For the second consecutive meeting, the Northfield City Council was greeted last night by a full gallery of people asking – and some demanding – that the Council pass a resolution seeking a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Across the country, many local councils have passed such resolutions, and the group at the meeting last night would like the Northfield City Council to follow suit.
Prior to the public comment section of the meeting, Mayor Rhonda Pownell read a statement re-iterating the city council policy to that they do not discuss, nor would they pass a resolution, that is out of the council’s jurisdiction or has nothing to do with the City of Northfield.
Last month during the sole Council meeting, more than a dozen people spoke during the Open Comment section asking that the council approve a ceasefire resolution. Last night, in the interest of expediency, Mayor Pownell requested that those who had spoken last month refrain from speaking. There were 15 people who spoke for two minutes each, making an impassioned plea for the City Council to pass a ceasefire resolution.
The speakers represented different walks of life in Northfield. One high school student and at least three college students spoke. Others were longtime Northfielders. Some spoke of genocide in Gaza. Others spoke of the American government being complicit in that genocide and told the Council very directly that a lack of a resolution made them complicit as well.
As this was the open Public Comment section of the meeting, aside from the mayor’s statement, there was no comment from other members of the City Council.
Pints for Pride will feature specialty Imminent Brewing beer
The Northfield Pride Board of Directors has announced the second annual Pints for Pride event will be held at the Grand Event Center on Saturday night.
The event is the annual fundraiser held to support Pride in the Park, the annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. A statement released by the Pride Board said it will also help support an annual scholarship program for LGBTQ+ graduating seniors, as well as other quarterly events that build relationships, foster community, and improve the lives of queer people in the Northfield area.
The event will be emceed by Northfield’s very own drag queen, Mrs. Moxie, who will also perform during the event. She said the event has been moved to the Grand this year from Imminent Brewing, because it was so successful last year, more space is required.
“We’ve grown quite a bit from last year to this year. And also because it’s in April, we never know what the weather is going to do. Obviously, we had you know 60° one week and then all of a sudden we had a snowstorm. So, the Grand has a lot more space and fits a lot more people inside. This gives us plenty of room to grow.”
Imminent Brewing remains a supporter of the Pride Board and in fact will be tapping Pints for Pride Pale Ale that evening, which has been brewed specifically to support the organization. Moxie said $1 from every pint sold will be donated to the Pride Board, and it will be available at Imminent Brewing, The Grand, and the Ole Store.
Established in 2021, Northfield’s Pride in the Park was a successful event from the outset, and has grown every year since its inception. Organizers said more than 2000 people attended the event in 2023, and they are expecting close to 3000 people at this year’s celebration, which is set for June 1st at Central Park.
The event will feature a silent auction. Kelli Podracky of the Northfield Union of Youth, Northfield City Councilor Davin Sokup, who is the first trans person elected to public office in Greater Minnesota, and Representative Kristi Pursell will all give some remarks as well.
Pints for Pride is set for this coming Saturday at the Grand. Doors will open at 5pm. Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Mrs. Moxie can be heard here
Public Broadcasting funding model is no longer working
The Minnesota Legislature is currently considering a bill that would change the way local public broadcast companies are funded in the state.
Northfield Public Broadcasting manager Sam Temple is on the legislative board of the Minnesota Association of Community Television Administrators and has been working to help the legislature understand why the shift in funding is needed.
Currently, Public Educational & Government, or PEG, stations – which is how community television is classified – receive their funding through franchise fees charged by municipalities to cable companies. Those fees are based on the number of cable television subscribers a cable company has within that municipality. So, for example, the City of Northfield is able to charge Spectrum a fee for the number of people who subscribe to their television service. Northfield Public Broadcasting, then, receives its funding from those fees.
Temple said when that model was formulated in the early 1980’s it was a good one and it worked well. However, in the last decade, more and more people have canceled their cable subscriptions and are using internet based streaming services to watch television instead, which is a trend that will only keep growing. As a result, more and more companies are dropping the cable television offerings, and are moving simply to broadband. The bill would give municipalities the ability to franchise broadband, and charge a fee for every internet connection, which they currently do not have.
Temple said the bill has strong bi-partisan support, because many legislators understand the value of public broadcasting.
“Legislators understand the value of local media, especially when you get out to greater Minnesota or even some parts of the metro where there are local news deserts. The only place you’re going to get news is from state or national sources. You don’t necessarily have a local paper, or a local radio station as robust as KYMN. A lot of places simply don’t have that local news, except from their local public television station.”
The bill has made it through two committees in the House and has been rolled into a larger communications omnibus bill. It has had a hearing in the Senate with another scheduled for later this week, and Temple is hopeful it will receive the support necessary to get into that version of the communications bill as well. He said without this change, time could be running out on public access television.
“Hopefully we can, at the very least, stop the bleeding. A lot of communities are losing cable more and more. I know of two companies just in Rice County in the last month that decided, ‘You know what, we’re only going to do broadband. We’re not doing cable anymore.’ And suddenly all that funding goes away.”
Omnibus bills are generally passed toward the end of a session. The legislature is currently scheduled to adjourn in mid-May.
KYMN News 4/3/24
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
