Star Tribune
Met Council pausing on funding agreements for Southwest, Blue Line Extension light rail
An agreement to close an estimated $272 million shortfall in the Southwest light-rail project budget has drawn criticism from some members of the Metropolitan Council, who said they weren’t consulted before the deal was announced last week.
The $2.7 billion Southwest line — the most-expensive public works project in state history — is slated to connect downtown Minneapolis with Eden Prairie beginning in 2027.
But Met Council members, facing intense scrutiny about the way the way they oversee public transportation projects in the Twin Cities, have paused their planning on light-rail projects to collect more information before a key decision next month on funding the Blue Line Extension — giving them more time to look at the bigger financial picture.
Questions about the Southwest funding cropped up during the council’s meeting Wednesday of a $75 million Hennepin County grant for the Blue Line light-rail extension, which is forecast to connect Brooklyn Park with downtown Minneapolis in 2030.
“I have concerns about post-COVID ridership and building two [light-rail] megaprojects at a time,” said Council Member Deb Barber.
While Barber, who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, said she supports extending the Blue Line, she said council members need more time to consider the projects “so we know what we’re voting on.”
Council Member Judy Johnson agreed: “I think it’s important that the council take a breath and be deliberate.”
The Southwest project has been plagued with cost overruns and delays. The agreement announced last week between the Met Council and Hennepin County outlined how they might share project’s deficit, though the amount of money needed to finish the job was not released.
Under the agreement, Hennepin County would pick up 55% of the cost to complete Southwest, with the council covering the rest using federal funds set aside for transportation purposes.
The council would also pay an additional — but undetermined — amount in start-up costs, which includes testing trains before service begins along with the hiring and training of operators.
The Southwest agreement is expected to be approved by both the council and the Hennepin County Board, though it’s unclear when that will happen.
But at several Met Council meetings last week, some members expressed frustration with the proposal and said it wasn’t properly vetted before it was announced.
Others said they worried the federal funds going to Southwest for the next three years will mean other transportation projects throughout the seven-county metro will get short shrift — including a longstanding goal to add more electric buses to Metro Transit’s fleet.
The ensuing discussion was a rare break for council members, who generally agree with staff-directed recommendations.
It was unclear who negotiated the Southwest agreement with Hennepin County; Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle did not attend the council meetings last week.
But Council Member Wendy Wulff said they were faced with “what appears to be a bad agreement.”
“We have to hold firm and get to a good agreement,” she said. “We’re not going to be the rubber stamps everyone thinks we are.”
The deal drew criticism from beyond the council as well.
Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, said Friday he was concerned that devoting much of the council’s federal funds to Southwest will shortchange the transportation needs of the southwest metro communities he represents.
“We can find a funding solution that supports the completion of the Southwest light rail — and Blue Line Extension — without sacrificing other important regional projects,” said Tabke, vice chair of the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.
The Southwest announcement “was so out of left field and completely lacking in context,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who was instrumental in getting the state’s Legislative Auditor to probe the Southwest project and formation of a statewide commission that is reviewing the council’s governance structure.
“Where is the announcement that [the council] is reforming themselves so they can effectively manage these projects?” Dibble asked.
In response, Met Council spokesman John Schadl said: “The Blue Line Extension is a critical component of our regional transportation system.” He said the council will resume consideration of the Blue Line grant agreement with Hennepin County, along with Southwest’s budget, at its Sept. 13 meeting.
“I honestly think he used to understand how tariffs work,” Cuban said. “Back in the 90s and early 2000s, he was a little bit coherent when he talked about trade policy and he actually made a little bit of sense. But I don’t know what happened to him.”
Speaking in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, pushed back against the Harris campaign’s claims that tariffs would hurt the economy. Vance described the tariffs as a way of discouraging imports and boosting American manufacturing.
“If you are a business, and you rely on foreign slave labor at $3 a day, the only way to rebuild American manufacturing is to say, if you want to bring that product made by slave labor back into the United States of America, you’re going to pay a big fat tariff before you get it back into our country,” Vance said.
Back in Wisconsin, Amara Marshell, freshman at UW-La Crosse, said she showed up to support Harris because she is concerned about what a second Trump presidency could mean for reproductive rights. Like her friend, sophomore Avery Black, Marshell is also excited about the possibility of electing the nation’s first female president.
“Women deserve to have power over their own bodies,” Marshell said. “We shouldn’t have to not be able to get an abortion just because of a president.”
Mary Holman, an 80-year-old retiree from Fort Atkinson, Wis., said she hasn’t been to a rally since former President Barack Obama’s first campaign in 2008. But Holman said she decided to get off the sidelines this cycle because she views the election as a fight to preserve democracy.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will auction off state lands in popular northern counties next month.
The public land — in Aitkin, Cook, Itasca, and St. Louis counties — will go up for sale during the Department of Natural Resource’s annual online public land sale from Nov. 7 to 21.
“These rural and lakeshore properties may appeal to adjacent landowners or offer recreational opportunities such as space for a small cabin or camping,” the DNR said in a statement.
Properties will be available for bidding Nov. 7 through Nov. 21.
This all can trim for print: The properties include:
40 acres in Aitkin County, with a minimum bid of $85,000
44 acres in Cook County, minimum bid $138,000
1.9 acres in Itasca County, minimum bid $114,000
Minneapolis city officials say razor wire, concrete barriers and fencing will be removed from around the former Third Precinct police station – which was set ablaze by protesters after George Floyd’s police killing – in the next three weeks. The burned-out vestibule will be removed within three months with construction fencing to be erected closer to the building.
This week, Minneapolis City Council members have expressed frustration that four years after the protests culminated in a fire at the police station, the charred building still stands and has become a “prop” some conservatives use to rail against city leadership. Most recently, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a stop outside the building and criticized Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the 2020 riots.
On Thursday, the council voted 8-3 to approve a resolution calling for “immediate cleanup, remediation, and beautification of the 3000 Minnehaha site including but not limited to the removal of fencing, jersey barriers, barbed wire, and all other exterior blight.”
Council Member Robin Wonsley said the city needs to acknowledge that many police officers stationed in the Third Precinct “waged racist and violent actions” against residents for decades.
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said the council wants the building cleaned up and beautified “immediately.”
“We cannot allow for this corner to be a backdrop for those who wish to manipulate the trauma of our city for political gain,” Chowdhury said.
Council Member Katie Cashman said the council shouldn’t be divided by “right-wing figures posing in front of the Third Precinct and pandering to conservative interests.”
“It’s really important for us to stay united in our goal, to achieve rehabilitation of this site in a way that advances racial healing and acknowledgement of the past trauma in this community, and to not let those figures divide us here,” she said.
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