Fate brought me back to Northfield in 2001. I worked for a non-profit, found an affordable apartment and learned to develop a rewarding relationship with my parents as an adult. I made friends slowly. (Most classmates I knew well lived in ‘the cities” or out of state.) I joined a church; I volunteered; and I learned to forgive the situational boredom of my youth. I felt energized by an opportunity to give back to the community about which I had become nostalgic. (Besides I had a car!)
In 2008, gas prices were nearly $4 a gallon. My job position moved to St. Paul so I moved too. It was simply cheaper to pay higher rent in St. Paul, than it was to commute from Northfield. I broke my volunteer commitments out of necessity and gave up any future plans of making a difference in the world and focused on trying to succeed in a new position with a redefining organization. In 2009, like many in different industries nationwide, I was laid-off due to restructuring. To be clear, their decision made sense to me and I harbor no ill-will. It did, however, unsettle my path as well as my confidence. The most logical decision was to return to a ‘safe’ place - where my parents and my best-friends reside. I have been back in Northfield since August of 2009. I returned to volunteering keeping my skills fresh, while looking for permanent or freelance work in marketing, data entry, or home organization.
Expecting to find work in Northfield is simply unrealistic. My job search extends from Faribault as far north as St. Paul and Minneapolis. As disappointed as my mother may be, if I do gain employment out of town, I will most likely leave again unless gas prices return to... well unless I can afford to commute. So as you might expect, the idea of discussing Northfield’s mass-transit connection was quite attractive. So in part, for selfish reasons, I attended the meeting on October 26 organized by the Northfield Grass Roots Transit Initiative.
That Tuesday, sixty-some people from various interest groups and brain trusts met to discuss possibilities for the development of Northfield's Transit Corridor including express bus and potential passenger rail service between Northfield and the Twin Cities. The meeting was organized by the Northfield-Metro Corridor Committee of the Northfield Grass Roots Transit Initiative in association with Carleton College, St. Olaf College and the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation. And while that is a mouthful, it only begins to touch the surface of the groups that decided it was a worthy enough topic to discuss.
Like all ‘good’ meetings in an academic town, Suzie Nakasian, the Transit Initiative’s facilitator, began the meeting by illustrating the historical significance of transportation to the development of Northfield. When John North founded the town, he arranged to have a rail bed laid in order to get the railroad to come through town. Beginning in 1865, the city economy relied on rail service to transport goods to market and new residents and businesses relocated here due in part to the accessibility the railroad provided. In a nutshell, this city would not have attracted businesses like Malt-O-Meal or the colleges without that connection to “the outside world”. And if that hadn’t happened, I wonder what kind of town Northfield would be today?
While we weren’t there only to discuss rail, State Representative Bly spoke briefly about the Dan Patch Line. I know that if you say the phrase “Dan Patch” most people are repelled by recollection of the controversy in later years but in 2000 when the idea to build rapid transit along the Dan Patch line was studied and proposed to the legislature, the route from Minneapolis to Northfield was considered as viable as the Northstar line. But in 2002, the legislature passed the so-called gag-rule (H. F. No. 3003 Section 1. Laws 2002, chapter 393, section 85) not only so that the Dan Patch line would not be built, but that no one could discuss it - not the Metropolitan Council, the Commissioner of Transportation nor even any regional rail authority “may expend any money for study, preliminary engineering, final design, or construction for the Dan Patch commuter rail line.” Meanwhile the Northstar Corridor is being built, Hastings’ Red Rock Corridor is planned for the future, the I-35 corridor and Cedar Avenue corridor are building rapid bus transit to connect to the metro area as far south as Lakeville. Rochester, Mankato and communities to the west are exploring mass transit as well and the state has issued its comprehensive plan but, as Bly emphasized, Northfield is no longer considered. Bly and State Senator Dahle are determined to fight the gag-rule so that Northfield is not left out of future planning.
Prior to the meeting, a commenter on Locally Grown dismissed the importance of such a discussion because he thinks the state should not spend money on transportation issues and that
Rather than bringing mass transit to the people thereby promoting surbanan sprawl, the government should be encouraging people to move closer to mass transit.
Is this what we as a community want to say? If you don’t work in town and can’t afford the gas to commute, then you best pack your bags? That isn’t the voice of the Northfield I grew up in.
