Overall transit ridership rose by 2.7 million in 2011 to 80.9 million. Urban bus routes provided 72 percent of all rides, suburban and express service 14 percent, the Hiawatha light-rail line 13 percent and the Northstar commuter line 1 percent.
For detail, Met Council's homepage, here, has the 2011 reporting and the leadership-policy statement as the presently featured key links. To aid the politician-spinmeisters, to make their search for how "they will say it" easier, I post this MC page.
“Together, we can connect the dots between mobility, economic development, jobs, workforce, housing and quality of life,” said Haigh. “This is about connecting development with jobs, jobs with people, and people with their homes, communities and local businesses.”
Haigh said the Council has a full plate in 2012, with a work plan that also includes:
-- Beginning development of a housing policy plan that will help to expand affordable housing opportunities.
-- Awarding additional grants to promote development and redevelopment along transit corridors to help attract more private capital and additional development, as well as complement other Council initiatives to promote economic opportunity.
-- Launching a collaborative effort to develop the 2040 Regional Development Framework, a long-range plan for delivering innovative, efficient services and infrastructure in a cost-effective and collaborative manner.
-- Further embracing growing diversity by expanding federal inclusionary policies to all Council purchasing, hiring and contracting practices.
During Haigh’s first year as Council Chair, the Metropolitan Council:
-- Secured a Full Funding Grant Agreement for Central Corridor Light Rail, committing the federal government to paying half the cost of the $957 million project.
-- Secured federal government approval to enter Preliminary Engineering on Southwest Corridor Light Rail. The project is just one of 12 projects nationwide to achieve PE status.
-- Launched the “Corridors of Opportunity” collaboration to target investment along transit corridors as a way to shape growth and guide land uses to ensure the region’s ability to be competitive.
-- Achieved Metro Transit ridership of nearly 81 million rides in 2011, marking the second time in 30 years that ridership has exceeded 80 million.
-- Avoided an across-the-board transit fare increase, despite a state general fund reduction of 40 percent for the biennium.
-- Produced the Stadium Proposal Risk Analysis, evaluating the potential risks of the proposal to build a stadium in Arden Hills.
-- Achieved an historic record of wastewater treatment plant compliance with state and federal clean water regulations.
Haigh called on partners in government and the private and nonprofit sectors to help continue the work of the region and to help grow transit, expand housing opportunities and promote healthy neighborhoods and well-paying jobs, and to help promote the region as “one region, one economy.”
See
Haigh’s remarks, as prepared for delivery.
The Council’s 2011 Annual Report.
The Council’s 2011 Record of Accomplishment (pdf)
[...]
The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Council runs the regional bus and light rail system and Northstar commuter rail, collects and treats wastewater, coordinates regional water resources, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. The Council board is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor.
[links in original, italics added --- gotta keep the planners' cash flow flowing ... they are heart and soul of what Met Council is/does - worth every penny, some believe]
Outside of "one region, one economy," Wright and Sherburne Counties seem content being different regions, different economies.
The aquifer we in Ramsey rely on for water extends beyond Met Council jurisdiction, and is utilized with new wells outside of the Metro Area. DNR can regulate water best, because it has jurisdiction over the entire aquifer - groundwater systems of the State.
Met Council should not be trying to overreach or hide things, that way, and with Northstar reaching beyond its jurisdiction, there are politics it can most surely influence heavily, but which it cannot fully control.
Last but not least, this page, where you can take pleasure in watching an embedded video of Mayor Rybak, and note that Met Council has an anchor focus:
“With a spirit of partnership, we can achieve and surpass the aspirations we share for this region,” Haigh said.
Panelists discuss benefits of regional partnerships
A panel that included Matt Kramer, President of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, Jan Callison, Hennepin County Comissioner, and Bruce Nustad, President of the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce discussed transit investments, housing needs, and how regional and local planning decisions affect businesses decisions about where to locate or expand.
Oh, did I say, spinmeister?
Image from the embedded video, here. I watched that entire video, (sound off - why bother), and it was a bit distressing. All those talking head career politicians, and not our own Matt Look, with one of Jim Deal's buildings as a backdrop, or our mayor with an oil rig backdrop, saying this-that about the hustings - and jobs.
You would think, submitting to an annual new tax of $300,000 should buy coverage [a transit district tax - local control subsumed]. The new tax burden is being assumed by our town's taxpayers in exchange for the benefit of being able to bond debt to pay a big chunk of the cost of building a Northstar stop at Town Center. With that submission, of our town's leadership to a new tax for us, you might expect that City of Ramsey would have gotten some kind of non-chump featuring in the tout-video. Not so. Not even a Darren Lazan/Landform clip or slides on public-private-partnership (P3).
No featuring. Just the new tax. Pay to play. Second fiddle.
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POLL RESULTS: The most recent four-question sidebar poll has closed. Briefly, there was a two-to-one split favoring a return to a five member all-at-large council; a decisive near-unanimous favoring of cutting Landform/COR instead of more cuts elsewhere; a near-even split on Ulrich -vs- Nelson as the administrator to keep if one has to go, (with Ulrich favored); and a unanimous belief that as a symbolic thing the honorarium payments to the council members should be cut proportionately, i.e., that there should be a symbolic sharing of hardship. Because the stipends are low in relation to the workload, any such reduction would be symbolic, but it was favored that such a "statement" be made by those imposing hardships.