Gruenhagen frustrated at session’s end

State Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen vented his frustration Monday over the state Legislature’s failure to pass a transportation and bonding bill before the current session expired.
In particular, Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, feels that a transportation bill was derailed by Senate Democrats who tagged on funding for light rail just as the session was set to expire.
“It ended on a very sour note,” said Gruenhagen of the session.
Gruenhagen said that legislators in both chambers had worked hard to negotiate a transportation and bonding plan.
“We came to an agreement that had been negotiated over a long period of time,” said Gruenhagen. “We agreed to compromise, and part of that compromise was that there was to be no funding for Southwest light rail.”
He added that constiuents had made transportation a priorty.
“We did what Minnesotans wanted; we compromised,” said Gruenhagen.
Gruenhagen said Republicans were adamant about not funding the light rail, citing a cost of over $100 million per mile for its construction.
“It would have been heavily subsidized with very low ridership,” said Gruenhagen.

For more, see the May 25 print edition of The Chronicle.