Readers Write: New state flag, the ‘real’ America, aquatic invasives, Northstar

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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After reading Kim Hyatt’s story on some Minnesota cities and counties choosing not to fly the new state flag, I have a question (“Detroit Lakes among cities refusing to fly new flag,” July 7). How would those city councils and counties feel about a city choosing not to fly the U.S. flag because the city disagrees with Trump administration policies? (Minneapolis, Portland and San Francisco come to mind.)

I do not particularly like the looks of the new flag, but you fly the flag because we live in Minnesota, just like you fly the U.S. flag because we live in the United States. I served 20 years on the Detroit Lakes City Council and was proud that we as a council prioritized public health, safety and infrastructure and not woke partisan issues. I’m very disappointed and embarrassed that the city is not flying the Minnesota flag.

If it’s “woke” to change the name of Lake Calhoun, it’s also woke to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico. It appears rural Minnesota cities are actually aligning themselves on a woke issue. It seems everything has become a red or blue issue and those of us in the middle are getting ignored by extremists on both sides. I for one would appreciate consistent, commonsense policies that concentrate on things that improve our lives, not partisan social issues.

Bruce Imholte, Nisswa, Minn.

Headlines matter.

I don’t think Star Tribune columnists write their own headlines, but someone at the Star Tribune owes readers an apology for “Hit the road to see the real U.S.” and the jump headline “Nothing like a road trip to see the real America,” heading Karen Tolkkinen’s July 6 column. It may surprise the headline writer to know this, but north Minneapolis and east St. Paul are just as real as southeastern Oregon and Salt Lake City, and their residents just as American.

The only difference, I suppose, is that the residents of Oregon and Utah don’t live in constant fear, like the multiple-generation residents of certain pockets of Minneapolis and St. Paul do, of seeing their relatives snatched off the street and deported.

John Trepp, Minneapolis

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I have read and enjoyed most of Karen Tolkkinen’s columns since she joined the Strib staff. Her insights about life and culture outside the metro area in Minnesota have been informative and memorable. I could thoroughly relate to her recent article about her family trip through the great American West.

I too have visited most of the national parks, east and west, and admired the beauty of our country. I also spent a few years after college graduation working in rural Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, Texas, North Dakota, Kansas and Arizona (one year I owed income tax in five different states).

But can we please drop the myth that rural America is real America? According to the latest census, 80% of U.S. residents live in urbanized areas. It’s where the jobs, stores and most of the entertainment, restaurants, museums and other interesting things are.

If you want to live there, that’s great. But an absence of people doesn’t make it “real.”

Peter Sandberg, Minneapolis

Sunday’s story on invasive aquatic plants in Lake Minnetonka (“Who decides what’s best for lake life?”) resonated as I have spent six years with the volunteer KGSK Save Our Lakes Initiative, successfully controlling aquatic invasive species in Ramsey County’s Kohlman, Gervais, Spoon and Keller lakes. I learned a lot.

Nobody is in charge of managing aquatic plant ecology to best promote the interests of humans and fish. Not the watershed district, not the county and not the Department of Natural Resources, though each is involved.

If a lake has a problem, citizens need an organization and should consult with a limnologist. The science is complex. I created a lake and watershed assistance program. Lake associations and Lake Improvement Districts are other possibilities.

Careful herbicide use is necessary. Properly deployed, herbicides help improve conditions. Using weed harvesters is like cutting the grass and may worsen conditions by spreading the invasive plants.

Plant transplantation to increase the incidence of low-growing, rooted native plants that compete with the invasives is likely a good idea to provide habitat and reduce the surface clogging from invasives and their native partners like filamentous algae and coontail.

Fundraising is challenging. We had better luck on Kohlman and Keller, which are shallow and potentially useless to humans without invasive species control, than on Gervais, which is deeper, with deep water easily accessible from many yards.

Aquatic plant management is governed by the DNR. Its rules are well drafted but not followed. Its approach to aquatic plant management is an administrative process disaster.

John James, Little Canada

In the July 6 Strib Voices piece by Robin Washington, in his reverse psychology attempt to get the Metropolitan Council to reconsider closing the Northstar Rail, he cited how other rail services across the country provided “discounts” and “free fares” to boost ridership (“The Northstar sputter: How not to run a railroad”). So apparently one need only consider how many people ride the train and not how much it costs to operate the train to define success. I’m afraid that’s not how it works in the real world (insert analogy here). Plus, his referenced $116 subsidy per rider seems a little light. In 2021 the subsidy was $173 per rider, and that was each way, but let’s stick with the $116 subsidy. If a person rides the train both to and from work that means their subsidy is $232 per day! If that same individual then took the train to work and back 40 weeks out of the year, five days a week, they were subsidized $46,400 per year.

In 2024, there were 127,368 rides. If these riders rode the train both ways, five days a week, 40 weeks a year, this train would have provided transportation to a dedicated group of 318 individuals that year. So we spent $116 multiplied by 127,368 rides, which equals $14,774,688, to subsidize the travel of the equivalent of 318 individuals in 2024.

Let’s hurry up and shut this boondoggle down.

Bret R. Collier, Big Lake, Minn.

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The writer mentions the cost associated with not running the train line — police patrolling the vacant and unused train stations.

What was not mentioned was the cost to remove the train stations. Shouldn’t that be something on track to talk about? Many have platforms, parking ramps and parking areas as well as protective glass housing areas. You will have to redesign all of the train stations.

The Anoka station has a walkover station, three levels high with two elevators, for both sides of the track, and two glass protection housing areas. The next stop will cost us millions of dollars for removals and restoration of all the stations along the Northstar route. What will the vacant land be good for then? There are still going to be freight trains using the tracks.

Everyone should want to see a feasibility study that tells us where those funds will come from to clear the land and make it a more profitable investment. After all, it’s your ticket to ride that is going to pay for dismantling or closure of the Northstar.

Think outside the box car, people. How can we turn this around? Maybe the Minnesota Twins and Vikings can get on board and help keep the Northstar on track.

Sixteen years of progress will not go unnoticed when it comes time to erase the Northstar train system. Let’s focus on making a lose-lose situation a win for everyone.

Just my two cents.

Sue Jones, Anoka