Greetings all and happy Thanksgiving week! I don’t know about you, but as the year winds down I’m feeling a little weary. Looking forward to rejuvenation that comes with family and friend time. I hope you are, too.

Which gets me to my word for the week: gratitude. I believe gratitude is a choice, a posture that reflects your approach to life. I choose gratitude. And there’s so much to be grateful for. Just yesterday morning I started the day as a guest of Allison Rempel Brown, from the Science Museum of Minnesota, as we listened to Senator Klobuchar at her Inspiring Women’s Power Breakfast. I ended the day with J Marie Figer, from Nemer Fieger, a woman I don’t know well yet, but who impresses me with her kindness and generosity. Between those two people I spent the day meeting with my team leaders talking about and planning for all the work we do on your behalf.

In all these exchanges, I felt gratitude. Deeply. I want you to know that your amazing Chamber team – we are 20 people strong now! – are so very committed to doing great work for you. I’m grateful for their excellence, dedication, and integrity. Always ensuring we do good work for the right reasons. We also tell one another the truth, we wrestle when we don’t agree, we laugh a lot, we are better because of it all. It takes a lot to deliver on our commitments to you, our members. And I am so honored to serve a team like ours, who does their work so well.

I’m also grateful for YOU, who encourage and challenge and partner and support. You show up, and that makes all the difference.

See you in the trenches.

B

Greetings! First off, last week’s Lunch with Leaders, focused on downtown real estate development, was great. Highlights included an update from the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance on both their Downtown Investment Strategy and their recent study on the viability of converting certain underperforming commercial buildings for future residential use. 

Over the course of the last week, we also have updates on two policy priorities we’ve been focused on. First off, good news on the proposed drive-thru ban in Saint Paul. The City Council chose to table the issue until the Fall of 2025. We look forward to working with the Council over the coming months to find common ground on this issue. 

Our second update is not good news. Last week the Minneapolis City Council voted to create a new Labor Standards Board. This proposed board aims to impose a broad array of new regulations and standards on businesses. Decisions about staffing, wages, benefits, and training will be taken away from employers and given to this board. We value and promote healthy, safe, and equitable work environments. I make this a priority in our organization, as do other employers we know and represent. We oppose this policy because it will create further burdens on the employer community through another level of unelected regulatory bureaucracy. Visit Minneapolis Works Together to learn more information. And if you want to weigh in, we invite you to sign onto this letter opposing the Labor Standards Board. 

Advocacy is a critical role for your chamber to play, because it directly supports the economic vitality of our region. That said, we don’t always agree. Please know we invite your voice into these conversations and work hard on your behalf. Your voice does matter!

See you in the trenches.​

B

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on the results of this recent election and how we move forward after such a divisive season. There are no simple answers, but one thing is clear: as I listened to the many voices around me, the overwhelming theme was the economic hardship that so many people are facing. And perhaps even more troubling, a widespread sense of fear. This fear is something that really weighs on me, and it's what drives my focus on creating real, meaningful opportunities for economic growth moving forward.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Chamber’s top priorities will center on addressing the economic impacts of policy at both the regional and state levels. We'll continue to focus on public safety, the challenges posed by rent control, housing, talent development, and the financial struggles facing Saint Paul, particularly with the decline in commercial real estate values. These are complicated issues that require thoughtful, collaborative solutions—solutions that rise above fear and division.
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I’m deeply grateful for everything you do each day, in service to your organizations and the broader community. Together, we can build a brighter future, where economic opportunity is accessible to all.

See you in the trenches.​

B

Today’s the day.  If you haven’t voted already, I’m hoping you will take the time today to do so. It matters, perhaps this year more than ever. I want to flag again our opposition to the childcare ballot amendment in Saint Paul. Beyond that, we are encouraging reasonableness in both our advocacy and our response to the election. Consider this Wall Street Journal article from 2016 on How to Get Beyond our Tribal Politics.  Though it was in reference to the 2016 election, the concept applies today: my thoughts can be described as an “ode to moderation,” encouragement to support pragmatic governing moving forward. It is our job to wrestle on issues that matter to us, while always respecting the process.
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See you in the trenches,

B