Two weeks ago former candidate for Congressional District 2, Angie Craig, was invited to speak in Northfield by Cannon Valley Indivisible. One of the attendees, Amber Myskewitz said that, as a progressive, she appreciated “the talking points presented by Craig as well as the insightful questions and responses from the group members”. A conservative, Janalee Cooper, also attended and said “that questions asked were were penetrating and articulate and showed the concern that the DFL base has about
the Parties’ leadership”. A concern expressed was Craig’s label as a “corporate Democrat”, possibly beholden to companies over constituents. Myskewitz said, Craig “touched on her background with St Judes Children’s hospital and explained how her experience there gives her credence and ability to make decisions with both pragmatism and the patients in mind, striking a balance”. The most common questions were concerns about the Trump administration and how his policies will directly affect the planet, lower income families, health care accessibility and more. Myskewitz added that the group reiterated their desire to meet with our current Representative, Republican Jason Lewis, but he’s not made himself available. Cooper countered that Lewis does listen to constituents. She added that he is an independent voice. Lewis was in studio at KYMN on April 13th on the Wayne Eddy Affair, that interview is online. Myskewitzcomments Coopercomments
Who is CVI?
I interviewed CVI (Cannon Valley Indivisible) co-organizer Lewis Epstein, a music history Professor at St. Olaf College, last week. He commented on Craig’s visit saying, “I thought it was a great exercise in a free exchange of ideas and criticisms and questions”. We talked about CVI. In the materials he sent, it states their agenda was to “resist” President Trump. I asked if that meant on every issue. He said, “of course it’s not everything, no matter what. In fact that’s the kind of sort of near-sighted and unreasonable behavior that we feel like has been seen, especially over the course of the last 8 years when Obama was President. So we certainly don’t want to make that same mistake”. Epstein said their main concern is Congressional District 2, things that affect the local community. He said, “we’re focused on giving people a voice, making sure they know how to get in touch with their congressman, where the office is if they want to visit, how they can get involved. And we leave decisions about the benefits or disadvantages of specific policies to individual members to decide for themselves”. Thefull interview is below. Cannon Valley Indivisible will meet again July 13th.
Louis Epstein Cannon Valley Indivisible
School district gets website “re-do”
The Northfield School District will be getting a website re-do. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said they’ve partnered with Neuger Communications. He said it’s been 5 or 6 years since their last major website re-do. They’ve collected user feedback over the last 5 years to, “be able to create a new website that’s mobile friendly, that’s a little bit leaner than what we had before, still providing a tremendous amount of material and information for folks but at the same time being simpler to use”. They’ll launch the new website on August 4th.
Dundas citizens concerned with speeding traffic
The Dundas Council last week discussed citizen concerns about speeding and careless driving on First Avenue, especially when there are tournaments and Dundas Dukes game and lots of children around. Administrator John McCarthy said Council approved having “additional presence”. Police presence that is. Council asked staff to look at additional solutions.
