What happened to October?
Well, the first part of October was dedicated to international relations. Forty brave souls ventured to our partner city, Muenchberg, Germany, and some of us did not want to return. It’s a town of 12,000 in Bavaria, or Upper Franconia, about twenty miles from the eastern border. Their warmth and hospitality was truly inspiring. Burgermeister Fein and First Lady Lieselotte were great hosts. We will be thinking about more ways to enrich this great new relationship.

The combination of the Harvest Fest, Art in the Park (at the Capitol) and the Haunted Governor’s Mansion made for a great family weekend. Let’s combine those three fun events next year. They worked well together.

MSP Redevelopment

Lewis and Clark Memorial

We had the ground breaking for the Lewis and Clark Memorial on the Capitol grounds. The commemoration of the statue itself (privately funded) will occur this fall. The ribbon cutting will take place in the Spring. A truly historic addition to our Capital City landscape.

Other things to look for:

Conference Center.

November 7 the committee will entertain detailed proposals from the finalists. We could be under contract in 2007 or early 2008.

City Elections.

We have several contested races for the five city council seats to be decided next spring. Five years ago the voters amended the Charter to make elections non-partisan, and some feared that without parties involved there would be no candidates. So far that has not been the case. Click here for the list of candidates.

Annexation.