At 1000 Friends of Minnesota we have worked diligently to bring representatives of Minnesota business to the table to discuss our concerns about the negative impact that sprawl is having on our environment, on our economy and on the basic human rights of Minnesota's lower income citizens.  We began our effort in the Spring of 2000, when we brought Carl Guardino to Minnesota to discuss growth management concepts with business leaders.  Guardino is the President of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, a coalition of business leaders working on these issues in  the Silicon Valley.  Now we convene and facilitate regular roundtable discussions aimed at building a game plan for a unified effort by Minnesota business to deal with problems caused by rapid growth.

Below are some of the documents we've used to stimulate discussion with businesses in Minnesota about them partnering with us to better define smart growth and, once agreed, to work with us to promote a "Smart Growth Business Plan."

1000 Friends of Minnesota's white paper on 
Smart Growth & Business
 

NALGEP Project Findings on the Views of
American Business Leaders on Sprawl & Smart Growth

Competing in the Age of Talent:
Quality of Place and the New Economy by Richard Florida

 

At a Friends Forum Event (January 2002), Jon Campbell, President & CEO of Wells Fargo Bank, Minnesota told the audience precisely why Wells Fargo is interested in reducing sprawl and promoting Smart Growth and why he thinks all businesses should be involved with these issues.  Read a Land Patterns article about the event below.

Minnesota will grow. The question is how!
by Charlie Leck

The Friends Forum on the evening of January 17, sponsored in cooperation with Minnesota Landmarks, may have been a “landmark” occasion. Jon Campbell, the President of Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota, set the tone in an eloquent opening speech. A large audience was gathered in historic courtroom 317 to hear him

Citing statistics that had been published in that day’s paper, adjusting upward the forecasts on Minnesota’s population growth in the next three decades, Campbell said: “Minnesota will grow. The question is how!”
In introducing Campbell, Bill Kelly, Vice President of Government Relations at the Wells Fargo Company, looked out at the gathering of environmentalist, business people and human justice advocates, and said, “We are in this together.” It was that theme that Campbell picked up on.

“Quality of life issues really do get me excited,” Campbell said. He returned to Minnesota to assume his current duties after more than a decade in Illinois and Arizona. When he arrived in Arizona from Minnesota, he was asked about the difference in the quality of life. “Windchill,” he told the interrogator. He would soon learn that the difference was much more than that. He found himself caught in daily traffic gridlock, watching a pervasive, ugly cloud of pollution hanging over the city. There seemed no legislative will to deal with the transportation or the environmental problems.

Campbell found other business people who were concerned with these sprawl issues. A coalition of business people, environmentalists, builders and developers was formed. The coalition agreed that they were dealing with a threat to their quality of life. The coalition also recognized that a very “balanced” approached to solving these problems was needed. If any one of these diverse stakeholders rode their own horse too hard, the coalition would be in danger and solutions would not be forthcoming.

“It takes many groups, coming together,” Campbell said. “Don’t let polarization happen.”

Campbell praised 1000 Friends of Minnesota for its efforts and urged them to keep working at building coalitions. He referred back to Kelly’s remarks. “We’re all in this together.”

From the perspective of Wells Fargo and the business community, Campbell thinks the strategy is threefold.
1. Transportation. We must have a balanced approach that uses roads and mass transit systems. We need to develop cities and strong neighborhoods around our transportation corridors.
2. Affordable Housing. This is a critical problem that is only going to become more critical in the future. We must address it -- not just in the core, but also on the fringes.

3. Consensus on Land Use. We need to build coalitions around a consensus on how we use our land.
Campbell gave a positive review of the Metropolitan Council’s 2030 Blueprint for Growth. He encouraged the audience to spend time with it and study it carefully.

Regionalism is important to Campbell. He was disappointed, when he returned here from Arizona, to find that the formerly strong regional attitudes had been weakened and more and more cities were out to protect their own self-interests above anything else. “Regionalism is all about coalition building,” Campbell remarked. He pointed out how important regionalism is to Minnesota business and the state’s economy.

Joy Sorensen Navarre, MICAH
The respondents on the evening’s panel were pleased with Campbell's presentation. They saw signs of hope in what he said. Joy Sorensen Navarre, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, presented a detailed and frightening picture of the affordable housing problem in Minnesota. She pointed out that 31,000 units of “truly” affordable housing would be needed in the next five years, requiring an expenditure of 1.5 billion dollars. Such a massive amount of construction, Sorensen Navarre argued, would actually have a positive affect on Minnesota’s economy by producing jobs in construction and infusing a significant amount of revenue into the economy. She indicated there would be an eight to one return to Minnesota’s economy on such a massive investment project to build this needed affordable housing. “Those are numbers bankers like,” she said, turning to smile at the gentlemen from Wells Fargo Company. Clearly, Sorensen Navarre was enthused about Jon Campbell’s remarks and agreed with his comments about coalition building.

Michael Noble, ME3
Michael Noble, the Executive Director of Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy, was also pleased with both Jon Campbell’s remarks and his open attitude. He emphasized how important it was to be hearing this openness from a top level executive within the Minnesota business community.

“We need to hear from more of Minnesota’s business leaders who are willing to talk about coalition building,” Noble said. He praised Lee Ronning for her on-going efforts to bring business to the table to discuss these important issues.
In response to one of the questions from the audience, Bill Kelly made a remark that both amused everyone and struck home.

“Everyone wants to live in a small town,” he said. “That’s what this is all about. Even if people live in the city, they want it to be a small-town-like neighborhood. By more carefully planning and building our communities, we can let everyone live in a small town.”