Hennepin County Commissioner
Peter McLaughlin
E-News Update for January 2002
1. Welcome
2. County Acquiring Railways for Transit Options
3. African-American Men Project
4. Getting Kids to the Doctor
5. Community Power Grants
6. Mercury Thermometers
7. Voting Law Change
1. Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of the McLaughlin Report. I can't
believe that it is already the end of January! Soon enough it will
be spring, and we will exchange snow blowers for lawn mowers!
As always, please feel free to contact me here in my office. You may
do so by hitting reply to this message or calling 612-348-3085.
2. Railways Acquired by Hennepin County
On December 21st of last year, we, acting under the Hennepin County
Regional Railroad Authority, signed purchase agreements on two rail
lines to preserve their future use by the public. The two lines were a
portion of the old Canadian Pacific line in St. Louis Park, and the
Dakota Rail freight line between Wayzata and Hutchinson. The purchase
of the short segment of the Canadian Pacific line means we have filled
in the most critical gap in the bicycle trail system that runs from
the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis to the trail systems in the
southwest part of the metro area. We bought the .4-mile segment of
the so-called Belt Line immediately west of Lake Calhoun for $550,000.
A trail on this stretch, to be built by the Suburban Hennepin Regional
Park District, is scheduled to open next year. The sale follows the
rail authority's purchase of the CEPRO grain elevator, which meant the
end of freight service in the Midtown Greenway, or 29th Street
Corridor. The purchase price of the 44-mile Dakota Rail line ? which
passes through western Hennepin, Carver and McLeod counties ? was $6.5
million, shared by the three counties and the State of Minnesota. The
counties plan to continue freight rail service on the line. Thanks to
hard working Hennepin County staff and a major outpouring of public
support, in the form of letters to the U.S. Surface Transportation
Board, we were able to purchase these transportation pieces.
3. African-American Men Project Final Study Completed
The statistics are stunning: Only 28 percent of African American men
enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools graduate in four years;
young African American men are twice as likely to die and 27 times
more likely to go to jail as young white men; half of Minneapolis'
18-to-30-year-old African American men and 80 percent of African
American children live in the city's five poorest communities. These
are just some of the facts gathered by the African American Men
Project, created in 1999 by the Hennepin County Board to investigate
forces behind the poverty, crime, poor health and isolation
surrounding African American men ages 18 to 30. The idea for the
project came from Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein, and
co-authored by Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin who
observed that despite a booming economy and severe labor shortage,
many young African American men were still unemployed. After three
years of extensive research and community forums, the project has
released its final report, including recommendations for how public
agencies and the community can work together to find solutions. "This
report is a wake-up call, and it's going to be controversial," says
Gary Cunningham, director of Hennepin County Planning and Development.
"No single initiative, including a focus on employment alone, will
change the situation. We need to take off in a new direction ? away
from reliance on social services and incarceration to building
community and individual efforts on self-reliance. The project
provides a blueprint that says, 'This is where we're going and this is
how we'll get there.'" Cunningham says that while the county should
provide support, leadership must come from within the community
itself. "We need to sustain the energy?transform the energy that's
been exhibited so far into real action in the community?one person at
a time, one block at a time, helping African American Men transforming
their lives and reengaging African American Men in a positive way"
states Commissioner McLaughlin. The full report can be viewed at
http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/opd/opd.htm. You may also contact our
office at 612-348-3085 for more information.
4. Getting Kids to the Doctor?through their Church
Because of recent studies showing that African-American children are
not getting the health care that they need, the National and Minnesota
State Baptist Conventions have founded MATCH, Mothers Advocating for
Children's Health. Working with Medica, Metropolitan Health Plan
(MHP) and Allina, this grassroots organization of mothers works with
their church congregations to get kids in for routine and preventive
checkups. The program includes health care clinics right after church
on Sunday. So far 17 clinics, eight churches and 200 kids are
involved. For more information on this, please call Bonnie Hays at
MHP at 612-337-7160.
5. Community Power Grants
A metropolitan joint powers group on which I serve, the Solid Waste
Management Coordinating Board, is now offering Community Power Grants
to communities in the metro area. The grants, offered through Waste
Education and Reduction (Community Power), is a project involving
organizations in the Twin Cities to decrease solid waste. Examples of
such projects can be seen from the grants that were given out in
November of last year. Two neighborhoods in my district received
these grants, Nokomis Healthy Seniors and Seward Neighborhood Group.
Nokomis Healthy Seniors received $10,000 to offer workshops and
at-home visits for seniors on junk-mail reduction, toxicity reduction,
and proper management of household garbage. For additional
information, call Elaina at 612-729-5499. The Seward Neighborhood
Group also received $10,000 to launch Compost Yes! to build on the
home compost bin distribution program. They plan to publish articles
in the Seward Profile and distribute fliers, buckets for food waste
and lawn signs to promote the campaign. You can call Michael at
612-338-6205 for more information. For more information on the
program, check out http://www.swmcb.org/, and click on community
power.
6. Mercury Thermometers
Hennepin County is offering a free thermometer exchange in an effort
to decrease the number of mercury thermometers. Mercury has been
found to be especially dangerous when inhaled and can damage the
nervous system of a fetus or young child. Because of this danger,
mercury thermometers, as of January 1st of this year, are no longer to
be sold to consumers. If you put your mercury thermometer in a
plastic case so that it does not break, and call the number below,
they will give you a new, safe digital thermometer. Call 612-348-6500
for more details. The limit is 1 per household until supplies run
out.
7. County Supports Change in Voting Laws
This past week, I introduced a resolution here at the Hennepin County
Board to urge the Minnesota State Legislature to speed up the process
under which felons regain the right to vote. The resolution calls upon
the Legislature to reform the felon reinfranchisement process.
Currently, individuals convicted of a felony lose the right to vote
until they have completed probation. Minnesota uses probation
frequently in non-violent crimes and incarceration in more serious or
violent cases. This may result in a person on probation for a
non-violent crime losing the right to vote for many years while a
person convicted of a more serious crime may have the vote restored
after serving a shorter prison sentence. For more information on this
resolution, which passed the county board with five votes, you may
call my office at 612-348-3085.
_____________________________________________________________
Thank you for taking the time to read my update. I would like to keep you
informed without flooding your mailbox, so look about once a month for
updates with the highlights of what is happening.
As always, you may reach me at 612-348-3085. If I am not available, please
talk to any of my great staff: Becky Boland, Dorothy Rucker, and Lisa
Vecoli. We will do whatever we can to assist you or answer your questions.
You may also access my website at http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/wdist4.html
Please pass this newsletter on to others who might be interested!
To learn more about what we are doing in Hennepin, please go to
http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/wdist4.html or www.petermclaughlin.org (which
is currently under construction).
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You may also contact me at 612-348-3204.
Thanks! Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner
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