Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
I agree 100%, but the thing that sometimes is missed in Winona, Rochester, Owatonna, and Mankato is that their shopping centers, schools, gas stations, and other "normal" businesses rely on the surrounding small towns. River Hills Mall in Mankato would never have been built if it wouldn't be for all of the people from the surrounding area that shop there. If the small towns that are farm communities dry up and blow away because the ag economy takes a hit from the disappearance of the DM&E, the 30,000 citizens of Mankato proper will not be enough to support the over-built east side shopping district. The tax base won't be there for the school district. The people who live in the small towns and work in the retail stores won't be there. Mankato would lose half of it's retail and service industry and then would truly be a suburb of the Twin Cities because everyone would drive to Eden Prairie or Shakopee to shop. A town doesn't have to directly ship grain to be involved in the ag industry. I'm on New Ulm's committee that was set up to work with the DM&E on the line rebuilding and safety issues. I'm also a former C&NW employee (when they still owned the Winona-Rapid City line) so I'm probably one of the few folks left in that town that has some historical background on this subject. A lot of people, including some in New Ulm, haven't put a lot of thought into the long range repercussions of the DM&E going out of business or best case just being broken up into smaller, more profitable lines. Rural America is losing too many people to the cities the way it is. The larger cities like Winona, Rochester, and Mankato don't need to make matters worse by putting their short-term, self-serving agenda ahead of the welfare of the entire region. OK, I'm off my soap box now. ;^) Tom Edwards New Ulm, MN
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag