Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

Am I qualified to express an opinion on the North Shore economy?   I’m not an economist. I suffer from a K-12 public school education and the exhilarating lifetime of experience brokering freight transportation and putting my opinions in writing. With that disclaimer out of the way I can add that other than being a tourist from time to time, I don’t know much about the so-called tourism industry.  While researching the current state of Short Term Vacation Rentals (STR) on the North Shore I came across a new word ( a new one to me)--Overtourism. It is defined on the website www.responsiblevacation.com. “Overtourism occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination … When rent prices push out local tenants to make way for vacation rentals, that is overtourism. When narrow roads become jammed with tourist vehicles, that is overtourism. When wildlife is scared away, when tourists cannot view landmarks because of the crowds, when fragile environments become d...

Politicians and their acolytes of a certain political stripe have portrayed mail ballots as the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. But Cook County MN shows that mail balloting is secure, accurate, increases voter engagement and turnout, and is more efficient.  Prior to 1996, Cook County had to create and maintain various polling places throughout this sprawling and sparsely populated region. A logistical challenge in finding enough election judges, suitable polling sites, and moving ballots securely to the county seat had county leaders seeking a better way. Looking to the State of Oregon, which went 100% to mail ballots, Cook County was ready to try it. In 1996, Cook County held its first all-mail ballot election for voters living outside the City of Grand Marais. According to state law, if a city or township exceeds a voting population of 400, then in-person, onsite polling place(s) are required. There were 4,197 registered voters living in Cook County for the ge...

  Radio station WTIP in Grand Marais has teamed up with Story Corps to host its “One Small Step” program, producing conversations between two ordinary people in the North Shore community who do not share the same political and/or religious views. Participants may, or may not know the person they will be speaking with. Applicants for participation may request a conversation partner that they know. Maybe a cranky old Uncle who only argues when they get together. The premise is that most Americans believe the divisiveness that permeates our politics and society today is a major problem. One Small Step seeks to move beyond partisan and ideological labels and have people converse about the life experiences that shape how we each see our world. With participant permission, these conversations will be preserved for future generations at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Conversations will be held over the coming year and they are hosted by a trained third party to h...

Despite my firm belief that large corporations are soul-killing leviathans, I am a committed capitalist. I believe that ownership of capital in the form of homes, other hard assets, and the business that employs you, is the best way to ensure a prosperous and more equitable society. I started to write this column about the trials and tribulations of small business ownership, startups, and closures. So call this a Capital Diversion. Small business ownership is the best way to hold capital in the business that employs you, but it is certainly not the only way. More on that later. Owning a home is a solid way to build capital (wealth). According to the online real estate service Zillow, single-family home prices in Minnesota have increased 96% over the last ten years. A great increase if you owned before 2012, not so great if you’re buying your first house today. The Federal Reserve studies stuff like this, and they report that their index of home sales and appraisals in Minnesota increa...

A Rusty Crayfish caught From Zebra Mussels to Eurasian Watermilfoil and Rusty Crayfish, there are many plants and creatures in the waters of our ten thousand lakes that have invaded. Some are benign, but others cause enormous negative changes in lakeshores, sport fishing, and other water-based activities. Not to mention public health. The fight against these invaders is led by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is at the frontline. Cook County first received funding for its aquatic invasive species (AIS) efforts from the DNR in 2014. In 2015, with an AIS Prevention Plan underway, Amanda Weberg was retained by the county as its AIS Coordinator. The county put the AIS program under the SWCD in 2020 and Weberg’s status was changed from independent contractor to part-time employee, working up to 25 hours per week. “The mission of the AIS Prevention Plan is to limit or prevent the spread of aquatic invasive spe...

The General Election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8th, and the ballots will be full. In addition to voting for Governor, Lt. Governor, and the rest of the statewide offices, there will be candidates for the US House, state representative, and state senator. Due to redistricting, all five County Commission seats will be on the ballot in addition to the County Attorney, Auditor-Treasurer, Recorder, and Sheriff. Other local positions will also be on the ballot. Candidates for election to Cook County offices must file their intent, in person, with the County Auditor by Tuesday, May 31 at 5:00 pm. Filing opened on May 17th. Candidate filings for the hospital board, school district, and city offices must file between August 2nd and August 16th. Candidates are subject to State law for campaign finance disclosures. If more than two candidates file for election to a specific position, a primary election will be held on August 9, 2022. If you have ever thought about running for public offi...

In 1994 the actor Kevin Bacon spawned the notion of "six degrees of separation", a concept which posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. I’m kinda interested in people when I meet them, and often mention folks I know who might have some connection with them, usually geographic. So here’s a riff on some of those experiences. Before Kevin Bacon was in “Footloose” on the big screen, I was vacationing on a Florida beach with the Bohunk and our kids. A guy sat down in the chaise next to me while poolside and conversation ensued. As we divulged our residences, he told me he was from Boston, but had been to visit a childhood friend who had moved to Minneapolis . I mentioned that a good friend of mine (dyed in the wool Sox fan) was from Boston. Wouldn’t ya know? His friend was my friend. After moving back to Cook County in 2017 I was working for a hardware store in Lutsen. A customer wrote a check and I noticed his phone number had an Omaha, NE ...

Supermarket Sweep was a television game show first aired in the 1960s. Contestants were followed by cameras as they ran through a supermarket grabbing items off the shelves to get the maximum dollar amount in the cart. The leadership team of Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts resurrected the concept as part of their staff recognition efforts this year. The five member team, led by General Manager James Taylor, were looking for ideas earlier this year to reward their valued employees while supporting local businesses. “We bought $50 gift cards from several businesses from Silver Bay to Grand Marais,” Taylor said. Each of their 105 employees received a card. Since they all reside anywhere from Silver Bay to Grand Marais, they let each person pick the business they’d like. The names of all 105 employees then went into a hat and the winner of the drawing, Evan Dunn, a restaurant manager at the resort, won a “Supermarket Sweep” at Buck’s Hardware in Grand Marais valued at $1,000. On Wednesday mo...

The Arrowhead Electric Cooperative (AEC) will hold its Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 10:00 am. The order of business includes voting on a host of proposed amendments to its Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, the documents containing the rules and regulations for how the Coop operates. The proposed changes will not be amended individually at this meeting, so members must vote to accept or reject the new Articles and bylaws as presented in their entirety. An analysis follows. Three to five years is a common rule of thumb for when associations or cooperatives should review and update Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. The current AEC bylaws were last updated at its annual meeting in 2001. While most of the proposed changes involve updating language and recognizing the latest technology for communications, there are some changes that are fundamental. AEC has prepared and made available on its website a document that presents the changes along with lined out text of the...

If last summer is a good indicator, more and more people will be moving to their little spot of heaven on the Scandinavian Riviera of Lake Superior. Beryl Singleton Bissell’s wonderful book of essays, “A View of the Lake,” is a must read for them, and for anyone looking to understand life on the North Shore. Bissell and her husband Bill moved to the shore line town of Schroeder, MN in August of 1998. She writes, “Bill and I were not like other couples who travel to the North Shore at every opportunity and who dream, year after year, of someday owning a home there.” In fact, their decision arose on impulse after Bissell completed two weeks of a writing retreat in Lutsen where Bill proposed marriage. Bissell writes, “I responded by saying I would marry him ONLY if we moved to the North Shore.” The essays she presents here are a true representation of all of the feelings newcomers have when they move to this vast and rural landscape that is inhospitable in the worst of times and glorious ...

Todd Ford Cook County government and North Shore Health are sharing Todd Ford. He serves as the new Public Information Coordinator for both organizations. He enters this new position after serving as Marketing Director for Grand Portage Lodge and Casino. Although the work of both organizations is quite different, Ford’s areas of influence are the same. A big issue for the county and the hospital is employee recruitment. He will work with Human Resource departments to effectively improve current, and develop new, recruiting programs. In the area of media and public relations, Ford will edit and distribute media releases and articles. He will arrange interviews for representatives of each organization and provide talking points that will keep a consistent and effective message. Ford received his Marketing Degree from Columbia College Chicago and he spent ten years in a leadership position with an advertising agency in Chicago. From there he was recruited to become the Creative Director a...

Somewhere in the not so distant past I heard a high school principal address his students with this. “Remember, these are the best years of your life.” I was dumbfounded (gobsmacked as my friend Adrian would say.) Then I remembered the wisdom of teenagers who know the bull excrement sessions they are forced to attend mean little to their present life, and less to their future. They would ignore this driveling swine. If any of us thought the rest of life after high school is all down hill, the despair would be overwhelming. My high school class had more than 1,000 students. I was a nerd. Nearsighted with astigmatism and my hair cut (not styled mind you) by former Sergeant Dad in the age of long haired, freaky people. He favored a more militaristic style. I simply wanted to endure my high school years, keep my head down, and stay hidden in the shadows as much as possible. There have been many best years of my life since then though. Getting married, and staying married, is the best. Hold...

 No nice way to say this. I hate meetings. Thinking about what I could write for this fine Journal about goings on in Cook County, I spent some time on the county website. First, I was reviewing the blurb for each of the five commissioners to see who will have to decide about running for re-election this year. Turns out that due to redistricting, each of the seats will be on the ballot. We political hacks call that a gold mine for organizing and getting out the vote. Back to meetings.  Each of the blurbs list the various committees and other organizations, including those outside the county, each commissioner claims. I won’t say that none of them are valid, but depending on the commissioner, they list from 29 to 44 groups. I bet you thought the scheduled public meetings of the Board would be burden enough on the average person's schedule. Knowing that each of these involves at least one meeting a quarter, I got to stewing again about the uselessness of meetings. As a business ...

Jason Hale has assumed the Executive Director position in the recently formed Cook County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Most recently, Hale worked for almost seven years at the City of Duluth. He worked in business and economic development efforts, ending with the position of Senior Housing Developer, a newly created position that he held for three years. A native of Owatonna, MN, a small city in southern Minnesota that he says is a great place to grow up, Hale ended up completing his bachelor degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth and he has been in the Arrowhead for more than a decade. Hale received his Master Degree in Management and Change Leadership in 2016 from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. He has been a registered investment advisor and is a licensed Real Estate Broker and Appraiser. He worked for a year with the St. Louis County Assessor's Office as an appraiser in 2014. Hale was one of two finalists for the Cook County position and began his tenure...