Sherburne County's state representative Jim Newberger (R-Becker) may fret about the Northstar commuter line, since they let anyone ride on it, but residents rallied on Saturday for its extension, the St. Cloud Times reported in Rally pushes for Northstar extension to St. Cloud:
St. Cloud-area residents rallied on Saturday to bring awareness to the metro about the need for Northstar commuter rail extension.
The rally was organized by GRIP/ISAIAH — a faith-based group that pushes for racial and economic equality in Minnesota — that has been a longtime supporter of the Northstar commuter rail extension and is looking to start a grass-roots movement to bring the line to St. Cloud. Northstar commuter rail currently runs from Minneapolis to Big Lake.
Those pushing for better transportation walked from the Church of St. Augustine to the Metro Bus Transit Center, where community members voiced a need for the extension.
The economic benefit of the line was the largest issue supporters pushed throughout the rally.
“Look at all the places that the Northstar stops on and look at the economic vitality at those stops,” said Rev. James Alberts, chair of GRIP/ISAIAH and pastor of Higher Ground Church of God in Christ. “Right now, Anoka County has four stops in it and in every single one of those stops you can see something growing around it that was not there before.” . . .
There's that--certainly a different notion than what we reported in Mention St. Cloud & visions of prison & North Minneapolis pop into Jim Newberger's head.
Photo: The rally, via Dave Schwarz, St. Cloud Times.
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