Dear Northlanders,
Summer arrived and so did Heritage Days and Bay Days. There is truly nothing better than festivals, parades, and gathering together in the community with old and new friends. While the kids enjoy gathering candy, I loved every minute of greeting everyone and the energy that comes from a parade. Thirty years ago, I was with my young sons and residents from Sunrise Nursing Home enjoying the Heritage Days parade. It is fantastic to see such fabulous traditions last for decades, and I truly believe that is one of the greatest charms of small towns. On top of that, small towns host the best street dances.
It was a busy week and I was lucky to join another community in Greater Minnesota on a bus trip to Iowa to tour an innovative model for senior care. The campus includes housing for those 55 and older, independent living, assisted living, and advanced care for dementia. This 12-hour bus trip consisted of a mayor, city councilors, county commissioners, a nursing home administrator, business leaders, retired seniors, and various community members to see possibilities that could apply to serve the changing needs in Minnesota’s Greater Minnesota communities. The community asked me to join them since they knew I was a State Representative who had hands on experience working in 24 hour operations and understood the challenges facing current care models financial and operating success.
I believe it is important to listen and learn from the best practices of others. Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Almost always, it is easier to learn from the mistakes others made and the successes they enjoyed before embarking on a new model of care. This model created an opportunity for seniors to have viable housing options, freeing up inventory in single-family homes for working families. This created a win-win for the community individual taxpayer. This created a win-win for the business community. This created a win-win for the city and county tax base for core services provided to the community. This created growth in new startup businesses, housing, and innovation.
As a member of the Aging Task Force, I am committed to listening and learning to ensure great care models for our district and for the entire state. The reality is we have the largest aging population of seniors at a time when we have the lowest labor force. Therefore, innovation with technology and models of care are essential for the current and future needs. I continue to research possibilities to ensure vulnerable adults are well cared for in our communities. Visiting with other communities like Two Harbors, Proctor, Hermantown, and Rice Lake provides insight as ideas are vetted for possible implementation.
I was able to tour the downtown and visit a fabulous art studio that allowed artists to teach and paint on one level of the business floor while a new seltzer company operated on another floor. It was inspiring to see the possibilities. All I could think of were the possibilities for Two Harbors waterfront after meeting earlier in the week with Mayor Lew Connor and leaders working on the Agate Bay Waterfront Conservation initiative.
I was honored to author the land transfer of the waterfront area as the House State Representative, together with Senator Hauschild. This step was critical to allow the community to move forward with a community plan. Two Harbors and Lake County have tremendous opportunities to determine a strategic plan to meet the needs of residents and those who love to visit a place we all cherish.
I commend the community leaders and numerous citizen volunteers who are investing hours to determine the best plan for decades to come. I look forward to assisting in any way as the community plan for the waterfront redesign moves forward.
A special thank you to the Two Harbors Fire Department for another amazing pancake breakfast. This fundraiser is instrumental in ensuring ongoing funding needs are met to serve the community. It is volunteers like this at our community fire halls who respond time after time to calls in our community when we need them most.
Warm regards,
Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar
