Isantian Article

I write to talk about two important topics which affect us, the foreclosure crisis and upcoming Isanti summer events.

The City is taking steps to manage the foreclosure problem. City staff has compiled a list of all residential properties within Isanti that are in the foreclosure process. The city is monitoring the properties to prevent any blight, vandalism and other negative impacts to your neighborhood. You may assist us by monitoring your neighborhood. If any unusual activity occurs, please contact our Police Department at 444.4761, if an emergency 911.

We are taking a proactive approach to ensure that all of our property values are protected.Many of us live close to homes that are in foreclosure. I announced at the May 20th Council meeting that we had 101 residential properties in some state of foreclosure.

By taking actions to prevent foreclosed properties from sliding into disrepair, we maintain a healthy vibrant city that will be among the first to rebound out of the current crisis. I have attended mortgage foreclosure roundtable discussions with local leaders, community groups and state wide agencies.

The goal is to partner with numerous resources to help prevent homeowners from falling into foreclosure and helping those that are already there with counseling and options. The success rate for those that reach out for help is good.I encourage you to seek help if you are in need. If you do not know where to start, you are not alone. Minnesota Home Ownership Center at 651-659-9336 or http://www.hocmn.org/ is a good place to start. Together we will work our way through the current crisis to a better future.

Our excellent commercial growth will give us the tax base diversity to weather residential housing issues.

I also wanted to keep Isanti updated on summer events. The crown jewel of our summer of activities is Rodeo/Jubilee Days. This year, Jubilee Days starts a day earlier with the July 9th parade and ends July 13th with the Isanti Ambassador Coronation. The Isanti Rodeo Association in the past 31 years has raised over $900,000 for local fire and rescue activities.

The Isanti Redbirds are our hometown baseball team. Their schedule started May 4th and I will have the honor of throwing out the first pitch at the Redbirds' home opener on May 30th. Redbirds baseball is free to the public so I encourage everyone to catch a game and enjoy some hometown baseball.

On June 11th we have invited all our employers and their employees to a picnic lunch at 30 West Main Street to celebrate Isanti's heritage. I have declared the week of June 8th Isanti Employer Week. It is important that we draw attention to the nearly 1,500 jobs we have in our community. These include Faith Lutheran, which has been here for 130 years, Landmark Bank for 107 years and Isanti Hardware Hank for 93 years. I will be presenting our great businesses with Anniversary Awards. We will have local notables serving our hard-working employers and employees. Our generous business community will have donated most everything needed for the picnic.

I need to mention the exciting addition to our fast-growing downtown, the planned future home of Isanti Retail Meats. This project couples a local bank, Community Pride Bank with a local existing business, Isanti Custom Meats, to create a future cornerstone of Main St. I hope everyone has a chance to get out into the community and have fun this summer.


George Wimmer
www.georgewimmer.com
www.georgewimmer.blogspot.com
763-444-7158
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