On hockey and the Iron Range’s real problems

I’ve been meaning to pass this along all week. Doug Grow of MinnPost profiled Mike Antonovich, the former Gophers hockey great and new mayor of the Iron Range town of Coleraine. Read it.

The story seems to have several purposes. One, it shows how a hockey stardom is still great currency in Minnesota small towns. It also shows something that most state political observers miss. While the Range votes overwhelmingly DFL many of the people in local elected offices are not Democrats. Antonovich, who seems to be an independent by Grow’s characterization, speaks of the DFL “leaving behind the Iron Range” in referring to specific problems like the unsafe, chewed up two-lane section of Highway 169 between Pengilly and Taconite.

Now we could argue about the true culprit in the unfinished business of Highway 169 … or the unmitigated danger of the Canisteo Mine Pit near Bovey, the Range-wide problem of aging infrastructure and other woes. I’ve got my theories. But the reason many local government types are losing faith is probably because bloviating officials, governors, senators and representatives have been saying the same thing for 30 years and nothing much changes except along the margins. Nor does it seem that becoming Republicans would change much either. Fact is, quite often, Range towns might feel like they’re on their own with only the sustaining funds of Iron Range Resources keeping them from collapse.

I speak, of course, as a Iron Range DFLer with close ties to many people in local and state office. But I do think there needs to be an increased sense of urgency about the real, unfinished and often uninteresting problems of our Iron Range cities and school districts. Once we finish the four-lane transRange highway on 169 and the north-south route of Highway 53 we can usher in the Renaissance around here. Real results on lingering problems like school debt, infrastructure and roads will win longtime loyalty from local opinion leaders and, more importantly, equal or increased quality of life for another generation.