystal clear: this project is creating jobs and opportunity. In America. Not in another country. Here. Right now. To stall it would be a betrayal to the communities who are waiting for this and to the businesses who have invested in them. A new age, golden or otherwise, cannot be achieved with the same old infrastructure. Please vote No on this bill.