There’s nothing quite so inspirational as folks who care about their community
I had the pleasure Wednesday evening to moderate a candidate forum at the Legends Golf Course in Credit River Township. Wednesday, as you might recall, was before winter returned. It was perhaps the most beautiful day so far this year. But the great weather didn’t keep about 100 Credit River residents from spending two hours inside a meeting room.
They were there to hear from three men who are runningfor two openings on the township board of supervisors. There’s been controversy in Credit River over a number of issues, including whether enough is being done to prepare for possible incorporation into a city and to fend off anexation by nearby cities, such as Savage. I’m told some recent meetings have been heated, but Wednesday’s gathering, sponsored by a group called Credit River Citizens for Change, was the epitome ofMInnesota Polite and Minnesota Involved.Behind the questions were feelings that have grown strong, but they were asked respectfully, and the three candidatesanswered without criticizing each other.
As Tom Kraft, Al Aspengren and Greg Brown took turns at the podium, while one of the organizers kept time to make sure theydidn’t take more than two minutes for their answers, I couldn’t help but imagine how pleasant it would be if the presidential candidates could talk about their ideas without attacking the motivations and characters of their opponents. But that’s national politics, and this is Minnesota.
The forum last week has a lot to do with the issues that affect life in our communities. Are we growing too fast? Is the environment being preserved? Is township government keeping up with the demands of an area that is feeling more and more like a suburb and less like the country to which suburbanitesthought they had escaped? There werelots of good answers from Al, Greg and Tom. None of them was ready to commit himselfon the question of incorporation. But they made it clear by their answers, by their presence at the forum and by their candidacies that they love Credit River and want to give back.
The event helped me forget that I could have been taking a long spring walk Wednesday night instead of sitting in a meeting room.