Legislators target special funding for upper riverfront park

A group of mostly suburban legislators is looking to end a little-known funding stream that has sent $14.3 million from the Metropolitan Council to North Mississippi Regional Park over the past 30 years.

The money has been used for land purchases, new projects and amenities at the long skinny park lying between Interstate 94 and the river in north Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center. The money comes from interest on borrowed money the Met Council is waiting to spend on new projects.

State Sen. Bev Scalze, DFL-Little Canada, said 30 years is long enough to devote special funding to one park. Scalze and state Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, said they weren't aware of the financial arrangement engineered by park area legislators in 1985 and 1987 until she read a September news report about it in the Star Tribune.

"For the average person, that is so distasteful to think that that's how we make decisions," Hausman said of the special clause.

Hausman and Scalze are sponsoring the measure to do away with the arrangement and send the money to all parks in the system.

But Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board officials said that they are relying on the money to finish paying for a new natural-filtration swimming pool that's scheduled to open in Webber Park next summer. They said they received $1.22 million in interest earnings in 2013, and are awaiting an additional $1.1 million to help finance the $6.8 million pool. The boundaries of the regional park were expanded in 2013 to include Webber, allowing it to qualify for the interest earnings. The Park Board said it wants to use another $2.2 million of that money for future trail and park improvements along the river.

Park Board officials argue that the park deserves the special funding because state construction of I-94 cut off the planned park from the North Side. They also note that it finances one of only four among 54 regional parks in the metro area that serve a significant number of minority visitors.

Hausman and Scalze are struggling with that rationale

"Do you think that was their argument for doing that 30 years ago?" asked Hausman, questioning the racial equity argument. Scalze said that the same argument of serving minority residents could be made for using the money on St. Paul's East Side. The other three regional parks where minorities make up more than one-quarter of visitors, Wirth in Minneapolis and Phalen and Keller in St. Paul, don't benefit from special funding.

The most recent Met Council survey, however, found that two-thirds of those using North Mississippi Regional Park are white.

Hausman and Scalze's proposal would split the interest earnings among all metro regional parks.

The original interest diversion was engineered in 1985 by two influential now-former state senators, Carl Kroening and Bill Luther. The park's interpretive center is named after Kroening. In 1987, they worked to get a $1.5 million cap lifted on money the park could earn from Met Council interest.

"The park wouldn't be anything that it is today had the Legislature not done what it did," said North Side park Commissioner Jon Olson.

If the money is split among all metro parks, he said, "You would accomplish nothing in many places rather than accomplish something wonderful."

The special diversion of Met Council interest was crafted by Brian Rice, an attorney who still lobbies at the Legislature on behalf of the Park Board. Rice is a force around the Capitol, with several decades of legislative experience, more than most lawmakers. Hausman isn't overly optimistic about the bill's chances.

"I'd guess he'll probably win," she said. "Pointing out how the system works doesn't necessarily fix something that's unfair."

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438