Mayor Rybak Pursues Smart Growth In Frozen North

"Siting affordable housing throughout a metropolitan area is not always easy, but I give great credit to my fellow mayors who sat at the table where we talked about inclusionary zoning and other issues and made great progress. We argued it from an asset base as opposed to a deficit or a charitable base. Instead of saying, “Here, take your affordable housing” like you’d tell your kid to take his medicine, we talked about the need to have a balanced economy and housing for the workforce. But even that argument will only take you so far. At the end of the day, having housing for those most in need may have something to do with the workforce but ultimately it is about a society opening its arms wider, and along with the mayors I have found great partners in progressive faith communities who help push some of these suburban communities to open their arms."

"Minneapolis sits at the edge of the prairie, so we could sprawl from here to Wyoming without getting into any major landmass except maybe the Black Hills. So, it’s especially important for us to identify limits. I think our region suffers from sprawl just as everyone does, but the downtown has stayed very healthy for a number of reasons. First, downtown never lost its retail core. The Dayton’s department store was headquartered here, and its flagship was always at the prime retail corner of downtown. It remains there today. Target is headquartered here with its flagship store as well."