Most Vulnerable Renters Pay the Price

One final conversation on the proposed rent control on the ballot tomorrow, November 2.
 
Not enough of our voice has been heard in terms of our concern for the most vulnerable renters: who will pay the price.  It is this deep concern that keeps me driving against this initiative. As I said during our press conference on Friday, this is about us, as a community.
 
I’ve seen messaging intending to create an artificial divide between community and business. “Good guys” vs the “bad guys.” This is neither helpful nor accurate. We all live in a community, raise our kids, care for our parents, pay our taxes. And we go to work. One neighbor rents to college students. Another neighbor works for a nonprofit housing developer. A third is still working on financing for an affordable housing project on the East Side. All those neighbors will be catastrophically impacted by the passing of this ballot initiative.
 
This ballot Initiative was not developed In Community. It was not vetted by partners, we have no economic analysis based on Saint Paul, and it does not consider market forces. In fact, some who signed on initially, upon reading the actual language, now are quite vocal in their opposition.
 
This is the right question, wrong solution. And the decision will be made by those who show up. The price paid by those most vulnerable, both today AND tomorrow. I urge you to vote on Tuesday, and Vote No on St. Paul Question 1.
 
Joe Spencer of the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance wrote a piece for the Pioneer Press last Friday as well. Is worth a read.
 
See you in the trenches.
B

COVID shots for kids could start soon in Minnesota. Here’s what you need to know.
 
Still waiting on OSHA: October has been a roller coaster ride for employers. Federal employers and contractors began putting the wheels in motion to ensure employees are vaccinated in compliance with the guidance issued by the Federal Workforce Taskforce in late September. Other large employers are on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if OSHA will follow their lead. We continued to see more resignations, strikes, and other employee movement as employers are trying to piece together budgets and plan for what next year will look like. We’re tracking this daily.

Minnesota job vacancies hit record high in Q2. This along with nationwide U.S. jobless claims dropping to pandemic low of 281,000.And consumer sentiment sinks despite progress against the Delta variant.  Inflation replaces COVID-19 as chief concern among many small business owners. 

The biggest source of revenue for the climate and economic spending package that White House officials released Thursday are an investment in the Internal Revenue Service enforcement, a minimum tax on large corporations and a hike on the rate that U.S. multinational companies pay on foreign profits. The provisions that didn't make the final proposal include higher taxes on corporations, high earners and millionaire investors, a "billionaires' tax," and additional IRS bank reporting requirements.  

Tax Foundation Report: Minnesota has 5th worst state business tax climate. And we have held that rank since at least 2019. Corporate tax rank is the 6th highest at 9.8%, and individual income tax rate is 5th highest with its highest top income rate at 9.85%. 

​Last week, the GREATER MSP Partnership submitted its application to compete for up to $100 million in the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) $1 billion Build Back Better Challenge. The competitive grants awarded through the Challenge, which is part of the American Rescue Plan, are designed to accelerate economic recovery from the COVID pandemic and to create industry clusters that will be resilient to future economic shocks. The Partnership’s proposal is centered on accelerating growth of the bio-innovation industry cluster in Minnesota. Regional coalitions across the country submitted proposals in Phase I of the Challenge. That was just the first step in the process. In December, 50-60 of those coalitions will be invited to advance to the next step in the application process and will be awarded up to $500,000 in technical assistance to further develop regional projects. Phase II of the application process includes providing substantiating information on specific projects within the identified cluster by March 2022. The anticipation is that 20-30 regions across the country will be awarded $25-100 million to implement projects designed to build and scale industry clusters that create transformational economic change. Look for more information in December, when we find out whether our region made it to Phase II. ​

Federal: In Washington, the Democrats still don’t really have a deal, but President Joe Biden says they have th“framework” of a deal. He had hoped to have a legislative victory before leaving for his overseas trip, but more votes still needed.  READ MORE.  Ultimately, what matters is the b ill’s substance. And if Congress passes anything resembling the legislative framework that Biden announced yesterday, it will be highly consequential.
 
State: Rep Alice Hausman, a 32-year representative for District 66A in the East Metro, is retiring in 2022. In the face of redistricting, “it’s helpful to get a fresh start when you have new lines,” said Hausman.
 
Regional:

• Metro Transit has an innovative new transit pass! The Residential Transit Pass is available exclusively to property managers and building owners—and by extension to local residents in multifamily housing. Why we're excited about the benefits and potential of this new pass, starting with significant cost savings for local transit riders.
• Met Council approves final Metro B Line plan. The project now moves into the detailed design phase, which will occur into 2022, with construction in 2023 and service anticipated to begin in 2024. 
• Transitway buildout improves access to nonwork destinations.

 
Work in downtown Saint Paul or currently teleworking? Take a quick survey for a chance to win a gift card! The City of Saint Paul and Move Minnesota are teaming up to better understand your transportation patterns and preferences and develop modern policies and projects to support your evolving transportation needs.
 
Read more updates in our weekly Chamber Advocacy Update.

Congratulations to the MSPBJ’s 2021 Fastest-Growing Private Companies! Special shout-out to Doran Companies, Stonebridge Capital Advisors, and WSB!
 
It is time to nominate rising leaders for the Minnesota and Harvard Business School Young American Leaders Program (MYALP and YALP)! As you may recall, the Itasca Project and GREATER MSP have sent cohorts of ten rising leaders to Harvard Business School for YALP since 2015. The two programs share themes, content and some speakers. Both focus on US and regional competitiveness, shared prosperity, and cross-sector collaborations; both programs seek to create relationships among rising leaders. Nominees from the Minneapolis-St Paul region are eligible to attend either HBS YALP or MYALP. We will ask the nominees which program they prefer, so you can nominate them without designating one. MYALP will be held May 18-20, 2022 and HBS YALP will be held in June 2022 (dates will be confirmed soon; in the past, it has been held the second or third week in June). There is no cost to participants to attend either program. Nominations are due November 12th. Please nominate individuals using this form.
 
Find out what’s going on with your Chamber on our Events  Calendar!  Cap off a year of equity leadership programming with our Equity Summit on Nov 9. And, yes, save the date on December 9 for our annual Holiday Open House – this year is our turn to thank the restaurants!

The changing work culture is a shift as big as the Industrial Revolution. In fact, many have called this current shift the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a label first used by Klaus Schwab in 2016 to describe the rapid advancement of technology into human knowledge work. Future-of-work strategist Heather McGowan speaks on How to prepare your people and organizations for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. ​

Chasing opportunity: what shapes the chances we get in our lifetimes? Our economy, wrote Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari in 2020, “is afflicted by glaring distributional inequalities and appears unable to provide opportunities for those in need of them.” Absolutely a must-read about the elusiveness of “equality of opportunity.” Experts say racial wealth disparities are an economic drag that must be confronted. “Racism and the Economy” event focuses on causes of chronic wealth gaps and how to close them.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota lists recipients for $1.2M grant project, to increase access to health care across Minnesota.

Gov. Tim Walz and the state’s economic development leaders intend to get more aggressive about pitching Minnesota as a place to start and grow business. On Wednesday, they unveiled a new website, www.JoinUs.com, making the case for building business in Minnesota with information on key industries, talent, and quality of life. The platform is founded on Minnesota's long history of building things that matter. Minnesotans have pioneered open heart surgery and supercomputing, invented in-ear hearing aids and the pacemaker, and we've created such innovations as the concrete grain elevator, post-it notes, and water-skiing.​