THE MINNESOTA EXPERIMENT: a Personal Recollection of Experimental Planning and Development in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area
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Pl016 THE MINNESOTA EXPERIMENT: A personal recollection of experimental planning and development in the Twin Cities metropolitan area By John E. Vance THE MINNESOTA EXPERIMENT: A personal recollection of experimental planning and development in the Twin Cities metropolitan area By John E. Vance Including An Introduction to THE VANCE PAPERS September 1977 A publication of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 311 Walter Library, 117 Pleasant St. S.E., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 The content of this report is the res pons i bi 1 i ty of the authors and is not necessarily endorsed by CURA. Publication No. CURA 77-7 PREFACE Since 1967 much has been written about the experimental and innovative planning that is taking place in Minnesota and about the related governmental reorganization occurring in the Twin Cities area. These writings include articles in national media, reviews in the nation 1 s metropolitan press, dis sertations, and widely distributed books. Nearly all of the research has been from the perspective of persons on the outside appraising and assessing our area 1 s accomplishments. In the story which follows, John Vance views the Minnesota happenings comprehensively from the inside. He gives a first person account of the plan ning and development that has occurred here during the past 20 years, in the context of innovative planning activity in Minnesota during the· past century. This report serves not only as a history of what has been happening here but also as an introduction to the impressive files which Mr. Vance accumu lated while he occupied key staff positions with both the Metropolitan Council and its predecessor, the Twin Cities Metropolitan Planning Commission. The University now has Mr. Vance 1 s 40 years of urban papers, well annotated and indexed for future researchers. The papers will, it is hoped, eventually become a part of the Minnesota Historical Society Archives for urban research. John Vance has unusual credentials for writing this report not only because of his long experience and familiarity with the Twin Cities metropol i tan planning scene but also from his wide professional experience. He has worked in three levels of government ..He was an elected official in Ohio for 11 years prior to and during World War I I; he was director of the Civic Plan ning and Traffic Board of the Providence Chamber of Commerce from 1945-1953; he worked for the Rhode Island Development Council, first as director of in formation and later as executive director, from 1953-1958. In 1946, Mr. Vance published a national field survey of metropolitan planning, which served as a major reference on the subject for many years. The adoption of the Minnesota Regional Planning Act of 1957, allowing the establishment of a metropolitan planning commission, was given wide publicity in national planning circles. Mr. Vance realized this was the first metropoli tan planning agency in the country that had the status of a political sub division with a levy for operation, and he wanted to be a part of this new iii experiment. He came to Minnesota early in 1958 as an assistant to C. David Loeks, commission director, to help establish the Twin Cities Area Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC). He served ten years with MPC and five years with the Metropolitan Council, first as executive secretary and later as director of public information. He played an important role in the administrative transition from the MPC to the Metropolitan Council. He retired in 1972 and is now an urban consultant and author. John R. Borchert iv CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 - URBAN PLANNING, A BRIEF HISTORY 5 CHAPTER 2 - PEOPLE AND POLITICS IN MINNESOTA 9 CHAPTER 3 - EARLY COOPERATIVE PLANNING IN THE TWIN CITIES AREA 12 Nineteenth Century Planning Metropolitan Planning, The First Effort--1927 The Sanitary District--1933 The Airports Commission--1943 CHAPTER 4 - PLANNING IN THE 195O'S 18 Community Planning Advisor The Regional Planning Act--1957 Reorganization of Central Cities Planning Housing and Redevelopment--Minneapol is and St. Paul Upper Midwest Research and Development Council The Minnesota Municipal Commission County Planning Twin Cities Area Transportation Study Metropolitan Transit Summary CHAPTER 5 - THE METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION (1957) 32 Creation and Organization The Challenge of Metropolitan Growth Early Problems Development Districts Long-range, Three Phase Program CHAPTER 6 - BASIC RESEARCH AND ORIENTATION (MPC Phase I: 1958-1961) 38 Structure and Administration Work Program Publications Intergovernmental Relations Cooperative Planning Upper Midwest Economic Study--Urban Component Joint Program for Landuse and Transportation Planning CHAPTER 7 - JOINT PROGRAM FOR LANDUSE AND TRANSPORTATION PLANNING 44 (MPC Phase 11: Planning, 1962-1967) Federal Highway Act of 1962 Organization Values, Goals, Policies Urban Growth Models The Preferred Alternative Sub-Regional Planning in the Metropolitan Area Position Papers on Legislation V CHAPTER 8 - GOVERNMENTAL REORGANIZATION 54 Alternatives for Reorganization Referrals Councils of Government The Move Toward Metropolitan Government 12 January 1966 20 September 1966 20 October 1966 10 November 1966 December 1966 January 1967 9 February 1967 16 February 1967 28 February 1967 Drafting A Bill The Battle in the Legislature CHAPTER 9 - THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL (MPC Phase 111: I mp l ementat ion) 69 Choosing the Council Council Responsibilities An Executive Director Push for the 1969 Legislative Session Staff Operations The Metropolitan Development Guide Attitudinal Survey Added Powers and Duties Hammering out the Details The 1971 Session The 1974 Session The 1975 and 1976 Sessions The 1977 Session The Council Today CHAPTER 10 - SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS IN THE GOVERNMENTAL 82 REORGANIZATION PROCESS Foundation and Federal Grants Municipal and County Leagues Leagues of Women Voters The Citizens League The Role of Business Political Parties The Minnesota Legislature Planning Groups University Related Groups The Metropolitan Press Summary vi CHAPTER 11 - CONTINUING THE EXPERIMENT 93 Elected versus Appointed Metropolitan Council The Metropolitan Council--Administration Governmental Reorganization Fiscal Disparity The Land Value Tax versus Ad Valorem Real Estate Tax The Experimental City Commission on Minnesota's Future The Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area Summary APPENDIX A - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VANCE PAPERS 107 Tips to Researchers Suggested Subject Areas for Research APPENDIX B - A GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS FOR THE AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS 115 MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK APPENDIX C - PUBLICATIONS OF THE METROPOLITAN PLANNING COMMISSION 117 Publications During MPC's Phase I (1958-1962) Major Reports of the Joint Program (1962-1967) vii INTRODUCTION Democratic institutions lack perfection because they are created through compromise. In the creation of our country we progressed, through compromise, from the Declaration of Independence to the Articles of Confederation, the Consti tution, the Bill of Rights and other amendments, and then to the present maze of compromised pol icy pronouncements known as "Acts of Congress. 11 Attempts are made to annotate and codify these enactments, but the effort ultimately gets lost in subsequent bureaucratic regulations and judicial interpretations. It makes one grateful for lawyers. Twenty-four hundred years ago Aristotle said that 11 the true purpose of the state is the perfection of all its citizens. 11 Since 1776 our country has been endeavoring to produce a state that will work toward the attainment of this goal. In spite of the seemingly hopeless route of the compromising dem ocratic process, we have been able to produce in America a state that more nearly meets the standards of Aristotle than any so far conceived. As I have reflected on the progress in Minnesota toward creation of a high quality of 1 ife (through what some have cal led the "Minnesota Experi ment"), I have been impressed with the efficiency of the institutions created to accomplish it. I am not, however, attesting to the perfection of these institutions but to the ability of our citizens to take half-a-loaf and feed the whole family. In spite of the inevitable compromises which have been endured in the creation of most of our urban institutions, the Minnesota legislature has given in most instances the best that it could at the time. Perfection, or improved performance, is often hammered out a bit at a time in an operational process that may require many legislative revisions. There are many examples· of this process in Minnesota legislation during the past half century or more. Some of these examples will be reviewed in later chapters. Urban planning and development seems to happen in phases, each phase per forming a job in its time, then passing its work on. In our ecstasy over a new innovative phase, we are often inclined to depreciate the earlier efforts. Perhaps the earlier phase accomplished what it was created to do, with no authority to do more. It may be that its work was as creative and important in its time as the present phase is today, and in addition, the earlier phase created the supportive base for existing programs. Future phases may make today's effort appear quite elementary, yet today's accomplishments should not be minimized at that time. Upon arrival of the airplane, we didn't chas tise the automobile because it couldn't fly; the auto did what it was designed to do and did it well! References to the Minnesota Experiment began to appear