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Reality check/many questions

Regarding the Land Use Committeeís recommendations, arrived at in a democratic, majority-rules manner, in meetings spanning several months: A member of the LUC who disagrees personally with the recommendations, believes the citizens of the ìCityî of North Branch want to remain a ìsmall rural community.î
Question: Where were all these citizens when the call went out for volunteers to serve on the LUC?
Reality check: North Branch is no longer a ìsmall rural community.î It is a vibrant, clean, growing, well managed ìcityî that will continue to grow because of its proximity to the Twin Cities and its relatively easy I-35 commute.
Those who have chosen to move here in the past few years have brought new energy, new ideas, and new talent to the city, and new profit to hometown-owned businesses. These newcomers flock to the library for books and other media, to the pharmacy for health needs and for gifts, to the grocery store for food, to the gas stations for fuel, to the hardware store for nuts and bolts, to the restaurants for meals, to the churches for spiritual guidance, to contractors for houses, and to our growing industrial park for jobs.
Question: Do all these community institutions and businesses really want to return to being a ìsmall rural communityî with a limited pool of people from which to draw employees, volunteers, and (more importantly) customers with cash in hand?
Please, letís get past the paranoia of the minority and build wisely on the solid, in-place foundation left as a legacy of the the cityís founders.

Marilyn Heinzel
North Branch

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