Yesterday, President Joe Biden visited the Dutch Creek Farm just North of Northfield for the first of a series of events to promote his administration’s investment into rural America.
Biden’s speech was part policy statement and part stump speech. The president is facing re-election next year, and just last week, Congressman Dean Phillips, who represents Minnesota’s Third District, announced that he would challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination. While Biden made no mention of Phillips in his remarks, his message was clearly aimed at rural voters, many of whom, assumedly, would support his likely Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, to say nothing of Congressman Phillips.
One of the president’s main themes was a term he used several times, “Bidenomics.” He assailed the practice of “trickle-down economics,” also once known as “Reaganomics,” as something that has been extremely hard on the rural economy. The practice offers favor to those in higher income brackets who would then, in theory, have the easiest and quickest means to grow the economy by creating more jobs, which would also create more competition for workers, raising wages.
The president’s plan, he said, is different. Offering help to the middle class and in lower tax brackets, and investing in rural America, he believes, is the best way to grow the economy.
“Now we’re growing an economy from the middle out and the bottom up instead of the top down. There is a practical reason for that. When the middle class does well, the poor have a way up and the wealthy still do very well. It’s everybody does better when rural America does well, when Indian country does well, we all do well.”
Among the initiatives his administration has put in place is promoting competition in agricultural markets, by doing more to help create small and mid-sized meat processing plants, giving farmers more options for where to sell their livestock. The government has also made a sizable commitment to improving infrastructure throughout rural America. Representative Kristi Pursell, who was in attendance for Biden’s remarks, said she was very happy to hear the president talk about rural broadband on which she has worked very hard, and sees as one of the country’s greatest needs.
“We know that farms are more profitable if they have high speed Internet. We know that that’s how people, especially if you’re far away from a healthcare facility, that’s maybe how you see your doctor. You have to have an Internet connection to attend school. This is a utility that everyone needs to have in Minnesota and that includes rural places.”
Biden spoke about other initiatives as well, including money to incentivize climate-smart agriculture, and clean energy infrastructure. His administration, he said, has created 13.9 million jobs since he came to office, and he is most proud that 850,000 of those are manufacturing jobs. One of his priorities is to return manufacturing from China, Mexico, India and other countries to the United States, pointing specifically to a $350 million investment in microchip and semiconductor manufacturing. He also pointed out that the American economy grew by 5% in the 3rd quarter this year, and the recession so many were forecasting in 2022 has never materialized.
The president referred to himself as an optimist during his remarks, and in calling on the country to end its deep divisions, he ended his remarks on an optimistic tone, saying there is nothing this country cannot do when it decides to do something.
“There’s nothing beyond our capacity. Think about it. Anything we’ve ever set our mind to as a nation, we’ve never failed to succeed. Not a joke. We’ve never failed to succeed. Nothing is beyond our capacity, when we do it together. So, let’s unite this country. Let’s do it together.”
City will push forward with Downtown redevelopment, seek new Development Partner
The Downtown Northfield Redevelopment Project hit a snag this week when it was announced that the Lander Group, the private developer with whom the City of Northfield was hoping to partner, would no longer be a part of the project.
Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig said the deal between Lander and the city didn’t fall apart as much as it never really materialized. While Lander had been appointed the preferred developer, there was no formal agreement between the two. They had collaborated on the public design plans and, Martig said, the Lander group had brought the ideas for the private sections of the plan. Michael Lander, served as a spokesperson for the project, but that was as much as the two sides ever agreed on.
Negotiations had several issues. One, said Martig, was in the depth and commitment to the project. The city wanted an agreement that entailed both Phase I, which is the 5th & Washington Street Municipal Liquor Store/Parking Complex, and Phase II which had been planned as a hotel on the corner of 5th & Water Street. The Lander Group, meanwhile, wanted separate agreements, with the Phase II agreement to be negotiated after completion of the Phase I project.
Martig said there were other sticking points as well. The city, he said, was looking for assurances that would both legally and financially minimize the risk to the city, and thereby the taxpayers. The two sides simply could not come to terms on an agreement.
Martig said this closes the door on the Lander Group’s involvement, but there are other developers with whom the city has already spoken that could have interest in stepping in. He said the city will be looking for the same assurances from a new private partner that they sought from The Lander Group.
“This is still a very active and forward-moving project for the city, and we’re excited about it. These are potentially legacy projects for the city too, though, so, we really want to be thoughtful about this. We have to be financially responsible for the city. We’ll certainly have some financial tools available like tax increment financing, but we’re expecting the public to pay for the public, the private to pay for the private and maybe even help bring down some of the public costs.”
As the city redoubles its commitment to the project, Martig also acknowledged that this creates an opportunity to revise all of the plans and puts a lot of things back on the table. Parking has been a major talking point within the project, and he said they will take some time to re-evaluate the parking structure’s design to ensure it includes the right number of parking spaces.
He also said that the original timeline for construction, which included breaking ground on the 5th & Washington project this coming March, will be revised and pushed back.
“I’m not completely sure that was a totally realistic timeline. It was probably a very ambitious goal. So, yes, that will not be happening under this current schedule. But I think, again, we’ll be thoughtful about this. Right now, off the cuff, I would say 2025 construction is probably a reasonable new goal.”
The next step is for the Council to discuss the situation at their November 14th work session, and it is expected that they will likely make some decisions by the end of the month.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
