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Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Met Council reads tea leaves for the metro area, circa 2040.

Journalism 101

Strib reports, without giving any link to the actual resource, the Met Council document.

PiPress, ditto.

MinnPost, home page, a search for "council" gives no hit. Either the story is buried after other stuff in the listing, or probably expect featured coverage tomorrow or later today. Probably expect a highest quality coverage, but a day later.

Search of Google News, for "Met Council MPR 2040" gives no hits. However, go to the MPR homepage, it is the featured story.


This link for MPR coverage, as with other reporting, no link to the primary resource.

A Met Council homepage search "2040" gives this as the top [most relevant] return. Still a few more layers of onion peeling to go, still reading somebody's summary of this and that, but almost there.

Why do the major papers, online, not give the link? My best guess, they want you to read more of their stuff on the Vikings stadium saga, the Republicans ramping up for energizing the evangelical vote by pandering to choice-hating rage, etc., rather than have a reader go to a primary source via a link to another website, where Strib and/or PiPress earns zippo in per-click and other online ways and means of generating advertising revenue. That's just a guess that non-linking is motivated and not accidental.

_________UPDATE__________
Specific to City of Ramsey, in light of the trending that the soothsayers say, I do not see how Flaherty's high-end rental by the noisy rails will resonate into 2040. (The bigger question on it, will it resonate at all in 2013, after this fall's elections.)

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
A somewhat extended excerpt from the Met Council's reporting link, (from the middle of the item):

As the age profile of the population shifts, the mix of households is also changing. Growth in Generation Y will still generate growth in households with children. However, most of the growth among households with children is anticipated to be growth in one-parent households (up 80,000 over 30 years).

Senior citizens will be the most significant contributors to the forecasted increase in households. Seniors tend to live alone, or with a spouse. Not surprisingly, most of the gain in households projected by the Council is reflected in net growth of one-person households (up 179,000 over 30 years) and of married couples without children (up 87,000). These gains reflect a progression of the household life-cycle, as married couples with children become households without children.

“The diversity and availability of our housing stock is an important component in the strength of our regional economy,” continued Chair Haigh. “As our population shifts between now and 2040, communities and the Council must plan and be creative to ensure housing is affordable and meets the needs of an aging population.” The Council is currently working on a housing policy plan that will provide critical support as the region experiences these changes in the coming decades. The last regional housing policy plan was approved by the Metropolitan Council in 1985.

The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization in the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Council is tasked with regional forecasting and policy planning in Minnesota Statutes §473.146 and §473.859. The Council, in partnership with Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) acquired a new forecasting model in 2011 that is expected to increase forecasting accuracy.

The regional forecast and local forecasts serve as a statement of future expectations and inform both the Council’s planning and local government planning. The preliminary regional forecast will be followed by preliminary local forecasts in 2013. As the Council drafts its next metropolitan development guide, Thrive MSP 2040, the forecasts will be updated to reflect the impact of policy changes adopted by the Council. A final regional forecast, including community-level data, is expected to be adopted by the Council in 2014.