Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. (To contribute, click here.) This article is a response to Star Tribune Opinion's June 4 call for submissions on the question: "Where does Minnesota go from here?" Read the full collection of responses here.
Minnesota's future: It's good to be home in Minnesota
We haven't lived here for years, but we still call this home.
By Dave Panetti
June 21, 2023 at 10:30PM
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It's been a long time since we've been home.
My wife and I moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota in 1991 so I could attend the University of Minnesota and later Hamline University. In 2011, after nearly 20 years as a public high school teacher, I joined the Foreign Service, and we have served overseas for fully eight of my 12 years with the State Department. We sold our home in 2020, yet despite being gone for some time now, and despite the vicissitudes the state has experienced of late, we have never ceased to call Minnesota home.
We try to keep up with the news from back home by reading local papers online, we remain close to friends here and we visit often when on leave. And so, I read with interest last month the competing narratives about the current state of our home ("Goodbye, Minnesota," May 23, and "Counterpoint: Minnesota will do nicely without hopeless critics," May 25). Clearly one paints a pessimistic picture and the other one of optimism, both citing various demographic or crime statistics to support their hypotheses. Currently in transition from one overseas post to the next, we've spent the past two weeks adding miles to our daughter's car while traversing the Twin Cities to see family and friends, and to reconnect with our home. Here is a small sample of our experience:
- Within the first few hours of reacquainting ourselves with the area, several people out walking dogs or pushing strollers in their neighborhood offered up a friendly wave hello despite having no idea who we were.
- Friends from the old neighborhood spoke of the positive changes taking place in the state over the past three or four years; explained that the new neighbors are adding youth and vitality to the neighborhood; and shared stories of their own kids and grandkids, all of whom remain in Minnesota and are, by all accounts, prospering quite nicely.
- Visits to various communities around both Minneapolis and St. Paul exhibited all the signs of development, building and improvement associated with recovery after several tumultuous years, including the oft-maligned but necessary season of road construction on local highways and byways of the metro area.
- In particular, we were pleased to see the rebuilding and redevelopment taking place along Lake Street in Minneapolis, an area many forcefully and vocally wrote off as a lost cause in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, along with the sustained efforts for justice, healing and peace at the corner of 38th and Chicago, now known as George Floyd Square.
- Savoring breakfast burritos, cheese curds and fresh flowers galore at the Minneapolis Farmers Market; discovering new treasures at various independent bookstores; revisiting Minnehaha Falls and sharing a bottle of wine on a hot summer day; making a somber sojourn to Lakewood Cemetery to visit the grave sites of past Minnesotans; enjoying a pleasant boat ride on Lake Minnetonka and a delicious lunch at a local lakeside restaurant; taking in a Twins game during a visit to Target Field on a spectacular summer evening and having a cold beer and a delicious Kramarczuk's Polish sausage; enjoying world-class art and culture at the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the Guthrie Theater; and moving about easily on the clean and efficient light rail all added plenty of color and texture to our visit.
- Encouragingly, we attended a local school board meeting and witnessed the outpouring of support for students and the community from hundreds of passionate citizens committed to ensuring all students are welcome and accepted.
Of course our state has its challenges, but even though we have not actively lived here for the past twelve years, and even though this career offers us the chance to claim residency in any state in the country (including those with few or lower taxes), we have very deliberately chosen to remain Minnesota residents. As retirement and the next chapter in our lives approaches, we are looking to resettle back in Minnesota, "the greatest state in the Union," as we shamelessly refer to it with our friends from across the country and around the world. We have been heartened by the many friends, neighbors and random strangers we spoke with who wish to remain in the Twin Cities, or who have relocated here recently.
The state taxes we choose to pay are worthwhile investments in the future of our state. And it's these investments that put Minnesota at the top of many quality-of-life indicators, and which give truth to the old saying by HR managers that they "struggle to recruit employees to come to Minnesota, but once they come, they never want to leave."
It's good to be home.
Dave Panetti, of St. Paul, is a Foreign Service officer.
about the writer
Dave Panetti
The values that held our nation together since its founding are coming undone.
