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Hello Neighbors and friends. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday and are getting ready for the winter season to begin. My thoughts are with you and your families as we enter into the New Year. I hope you enjoy time with your family and friends. I want to share with you some features this month such as the upcoming MN budget forecast, Crescent Cove’s opening, highway 169 construction, providing shelter for veterans in Anoka, the healthcare reform committee meeting on MN-choices and childcare, and the Anoka Hennepin School Bonding Levy passing. Also, I will be having three community advisory meetings in January preparing for the upcoming session highlighting: 1. Education, 2. Health and Human Services and 3. Energy. Please contact my office at jhoffman@senate.mn and let me know if you would like to attend. I will be following up with the dates once we secure them. Thank you for letting me serve you and our great state.
Sincerely,
Senator John Hoffman
MN Budget Forecast
Minnesota Management and Budget has scheduled the November Economic Forecast to be released on Tuesday, December 5th. MMB’s press conference will take place at 11:15am in room 15 of the Capitol.
This forecast will inform legislative leaders on what kind of budget decisions to either make or expect for the upcoming session. This typically signals the start of preparing for the next session and activity at the capitol picks up. I will have more on the budget forecast when it is released.
Crescent Cove Opening
I had the humbled honor to work in a bi partisan manner with Representative Nick Zerwas to bring our states first pediatric hospice. This place is what families had been asking for as traditionally our youngest citizens, in the past, would have to either be in a nursing home or adult hospice center. This bill, which became law, now allows for a hospice, respite, and palliative care facility specifically for children with a life-threatening illness to be licensed by the state.
Families who go through the experience of caring for a medically fragile child or loss of a child have a journey with distinct stages and corresponding needs. Crescent Cove is a first of its kind facility in Minnesota to do just that. There are only two others like it in the United States. I was proud to work on this bill and attend the opening on November 16th.
Highway 169 Construction
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s(MnDOT) two Highway 169 improvement projects are underway. The southern project extends from 101st Avenue in Brooklyn Park north to East Hayden lake Road, is a concrete pavement rehabilitation project. The work completed this fall included the construction of crossovers and turn lanes for traffic detours which which will be implemented next spring. There will be no further work on the southern project this year.
The northern trunk highway 169 improvement project is also under construction. This project extends from East Hayden lake Road north to the Mississippi River Bridge. This project consists of pavement reconstruction, replacement of the bridges over Elm Creek, realignment of Dean Avenue and West River Road to a four-legged intersection with 169, traffic signals and the realignment of the Dayton Road/Miller Road intersection with 169. Currently, underground storm sewer, a pedestrian underpass at Dean Avenue Intersection and retaining walls are under construction and will continue into the early winter. Minor impacts to traffic may occur through the northern construction area until Spring of 2018.
Housing for Veterans in Anoka
For years, the Anoka Cottages sat vacant and were a stark reminder of how we treated people with disabilities in Minnesota. That reality was and is still a dark time in our treatment of people. I want to thank my colleague Sen Jim Abeler(R-Anoka) for helping to house homeless veterans in Anoka. By this one act of selflessness by Senator Abeler we have now started to right the wrong.
The City of Anoka is working to convert three sturdy cottages into housing for homeless veterans. By converting these cottages it will not only house veterans, but will help to ensure these historic buildings go to a great cause, plus help save taxpayer dollars. These buildings have sat dark, empty, and lifeless for years. This will make it so our homeless veterans will not have to spend another cold winter on the street.
Check out the Eagles Healing Nest website at http://www.eagleshealingnest.com/ then see their wish list on their facebook site.
If you would like to help feel free to contact my office at 651-296-4154 or jhoffman@senate.mn
Healthcare Reform Committee November Meeting
As a member of the Healthcare Reform committee I attended a meeting on November 1st. This meeting was centered around MN Choices and child care in Minnesota. We had a good discussion on the gaps in childcare as well as heard the concerns of childcare providers.
The committee will continue the work we discusses at this meeting through the next session. I look forward to working with my colleagues to addressing the issue of gaps in childcare.
Anoka-Hennepin Bonding Levy passes
Voters approved question two with 16,579 yes votes, or 65.65 percent of the vote. Some 8,675 people voted no on the measure, or 34.35 percent of the votes cast. Question two was a bond issue asking voters for $249 million in funding to build two new elementary schools, construct additions on nine schools (including all five high schools), and improve science labs, media centers and flexible learning areas at all district schools. With the additions, the district has promised to remove all 62 portable classrooms found at schools across the district.
According to Chuck Holden, the district’s chief operations officer, a lot of planning has been taking place behind the scenes with county and municipal governments on planning so the district would be prepared to start construction as soon as possible if the referendum passed.
While many things still need to happen, the district is aiming to solicit project bids for construction of the two new elementary schools in late-winter with construction starting in the spring. The goal is to have the schools ready to go for the start of the 2019-20 school year. It’s likely other projects will follow the same timeline, he said, but details still need to be worked out
Three of the six seats on the Anoka-Hennepin School District school board in Minnesota were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. Congratulations to Bill Harvey, Anna Dirkswager and Jeff Simon for their election wins and lets wish them the strength and courage to lead our district into the next generation.
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to call my office at 651-296-4154 or by e-mail at jhoffman@senate.mn