Community Corner

Business Leaders Support Met Council's Southwest LRT Request

The Edina, Eden Prairie, Minneapolis Regional, St. Paul Area and TwinWest chambers have all endorsed the proposal.

 

Editor’s Note: The state’s five largest released the following statement Monday after endorsing the Metropolitan Council’s request for up to $14 million for Southwest Light Rail Transit from the Department of Employment and Economic Development. The Edina, Eden Prairie, Minneapolis Regional, St. Paul Area and TwinWest chambers have all endorsed the proposal. Click on the PDFs to the right to read the resolutions of support, the cover letter for the application packet, the application and the Federal Transit Administration’s approval for preliminary engineering.

 

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Minneapolis/Saint Paul/Plymouth/Eden Prairie/Edina, MN — Minnesota’s five largest local Chambers of Commerce endorsed Metropolitan Council’s application today to the state’s $47.5 million economic development fund as critical to Minnesota jobs and businesses.
Said Bruce Nustad, President of the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce:  
“The transportation capacity in Southwest Light Rail is critical to the state’s economic success. The day it opens, Southwest Light Rail will serve 210,000 jobs on the line and connect the southwest suburbs with jobs in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the University of Minnesota.
“Funding Southwest will let us compete with the many other American cities that use great transit to serve jobs and grow opportunity. 
“But most important,” said Nustad, “Transportation for Southwest would return nine dollars of federal and local investment for every state dollar. As far as we know, this is the highest return on investment of any project available for state bonding.”


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