Congressional Leader Speaks Out On Area Economic Development
"Perspective"07/29/2007
Paul Munnis
When you hear the term Economic Summit it brings to mind the idea that there is an economic crisis and that key leaders are being brought together to take responsibility for solving parts of a shared problem.
That is exactly what happened in Austin last week when Congressman Tim Walz brought together a number of leaders to address key problems and challenges facing southern Minnesota. These are challenges that will influence our economic development over coming decades.
The problem areas are diverse and they include transportation, infrastructure repair and extension, plus healthcare and business preservation and innovation. Committees met on each of these topics and discussed solutions to many of these problems. It was an opening salvo designed to forge bonds of communication and cooperation between community members.
Minnesota has an economy that sits on the three legs of agriculture, design and manufacturing, and services such as healthcare. All of these areas are undergoing change and require innovative management attention. The retiring Baby Boomer generation is another factor governing worker availability, skill availability, and change in the economic construct. Rural life and quality of life are other major considerations.
Walz is of the opinion that we should not rush to emulate other nations necessarily but rather look at what they doing, see the good and the bad of it, and then innovate our own system seeking to make it better than what others have.
There was talk about the role of rail and farming and how to move farm product to markets at low cost in a high cost energy future. There was also talk about the Lewis and Clark Water System. This is a $374 million project to distribute water to dry parts of southwestern Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. A need to speed this project up for economic stress relief was discussed.
Panelists from the Mayo Clinic and others were present to discuss the challenges of getting healthcare for all and better ways for patients and the medical community to deliver quality care. IBM and other manufacturers were also present and talked about industry and its shifting focus and the challenges faced in an increasingly global economy.
Walz is an educator who wants dialog between people so that people can learn from each other and be sensitive to one another and offer solutions to shared problems and challenges. At the heart of his approach is a basic belief in the integrity of people if they are brought into the equation and encouraged to help solve problems. Walz did not hesitate to discuss the need for industry to communicate their education needs to area school systems so that an educated workforce can be produced to be available to take up challenges and opportunity afforded by change. Retaining our own kids to work in our own communities is going to be a challenge as a worker shortage develops and recruiters seek quality workers and discover that we produce just such sought after workers.
Walz is to be commended for his leadership on these important topics and for getting area leaders focused upon the subject matter and perhaps most important of all, making clear that his office is open to input and will be pleased to represent southern Minnesota in our quest to adapt to the challenges coming our way.