TO THE EDITOR:

I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in the actions of the city council at Monday nightís meeting. The issue being Green Acres and basically blocking the forward motion of the building project. By refusing to approve the sale of the property off of Hwy. 14, the building of the new up-to-date and safe home for the residents of Green Acres is delayed, putting the state funding at jeopardy.
My mother has lived at Green Acres for the last six years and I have always been a supporter of the building project, as it is for the betterment of not only the residents of Green Acres now, but for the future residents of North Branch who will need that type of care.

I am shocked that they are gambling with the residentís future and their home. If the sale of the property does not go through, the existing Green Acres will go back to the county, the county states it does not want to be in the nursing home business, so therefore Green Acres will be closed. If that happens, it will be a sad day not only for the town, but for the residents. Will the city council be willing to go to my mother and explain how their rationale gives them the right to take away her ability to live in our community and be close to her daughters? Are they going to be willing to relocate all those folks to other facilities? With the shortage of nursing home openings in this state, are they going to explain to families why their parent has to be shipped to another facility say for example the Minneapolis?/?St. Paul area, where they experience large turnovers of staff and where the care does not even come close to what the caring staff of Green Acres can provide?

I have been a resident of North Branch for a number of years and hope to be one for some time to come. But with the hope being that I am part of a community that values and takes the responsibility seriously to be an advocate for our community members that need that special type of care that Green Acres can provide. This facility needs to be able to move forward, not only showing the residents of Green Acres that they matter, but also letting our senior population know that this community values and supports them by having Green Acres be a part of North Branch today, tomorrow and always.

Pam Schmidt
North Branch

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Editorís note: It should be clarified that the city council does not act on the sale of the GACCC property, only on the rezoning and subsequent plat approval.

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