Star Tribune
Anoka County, Metro Transit squabble on Northstar funding rolls on
Anoka County and Metro Transit remain at odds over funding for the Northstar commuter rail line, and there appears to be no end in sight to the long-running disagreement.
The Anoka County Finance and Capital Improvements Committee recently denied Metro Transit’s request that the county pay $4.69 million to cover its share of 2023 operating expenses for the line, which runs from downtown Minneapolis to Big Lake and includes four stops in Anoka County.
The County Board took no action on the committee’s recommendation.
“We honestly need to get together and talk this through,” County Board Chair Matt Look said at the March 28 board meeting. “We have to determine what the best course of action is for this line. Is it buses? Is it increasing trips?”
Metro Transit and Anoka County have been battling over payments for the past three years. The county says it has been overbilled for service after ridership fell dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and Metro Transit cut the number of weekday trips. The agency also eliminated weekend trips and special event trains, such as those for Vikings and Twins games.
With fewer trains running, the county contended it should pay less. The county successfully reduced its bill in 2020 from $6.1 million to $4.9 million when service cuts took effect. In 2021, Metro Transit asked for $2.97 million and the county paid $1.95 million. Last year, Metro Transit billed the county $4.55 million and the county paid the same $1.95 million, a document distributed to county commissioners showed.
The amount the county paid reflects a 77% reduction in service, Look said. He called the line “an underperforming asset.”
With fewer trains running and more people working from home, “the whole dynamic of what commuter rail looks like needs to be addressed now,” Look said. “There are lots of conversations being had, and this is one more that needs to happen before we approve an expenditure of this magnitude for a line that is not servicing our area. As policymakers, we have to take a hard look at this.”
From 2011 through 2019, Northstar carried between 2,200 and 3,300 weekday riders during the morning and evening peak commute hours of service. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, ridership fell to just over 60 weekday rides in April 2020, according to the Metropolitan Council, which provides the service.
Passengers took 152,456 rides on Northstar in 2020. That sank to 50,433 in 2021 and ticked up to 77,000 last year, according to Metro Transit. The train provided about 21,000 rides during the first three months of 2023, the agency said.
In January, Metro Transit Finance Director Ed Petrie sent a letter to Anoka County Deputy Administrator Dee Guthman, who is also executive director of the county’s Regional Rail Authority, stating that the county’s payments for the the last half of 2022 were past due. The letter also said Metro Transit would not be able to increase service to four weekday trips in each direction each day or bring back special event trains without payment.
“We cannot plan for increased levels of weekday or special event services until we have assurances that Anoka County will provide timely payment for their proportionate share of Northstar operating costs,” the letter said.
Two other counties that cover Northstar operating expenses — Hennepin and Sherburne — have paid their bills, Metro Transit spokesman Drew Kerr said.
Anoka County Commissioner Jeff Reinert said the impasse is a “really unfortunate situation,” but in 2022 Northstar rides were subsidized at an estimated $150 per passenger, Met Council figures showed. By withholding payment, the county will save taxpayers $3 million this year, Reinert said.
“It is not working,” he said at the March 28 board meeting. “We do need to sit around and talk about how to solve the problem. Until that happens, we might be at a status quo situation.”
Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle met with the Anoka County Board this month, Kerr said. With no immediate resolution in sight, Metro Transit will continue to operate at reduced service levels, he said.
“We welcome continued discussion with Anoka County and all our Northstar funding partners,” Kerr said.
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
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