Below are two articles from the Rochester Post Bulletin re. our recent trip to Rochester to discuss airport strategy with local leaders.
My trip was part of a strategy to build support around Minnesota for a statewide aviation strategy....The goal is to have Rochester, St. Cloud, Mankato, Duluth and Willmar competing for increased traffic...first a cargo hub and later passenger. This is part of the long term goal of diverting traffic from MSP, and over our houses. I was joined on this trip by CM Sandy Colvin Roy, Dan Boivin, who is my rep to the MAC, Merland Otto, the city's airport specialist and Karen Lowrey Wagner, who is part of the city's lobbying team. Earlier this year CM Benson and I went to St. Cloud for a similar trip. We got a great reception in both places, to me a clear illustration that there is a way to deal with the long term issue of the airport. We need to fight today's battles, i.e.. soundproofing, but also have an eye toward tomorrow, which in this case means finding places for new traffic that takes some pressure off our neighborhoods. R.T. Rybak Rochester-Minneapolis air-service plan gets another look Wednesday, August 20, 2003 By Jeffrey Pieters The Post-Bulletin Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak met with local leaders Tuesday in Rochester to enlist their support for developing a statewide commercial air service plan. Such a plan, Rybak said, would help utilize underused airports outside the Twin Cities, put the state on better competitive footing with other Midwestern markets and help Minneapolis-St. Paul avert a state of air gridlock projected to occur within about 20 years. A likely outcome of the plan would be to divert some air traffic from the Twin Cities to airports such as Rochester's or St. Cloud's. "I'm arguing against our (Minneapolis') immediate self-interest in favor of a longer-term solution," Rybak said. "I'll take some heat because it's a smart long-term strategy." The meeting at Rochester City Hall was attended by every area legislator, a representative of Congressional Rep. Gil Gutknecht's office, business leaders and several municipal officials. A sense of urgency The subject of discussion -- a Minneapolis-Rochester airport link -- is nothing new. Rybak's predecessor, Sharon Sayles Belton, visited Rochester in January 2001 to discuss a high-speed rail link between the two airports. And a consultant hired by the Metropolitan Airports Commission issued a report two years ago calling for formation of a "cargo twin" to the Twin Cities airport. Rochester was named as a leading candidate to fill that role. What seems to have changed in the discussion is the level of urgency. Rybak left the meeting after asking each person to take on an "assignment." His job, he said, will be to unify the Minneapolis-area legislative contingent and win support of Twin Cities congressman Rep. Martin Sabo. The bigger job, Rybak said, rests with people in Rochester. "The business community from Rochester is going to have to play a large role in this," he said. "The person or people carrying this through the Legislature are going to have to be some of the people who will benefit from it. "The push for a Rochester cargo hub has to come out of Rochester," he said. A handful of other airports -- notably St. Cloud, Duluth and Mankato -- are similarly vying to become Minneapolis' partner. Competing with Chicago For now, though, the task is to get state leaders to appreciate the importance of developing a plan, Rybak said. An estimated 90 percent of the state's outgoing air cargo is sent by truck to Chicago before being loaded on a plane, he said. As a result, businesses are forced to consider whether they wish to locate in Minnesota, expand here or even remain here, he said. "I think we really should be looking at, 'Can we compete with Chicago?'" Rybak said. "Right now, we're competing from our knees. I believe Rochester can help us compete from a far better standpoint. "Let's say we have aspirations to be an international shipper," he said. "Grab the opportunity." Striking a partnership with an outlying airport, rather than building a new Twin Cities airport, is preferable because of the costs and regulatory hurdles involved in building. Noise, pollution and congestion are problems in the Twin Cities -- both on the runways and the roads. For cargo, the southern half of the state is preferable to shippers, said Merlin Otto of the Minneapolis Planning Department. Advantages here The Rochester airport already has a steadily growing cargo operation, said Airport Manager Steve Leqve. The airport is reporting annual freight figures approaching 30 million pounds per year, Leqve said. The Rochester airport has advantages over its rivals because of its infrastructure, including one runway that has recently been extended and another -- the primary runway -- that will be lengthened starting next year. Rybak said the state-approved biotech partnership between the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic is a golden opportunity for Rochester that could be made even sweeter by making the city's airport a busy cargo hub. Role of airport up for discussion Thursday, August 21, 2003 Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede and area legislators have been asked to consider a new state-wide airport strategy that could have a major impact on this region. The proposal, backed by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, calls for developing one or more cargo airports to supplement the Minneapolis- St.Paul International Airport (MSP). Possible sites for a cargo airport include Rochester and St. Cloud. The suggestion builds on a proposal made in a federally funded study in 2001. The study called for an upgraded all-cargo airport in Greater Minnesota and an enterprise development zone around the airport for manufacturers who export their products internationally. It also proposed a cargo-sorting center between MSP and the new cargo airport to provide more efficient service for shippers. Rybak met at the Rochester City Hall recently with Brede, legislators, local officials and local business leaders. He said that 90 percent of the international air freight leaving from Minnesota is trucked to O'Hare Airport in Chicago for shipment overseas. That is because Chicago has more international flights than MSP. Under Rybak's plan, manufacturers could use the new cargo airport to ship products to Chicago, avoiding an eight- or nine-hour trip by truck. Air freight shipments nationally have increased by 30 percent in the recent past, but cargo flights out of MSP have remained flat. A supplementary cargo service could divert more freight shipments from trucks to air carriers and a secondary effect would be to reduce highway congestion in Minnesota. Rybak said another consideration is that MSP is "landlocked and gridlocked" and has no room for expansion. He said that could be a problem as passenger and cargo flights increase in the next 20 years. Rybak said he planned to seek legislation calling for a state-wide airport strategy to meet the needs for more cargo facilities and to deal with other airport development issues. He said that congressional support also would be sought and that Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Rochester, might be interested in the proposal as an incentive for economic development. Certainly the proposal offers a possible opportunity for Rochester. The first step should be to conduct a detailed survey of Minnesota companies that ship products internationally and determine their degree of support. Their backing could be crucial in winning legislators' approval. The Rochester airport is the largest and most modern in Greater Minnesota and has improved and expanded its facilities recently. It would make sense to enlarge the airport's scope if the demand for more air cargo service can be demonstrated. Steve Leqve, Rochester airport manager, said that the airport's air cargo volume has been growing and is now about 30 million pounds per year. Rybak believes that providing better air passenger and air freight service would benefit Minnesota as a whole and that ultimately would be in the best interest of Minneapolis as well. Expanding the Rochester airport's air cargo service also might fit well with plans for developing one segment of the state's biotech industry in Rochester. A state-sponsored partnership between the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic is expected to encourage development of medical products industries in this area. The plan would also complement a related proposal for building a high-speed rail line between Rochester and the Twin Cities. Rybak is taking a long-term view of the state's commercial air services. His proposal is worth a careful study by area legislators, local officials and business leaders. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
