Why Met Council and regional governance matter

Counterpoint

In "Sticking it to the suburbs" (Aug. 4), Katherine Kersten engaged in blatant fear-mongering, raising the specter of the "iron grip" of the Metropolitan Council wreaking havoc on the "individual liberty" of suburbanites. It should cause one to wonder: Who benefits from the status quo Kersten so wants to protect?

I would argue that we all have a stake in the very real crisis of racial disparities that plagues our metropolitan region. The truth is, we cannot solve this crisis at a local level. We need a strong regional approach.

Currently 60 percent of the metro area's people of color live in the suburbs. Yet the Twin Cities region is being torn apart by growing racial and economic disparities. Our future hangs in the balance. Our region cannot be economically viable with a large portion of our population struggling to find decent jobs or suffering from poor health.

The statistics are mind-boggling. More than 22 percent of African-Americans are unemployed in Minnesota — more than three times the unemployment rate for whites. In the seven-county metro area, median income for whites is $83,000, while it is only $34,000 for African-Americans.

Homeownership for white families is 81 percent, while only 30 percent of African-Americans own their homes. Infant mortality rates are three and a half times higher for American Indians and three times higher for U.S.-born African-Americans than for whites in the region. Our students suffer the second-worst racial disparities in the nation. From 1992 to 2008, our region went from nine racially segregated elementary schools to 108.

While local communities have a part to play, such disparities can't be solved locally. They demand regional solutions. In the modern economy, cities and suburbs rise or fall together. How many of us live, work, send our kids to school and worship all in the same municipality, or even the same county? Our lives are interconnected, our fates interwoven.

Almost by nature, the work of the council is complex, technical and inaccessible to most people. That is why it is so important that civic leaders from around the region collaborate to support the promise of regional governance.

To that end, in the past two years, groups of leaders from my organization, ISAIAH, have met with individual Met Council members, county commissioners, state agency officials, school superintendents, mayors, and health care and business leaders. We have also hosted a series of regional briefings to explore the role the Met Council can and should play in creating a strong, healthy Twin Cities region. More than 700 clergy members and people of faith gathered with council chair Susan Haigh and Gov. Mark Dayton in February 2012.

The message at that faith summit was clear: To create a future of prosperity, we must come together as a region. Racial and economic disparities will tear us apart and drag all of us down. We think a future of shared prosperity in our region absolutely depends on strong leadership for racial and economic equity. The Metropolitan Council has a crucial role to play in providing that leadership.

The council can be a powerful force for creating racial equity outcomes. For example, decisions by municipalities, counties, schools and hospitals are interconnected with transportation infrastructure and affordable housing. People live and work in a metropolitan region of many cities that share a common fate.

All of us, whether we live in core city neighborhoods or outer suburbs, desire to see a strong region with access to opportunity for all residents. The Met Council should serve all people of the region, not just municipal agencies, developers or the privileged few. The council can and should provide strong leadership, in coordination with state agencies, to create a more prosperous and racially equitable future.