Why I'm Running for Office - MetroNorth Chamber Leadership Fund Questions - Top Business Priorities for Andover - Improving the Business Climate

I've submitted answers to three questions I received from the MetroNorth Chamber Leadership Fund - a PAC that represents commerce and industry interests in Anoka County.  Their objective is to research and identify pro-business candidates in Anoka County each business cycle.  They are seeking candidates who will provide the greatest opportunities and success for the Anoka County business climate. For a select few, this PAC will award their endorsement in the political race in question.

Here are my replies to their three questions, sent to Michael Thorsland, September 7, 2010:


City of Andover Councilmember



• Please describe why you are running for office?

My wife and I moved to Andover, from Anoka, ten years ago. In Anoka, I’d been active, first in the Republican Party in the pre-Reagan years, then in the DFL, in the 1980s and 1990s. I was a member of the Anoka Charter Commission for several years, and I was an active member of the United Methodist Church of Anoka and member and chair of the Church Finance Committee throughout the 1990s. I was an active Education Association member during years teaching in southern Minnesota in the 1980s, and was a Vice President of the Jackson EA. Since coming to the Human Services Department of Hennepin County in 1990, I’ve become very active in AFSCME Local 34 – Hennepin County Social Services Unit. I served as Membership Secretary for five years, have edited/created the Local’s 12-16 page monthly newsletter since 2001, was elected Local 34 Vice President in 2005, have served on the negotiations committee for three rounds of bargaining, have led Meet & Confer with management for the past five years, and participate in a joint labor-management insurance committee looking at the County’s wellness and insurance initiatives that have contractual implications.


So, it is with a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose that I have found myself serving fellow employees, neighbors and my church family through the years. Isn’t that how members of the Chambers of Commerce would see themselves, as well – as stewards to their community with a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose to those they employ, those who are their neighbors, and those who are their own church family members or friends in civic organizations? Ten years is a long time without giving back to my community in Andover, so I run for office out of a sense of duty, responsibility and purpose.



Andover’s been well-represented for a decade by Julie Trude, and for many years more by Don Jacobson. There are six of us running who think it is time for a new voice to represent Andover – to embrace its future, not to dwell on its past.


I don’t run as the representative of any group or agency in the community. I run as a homeowner who will offer different perspectives and insights on how Andover needs to go forward. I bring the perspectives of someone who has awareness of large-county issues and concerns; I bring the perspective of a unionized workforce; I bring the perspective of a well-read, politically interested homeowner and settled resident of the community.

I will bring balance to the office, between the issues and concerns of fellow residents, of the greater community, and of the employees whose work performance and results are the heart of Andover’s continuing success – but these are also employees who’ve seen their numbers reduced in the name of efficiencies due to limitations of funding, who’ve seen their wages frozen, and furloughed hours mandated in an effort to balance the city budget without significant increases in revenue. I run as someone who appreciates good government and efficient government, but who does not begin at “doing more with less” as the answer to achieving good and efficient government.


• If elected, what would be your top priority as it relates to business in Andover?

The trite answer is to say “economic development.” But the more complex answer should be government/business community partnerships and civic planning.


• As Councilmember, please expand upon the previous and describe how you would improve the business climate in Andover.

Is there a business climate in Andover? What is the state of that community? Is it as it should be, or does it truly need improving?




I’d like to see a “summit” of Andover’s elected representatives and administrative leadership meeting with the leading contractors, realtors, business owners, and pastors to look at Andover’s future and to compare it with its neighbors.



What is Andover? What should we expect of the city? What is realistically possible in this city?




Andover has limited business opportunities. It has a considerable number of churches and is over-represented by pharmacies. It has two groceries, but because of stores located in neighboring Blaine and Coon Rapids, it lacks any major grocers such as Cub, Rainbow, or perhaps Byerly’s, despite being a city of over 31,000 residents. There are just five gas stations/convenience stores – none in the northwest part of the city. Except for McDonald’s and Subway, no major restaurant exists in the city – no Burger King, Culver’s or Wendy’s to rival two McDonald’s franchises; no Arby’s or Taco Bell or Kentucky Fried Chicken to rival Subway for the non-burger market; no major sit-down franchises such as a Perkins, an Applebee’s, a PJ Chang’s or a Broadway or Green Mill Pizza restaurant. Restaurants seldom last long in Andover – as we’ve seen Serendipity, Oodles, Figaro’s, Tasty Pizza and Quizno’s come and go through the years. Andover has many small businesses – insurance agents, animal hospitals, chiropractor offices, and hair salons – but I seldom see a coordinated plan, which seemingly has left holes in the city – not the least of which is the lack of restaurant choices in a principally spread-out bedroom/commuter community with lots of families, lots of hungry children. There is no laundromat in Andover. There is no “Super” store in Andover – there is no Super Target or Super Wal-Mart. There is no big-box retailer like a Menard’s, Home Depot or Lowe’s in Andover. Again, some of these are in neighboring communities, but will residents of northeast Andover always have to drive 15-25 minutes away to Riverdale or Northtown or to Highway 65 in Blaine to find these stores to shop at?




Complicating matters is that there are no significant highways in Andover, just arterial Boulevards like Bunker, Round Lake, Crosstown and Hanson. This presents community limits. The community is limited by competing and contrasting concerns: rural, exurban and suburban commuter residences each forge different values and competing needs. What is the city’s housing plan? How will it incorporate open spaces? Where do businesses build – and thrive? What businesses will thrive in Andover, which will not, and which are integral to Andover’s future, such that we’ll want to provide assistance to retain that company and help it become successful?




The City Hall/Community Center area represents a community core away from the major economic and business area along Bunker Lake Blvd. But there are only three-partially filled business strips in the vicinity. It has a major sense of incompleteness. The developers of Clocktower Commons have never delivered a clocktower – nor a restaurant, that I believe was planned for the site years ago. A large, unfilled field is recently furrowed across the road from City Hall.


Hanson Blvd. is in poor shape – especially north of Crosstown as it leaves City Hall. Crosstown itself is in poor condition leaving north and east from City Hall. Andover Blvd, 157th, 181st – all are streets regularly driven, but getting greatly worn. Many of these streets are not safe for the resident commuters – even adding marked right-turn lanes can add to the safety of these streets.




Making access easier, and providing commuter efficiencies is terribly lacking in Andover for anyone driving south out of Andover on either Hanson or Round Lake Boulevards – or on 7th Avenue in the morning. Andover should explore adding expanded Coon Rapids and Anoka MTC routes into Andover for morning and evening rush hours – perhaps along Bunker Lake Blvd. or north up Hanson to City Hall and the Community Center.


Andover is a city of over 30,000 residents, but it hasn’t got a full-service Post Office. We have a large Carrier Annex near City Hall, but to buy stamps, send packages, etc, one has to use a postal station inside the local Super America store – or drive to Anoka, Coon Rapids or Blaine – or go to little Bethel or to St. Francis to get full service.



Despite the efforts to build the Station Parkway and Jay Street Station North areas as business centers, Andover lacks both a business center and a business identity. Smaller, but older cities like Anoka, Bethel and St. Francis have Main Street identities. Other cities – admittedly along highways – such as Cambridge, Elk River and Forest Lake – have more highly-developed business cores than Andover.



So what is Andover’s identity? Drive through Andover with a fresh pair of eyes this week. What do you see? Go up Round Lake Blvd. to 161st, head east to Hanson Blvd, then drive south past City Hall down to Bunker Lake Blvd. Finally head west back to Round Lake Blvd.


With little exception, this is where you’ll find Andover’s businesses located. Compare that drive to driving through Anoka on Main St. or driving through Coon Rapids on Coon Rapids Blvd., and Andover is not as old and decayed. Compare it to Hanson and Foley Blvds. in Coon Rapids, or driving along Highway 65 in Blaine south of 105th, and it’s probably pretty comparable. Compare it to driving around Riverdale in Coon Rapids, or to the Village or the Baltimore St. area off Highway 65 in Blaine from the Sports Complex north, and Andover doesn’t compare with that vibrancy.



So, I think we must first decide – what is Andover’s identity and what should it be going forward? Is it to be a bedroom commuter community with just enough hodge-podge of businesses and amenities to take care of basic needs of its residents? Or is Andover a rural, exurban community that focuses on the pursuits, pleasures and economic tidings of living on the edge of suburbia, with the spacious lots and traditional farm properties to do much of whatever one desires?



Can Andover attract a future Riverdale-like center of commerce? Should it? But if not, how do we better organize and reconcile the interests of its residents with the hodge-podge of business choices that awaits?




There is much that remains to develop Andover’s economy, and to improve its business climate. There’s much for both sides to do. I don’t see us becoming the next Riverdale or Elk River, frankly, but I do see us moving forward to make Andover more complete – to fill-in or finish off some of the gaps that still exist. I think we will be unique – and not obsolete 15, 20 years into the future – but we do need to successfully provide enough amenities and consumer choices here at home for Andover’s residents to be happy and take pride in our city.

On Regional Development, Transportation Options, and What I'd Like to Accomplish - Answers to North Metro Realtors Association Questionnaire

One of the first contacts I received, was an invitation from the North Metro Realtor's Association, which also wants to interview (or screen) candidates, and perhaps offer funds for campaign expenses, if they deem you worthy of their support.

Here are some of the main questions they asked, and my answers....

What civic/community groups do you belong to?


At present, I am a union activist in AFSCME Local 34 for Hennepin County Social Services, which is a part of the statewide AFSCME Council 5. I am Local 34's elected Vice President, I produce a 12-16 page monthly newsletter for the Local, and I serve on its negotiations committee. I represent the Local in Meet & Confer meetings with Management and I am on the County's health insurance committee. I am Treasurer of the Hennepin County AFSCME Policy Committee, a 12-person executive board representing each of the six AFSCME locals in Hennepin County. I am a candidate for Council 5's Executive Board in October.



I am a member of the United Methodist Church of Anoka. I am a member of the Minnesota and Anoka County Historical Societies.



I served on the City of Anoka Charter Commission for eight years, from 1992-2000.


What do you hope to accomplish if elected?


Andover faces some identity issues and challenges of balancing its rural concerns with its suburban bedroom community issues. I'd like to see the city partner with other agencies and the business community to bring some closure.

We have poor roads north of Bunker - Hanson, Crosstown, 181st, to name a few. Many of our roads lack marked right-turn lanes; either the turning car impedes those who follow, or people make right turns from the shoulder. I'd like to explore bringing MTC to Andover - perhaps along Bunker Lake Blvd. and/or north up Hanson Blvd. to City Hall and the Community Center. Andover does not have a full-service Post Office - we have the large Carrier Annex near City Hall and postal operations out of Super America. Clocktower Commons sits across from City Hall without a clocktower or restaurant that were planned years ago.

Do Andover residents take advantage of having restaurants and retail choices in its city? Oodles, Serendipity, Figaro's, Quizno's, Tasty Pizza... all are examples of 'failed' restaurants in Andover. Meanwhile, we have four pharmacies - two from one company - within two miles of each other. There is little or no commercial activity north of 161st Ave. in Andover - no gas stations, no convenience stores, no bar and grills... I'd like to see Andover partner to bring more enterprise throughout the city.


Tell us about your views on private property rights regarding residential and commercial property?


The Supreme Court's Kelo decision was a real eye-opener. I support government's right to eminent domain, but I believe the elected officials have to put it inside a narrow box. I do not support taking personal property to merely benefit other private development that is questionably in the public interest. I do support it when it is used to widen roads, or improve intersections, where necessary for the public's interest, or when it’s used to provide access for properties that otherwise would be inaccessible.


The North Metro REALTORS Association supports providing options for transit (buses, rail, etc.) and transportation, as well as the coordination of land use and planning policies with transportation and housing needs. What are some transportation options or plans that you would support in your city or county?


I don't know whether MTC's studies support expansion of bus routes into Andover, but I believe there is already significant ridership from Andover - and north Anoka County - that would sustain at least limited morning and afternoon rush hour routing along the busier thoroughfares - Bunker Lake Blvd, Round Lake Blvd. or Hanson Blvd. I am often a bus rider from the Coon Rapids' Foley Park & Ride - half my morning trip is just getting to Foley Park & Ride. I am a big supporter of the rail opportunities already running - and in the planning stages - for Anoka County.


What are your views on regional development? How will you address new residential and commercial development issues or demand?


I think Andover and Anoka County must partner with the Metropolitan Council to revisit where we're headed for 2020 and beyond. Should Andover be permitting new home developments, and if so, where?

As of March 2010, the City has 17 development agreements with City Sewer and Water, ranging from a small 6 unit development in Maple Hollow to large, significant developments at Grey Oaks (up to 300 units), County Oaks West (82 units - 33 available in March), Sophie's South (85 units, 57 available), Miller's Woods (86 units, 21 available) and Parkside at Andover Station (110 townhome units, 12 available). And there were seven acreage developments with Well & Septic choices, including a 19 unit development at Stacks Woods and a 16 unit development at Silver Meadows West. That's a lot of development projects in place.

Should acreage development continue in rural well-water areas instead of areas with City water and sewer? What is the state of Andover's water supply - can it sustain the current population? Can it handle 1500, 2500, 5000 more homes? In the August 27 issue of the ABC newspapers, there were 48 Andover foreclosures in the public notices - perhaps fewer than in Coon Rapids, Ham Lake and East Bethel, but far too many nonetheless. Is there already too much housing stock in Andover? With declining home values and rising costs of living in the farthest-out suburbs, will Andover continue to attract new residents?

Should Andover invest in city-wide Wi-Fi, for example, to make working from home easier for Andover commuters? What WILL make it easier to live in Andover, and be able to engage all the amenities that we drive to Blaine, Coon Rapids, Anoka, and beyond to find, and enjoy?




Tell us about your views for providing more attainable residential and commercial property in your area?


Should we further develop Andover's residential properties? Andover has a mixed character of some farm acreage, large 2.5 acre+ lots, a considerable amount of 'normal' suburban development properties, and a small amount of high density housing - generally isolated from other parts of the City. There are many concerns for the future of a commuter community 30 miles north of the two downtowns.

I'd rather Andover focused on bringing closure - or completeness - to what we have now, for the next decade, and encourage business developments, and bring suburban amenities to Andover, where churches and pharmacies are plentiful, but where there are only five gas stations, where the only brand-name restaurants are Subway and McDonald's (two), and there are no auto dealerships, libraries - or bookstores, laundromats, combination walk-in and drive thru banks, or "Super" anything retail giants in town, as you'd expect in a suburb of 30,000+. Perhaps, it'll be as simple as starting with shoring up our infrastructure.




REALTORS(R) don't just sell homes, they sell neighborhoods, and they sell communities. In what ways can your area REALTORS(R) be better partners marketing and selling your city or county as a great place to live, work, play, and do business?


You already know our community. You were there helping to get businesses started, helping us find or build our homes. Pat Von Mosch was critical to my wife and I being able to both get our Andover house built through TH Construction and Jim Borden, and then helping us sell our Anoka home - that I'd inherited from my parents - in the summer and fall of 2000.



So, step back and help the City of Andover find out what still needs to be done. Can your Association help our community to build a Night-Out campaign across the city to rival our neighboring communities who have thriving opportunities to engage one's neighbors and promote safety awareness on the neighborhood streets?

Drive throughout Andover with a new set of eyes. Look at Bunker, Hanson, Andover, Crosstown and Round Lake Boulevards. What impression do they make? Now drive down Main St. in Anoka, through Riverplace in Coon Rapids, along Coon Rapids and Hanson Blvds. in Coon Rapids, up Highway 65 in Blaine and back down Radisson Rd. and over to the Village in Blaine. Who or what is Andover compared to the aging, decaying routes in some places and the young, vibrant, thriving locales elsewhere?

What can you find to partner with Andover that will keep people happily living in Andover, when gas prices go higher and higher, when city services are cut back further, when home prices fall further? What types of shopping, eating or work initiatives can we bring to Andover? Is it Wi-Fi? Is it better roads, or availability of park & ride bus stops within blocks or shorter miles from home? Is it more shopping or restaurant choices? I'd like to see what creative alternatives NMRA can initiate and bring to the attention of Andover's City Council and commissions.