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Hindsight is 20-20, but thank goodness for leadership in housing development

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Star Herald Editorial

The construction of the Minnesota Veterans Home in 1991 marked a distinct turning point in the history of Luverne’s economic development.
The multi-million dollar facility with its dozens of high-paying jobs was a big deal all on its own, and there are many progressive leaders from the day who can be credited for bringing it to town.
But the development of several residential subdivisions that followed was a direct result of good planning and teamwork among local leaders.
Nobody dwelled on it during the Veterans Home 25-year celebration, but these peripheral housing developments didn’t just happen automatically.
Some brave souls risked their political necks to suggest the city continue spending money (gulp) in order to capture larger returns down the road.
And they did so amid hard pushback and loud criticism from local taxpayers who hadn’t yet recovered from the mid-1980s farm crisis.
Indeed, spending more hard-earned taxpayer dollars wasn’t popular, and city leaders could have easily rested on the laurels of securing the Veterans Home in Luverne and called it a day.
As usual, hindsight is 20-20, and instead of looking back and wishing we’d done more, we are now looking back feeling grateful for what we did.
In the past two decades, we’ve seen the development of Veterans Addition, Evergreen and Evergreen Second Addition, Sybesma Subdivision and Manfred Heights Addition offering 239 new vacant lots.
To date, 182 parcels have been developed with new homes and the cumulative estimated market value of those homes totals more than $53 million.
As the Minnesota Veterans Home observes its 25th anniversary, we as a community can also celebrate good leadership, foresight and the bravery to pursue future gains.
And, as we stand poised for Luverne’s next stage of growth, we would do well to look back on the type of leadership that has served us well in the past and continue with progressive, thoughtful approaches to necessary housing development.
 

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