Kraft Banner 2023

Dear Neighbors,

Thank you to those who attended our town hall on October 24th! We covered all sorts of topics, including a public option for health insurance, corporate ownership of homes, affordable housing and the ?missing middle? of smaller affordable homes, hospital bed shortages, sober housing, and building energy efficiency.

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Minnesota Values Project Survey?

Almost seven years ago, the Minnesota House DFL started the Minnesota Values Project (also known as MVP) as a partnership between Minnesotans, elected officials and organizations to create a shared vision for the future of our state. Working together, we?ve strengthened our communities by improving education opportunities, making affordable health care a reality, and increasing economic prosperity for all Minnesotans.

Through this project, we have facilitated hundreds of meaningful conversations with people across all of Minnesota about their priorities. We?re continuing this work and want to engage with as many Minnesotans as possible. Looking ahead to the 2024 legislative session, we?re looking to hear more perspectives and feedback from Minnesotans. As part of this effort, you?re invited to take the *new **Minnesota Values Project survey* [ [link removed] ]*.?*

The survey only takes a few minutes, and as we build a shared vision for our state, your input is crucial in this process. We look forward to *hearing from you* [ [link removed] ]*.*

In addition to taking this survey, as always, don?t hesitate to contact me with your feedback or if I can ever be of assistance. It?s an honor to represent you!

Arrive + Thrive online engagement opportunity!

A lot has changed in the last 20 years along the Cedar Lake Trail, Excelsior Boulevard, and future light rail corridor in St. Louis Park. The City of St. Louis Park wants to hear what you think the next big change should be. Help shape the next 20 years by participating in the Arrive + Thrive civic engagement project. There were several in-person engagement events throughout October and now, to compile community input, there is an online engagement activity that will be open through the end of November.

Visit their online engagement site [ [link removed] ] to give your input on future projects in the gateway areas around the future Beltline Avenue Station, Wooddale Avenue Station, Louisiana Avenue Station and western Excelsior Boulevard. Let them know your ideas for businesses, parks, transportation, and anything else in and near these future areas of development!






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Recent Events

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Congratulations to SLP-based Behavioral Dimensions [ [link removed] ] who, along with Dakota County Children?s Mental Health, received the Circle of Excellence Award from Minnesota Deptment of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead. I was happy to attend the award ceremony for their really impressive CCUBS [ [link removed] ] intensive in-home mental health program for children and adolescents






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Thank you Colin Beere for the tour of Sheet Metal Workers Local #10 training facility in White Bear Lake. Sheet metal union workers do such important work that impacts energy efficiency, indoor air quality, fire safety, and more.

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On a Climate & Energy Committee tour, what are two words you don?t want to hear when you?re in an elevator at the top of the Sherco coal plant to see where the new, massive, solar farm will be located? ?Elevator Emergency? - yep - that?s what came across the call box. We were stuck for 10 minutes or so (felt longer). Believe it or not, this picture was taken after we heard those words!

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Great visit to bus maker New Flyer in St. Cloud, on the same Climate & Energy Committee tour. Exciting to see electric buses being built, 15% of their buses today - going to 40%+ next year!

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Thank you to the Minnesota Trucking Association (and especially Jacob - the driver!) for taking me on a ride. It was really interesting to learn about this hugely important part of our economy and some of the issues they face. I also appreciated the good discussion about decarbonization challenges of long-haul trucking.

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It was very fun (as you can see!) to present the new climate-focused land use & transportation law at the American Planning Association 2023 Planning Conference in St. Cloud with the all-star team that helped make it happen of Sam Rockwell, Katie Jones, and Abby Finis.

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One educational thing I did that also weighed me down quite a bit was a visit to Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility. My overwhelming feeling was gratitude for the staff at this maximum security prison, especially because of personnel shortages. It shows the importance of the Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act [ [link removed] ] which we passed last session.

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Last month I took a one week trip to Denmark. I was part of a "Green Energy Transition" delegation that also included folks from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, California, and Canada. It was a great learning experience focused especially on how Denmark is leveraging the huge amount of renewable wind energy they've installed and decarbonizing their economy.?

Big takeaway - when you can supply 130% of your country's electricity needs with renewables (this happened on one of the days we were there), good things happen:


* Good thing 1: Prices get cheap (instantaneous prices we saw were 2-3 cents in Denmark vs 90 cents in Germany).
* Good thing 2: You can use renewables to make hydrogen cheaply, which can then be used for hard-to-decarbonize areas (like heavy industry or shipping).

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Stay in Touch

If you have questions, ideas, or feedback that you?d like to share, please don?t hesitate to reach out. You can email me at [email protected] or call (651) 296-7026. For more regular updates, you can subscribe to these legislative updates if you haven?t already, here [ [link removed] ], and you can also ?like? and follow my official State Representative Facebook page. [ [link removed] ]

Sincerely,

Larry Kraft

State Representative






Representative Larry Kraft

515 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155

Phone: 651-296-7026
Email: [email protected] "(replies to this newsletter are not monitored)"
Website:?[link removed] [ [link removed] ]
Legislative Assistant:?Caleb Rohrer 651-297-7025







To unsubscribe, visit the?Subscriber Preferences Page [ [link removed] ]. If you have questions or experience technical difficulties with this subscription service, please visit subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com [ [link removed] ].

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