10/26/04
Suburban communities have come a long ways
There is such a reluctance to acknowledge that suburbs are full-blown communities.
The very nature of the word, suburb, suggests that a suburb is somehow less than what it is. Some refer to them as the “burbs” and others collectively as suburbia. Instead, they should be recognized for what they are: communities. They meet the test of the dictionary definition: “a group of people who live in the same locality under the same government.” Some are expanded, old historic communities such as Anoka, White Bear Lake, Stillwater and Shakopee, while others are grown out of townships that never had a downtown.
Recently, Sara Janecek, Republican editor of the newsletter “Politics in Minnesota” who grew up in the city of New Brighton, said it’s time that the Minnesota suburbs be accepted, since she said 49.5 percent of the people in Minnesota live in suburban communities. She says they are distinguished by the fact they exist in a Metro region, which of course includes the urban cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Janecek might have pointed out that five suburban communities are among the top 10 largest cities in Minnesota, and that these communities have the population clout to elect a different House majority and change the direction of state government.
It should be noted that suburban communities were born out of necessity, because at one time leadership of St. Paul and Minneapolis refused to take them inside their borders. St. Paul, for example refused to annex the land which eventually became Maplewood, the home of 3-M companies.
Bloomington Township, just outside of Minneapolis, has grown into the fourth largest city of Minnesota and the home of the world famous Mall of America.
In those early days, urban residents were content to watch the suburban residents struggle with split shifts in the schools, polluted wells from too many septic tanks, and little or no commercial development.
The miracle is that over night, governments organized and built school systems and road systems and planned for thousands of homes as people poured into the “country” to find affordable housing and a better life.
Few dispute that most suburbs exist because they are linked to either Minneapolis or St. Paul for employment, entertainment, the arts and tax base. Suburban community governments long have accepted the need for “metro” systems to make each community better. At the same time, suburbs are linked to one another for many of the same reasons.
Federal, state and county governments and the Metropolitan Council all have made suburban communities grow into affordable places for people to live and work.
Suburban communities have come a long way since those early days when they were once just townships with rural roads and septic systems.
Now, they represent some of the largest communities and school districts in the state. Yet, they don’t get much respect.
Today, they are the homes of some of the finest companies in the state: General Mills, the Carlson Companies, Medtronic, the Cargill companies, 3-M and Northwest Airlines.
They have some of the finest attractions in Minnesota: Valleyfair, the Mega-mall, the Minnesota Zoo, the Twin Cities International Airport, the Blaine soccer fields and stadium at the National Sports Center, Hazeltine Golf Course, Canterbury Downs Race Track, Mystic Lake Casino, to mention a few.
Even more remarkable is the number of governments and commissions that go quietly about their business of making decisions about streets, parks, schools, ice arenas, community centers, art centers, police and fire departments.
Most of those who go to council, commission and church meetings are volunteers doing what they can to bring a higher quality of life to their communities.
Janecek is right when she says that while liberals may lament the fact that population continues to decline in Minneapolis and St. Paul, populations in suburban communities continue to rise because that is where they want to live and grow communities, not “the burbs”. --
Don Heinzman
HometownSource.com
ECM Publishers, Inc.
4095 Coon Rapids Blvd.
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
