U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar toured Agassiz Townhomes on Monday afternoon and had a discussion with city and community leaders in the living area for one of the newly completed townhomes. Klobuchar said the new townhomes were exciting for Crookston. “Crookston has dealt with an issue that many towns have with jobs available, but you have to have places to live,” said Klobuchar. “To think that families are going to be able to live here, have kids here and go to school in this town, it’s showed real leadership that people were willing to come together to get it done.”
Klobuchar also touched on a variety of subjects with community leaders including the plan for downtown, daycare concerns, rural health care and immigration reform. An ongoing discussion among community leaders was the need for affordable daycare in the community and that topic was addressed by Klobuchar. While she agreed on regulations, that will hopefully be loosened, have created added challenges in recent years, she suggested Crookston leaders visit and meet with the City of Benson and Benson School District. Benson operates a childcare center in their high school, creating a unique environment that can allow for high school students to interact and work with the kids in daycare.
Klobuchar also said it’s important to make sure Crookston continues its positive trend. “We want to make sure Crookston is strong,“ said Klobuchar. “The other part is making sure people see that manufacturing is seen as the good opportunity it is, there are many paths to success, and we want to make sure families are aware of those paths.” Klobuchar added that manufacturing not only provides an opportunity to work right out of high school in some positions, or with a one or two-year degree in other positions, but also can provide the opportunity to learn new skills or even further one’s education while employed.
Amy Klobuchar met with community leaders in one of the Agassiz Townhomes Jason Carlson (Tri-Valley) shows Senator Klobuchar a townhome
