Unlike Garrison Keillor’s hometown of Lake Wobegon, it has not been a quiet week in Bemidji, my hometown, up here in the Northwoods.

In fact, this has been an extremely big week for our community’s future.

It was this past week that the community’s long-held dream of redeveloping the rail corridor brownfields site in downtown became a reality. Two major announcements served as tipping points.

First, after over a decade of work, the city council awarded bids for the demolition, remediation and site preparation work within the corridor. Starting this year, the community will see significant work being completed on the site.

Furthermore, the city will utilize state grants, contributions, and a variety of other funding sources to complete the redevelopment work — without relying on local

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