Roseville Hospitality Leader: Where is GREATER MSP on The Vikings Stadium Debate?

Matt Kramer, president and CEO of the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, brings up some excellent points on the whole Vikings stadium debate in an excellent article posted in TwinCities.com on March 10.

In it he questions the agreement the Vikings have reached with Minneapolis to build a stadium on the site of the current Metrodome – though no exact site has been determined.
Kramer brings up the question of what is in the best interest of the Twin Cities
and the entire state of Minnesota and the point that we might be losing an opportunity to take a regional look if we simply let it go to Minneapolis.

He made me wonder, again, why we haven’t heard any opinions
out of GREATER MSP? An organization that is, according to their mission statement, committed to stimulating economic growth and prosperity in the Minnesota’s 13-county Minneapolis Saint Paul metro area.

As a public-private partnership funded by charitable donations, its vision is to be a value-added resource to all economic development organizations in the Greater MSP region. Its goal: a brighter future for all Twin Cities residents and businesses.

I looked up the bio for founding CEO Michael Langley on the GREATER MSP website and read that he has a wealth of knowledge on regional economic
development. I think his expertize would come in very handy right now. He is
touted as ‘widely recognized economic development strategist who has led
successful regional economic development organizations in Florida and
Pennsylvania.’ He was a former CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community
Development in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, often regarded as a globally leading
organizational model for regional economic development, regional advocacy, and
public policy research. 

The Star Tribune editorial on Oct. 11, 2011 touts: Greater
MSP is a welcome manifestation of the kind of leadership on which this region's
prosperity has long depended. It's confident, collaborative and
forward-looking. It shows that Minnesota business and political leaders are capable of identifying a shared problem and mounting a serious effort to solve it, without letting partisan strife, crosstown rivalries or recession-depleted resources get in the way.

If everyone in the Twin Cities feels that way, then why haven’t we received any advice from GREATER MSP? Even if the state chooses not to go with its opinion at least we have heard from acknowledged experts on regional development. If organizational funding is in play (public-private partnership) then someone is doing all of us a disservice by thinking short sighted and not making use of the wealth of regional economic development knowledge we have in our own backyard.