State legislature supports ports (and thanks, too, to Wisconsin)

There are rivalries and then there are rivalries. Pro football fans in Minnesota like nothing better than the Vikings beating the Green Bay Packers - whose fans, in turn, really know how to wound Minnesotans by saying the Chicago Bears are actually bigger rivals.

There are the Gophers and Badgers in all sports, the Timberwolves and Bucks in pro basketball. And there were the Twins and Brewers, too, except now the Brewers are in the National League and the Twins may break my heart by moving to a place where they feel the greater love that only a lot of public money buys today.

But the Minnesota-Wisconsin thing will exist with or without baseball. The states compete for business and tourism and each has its biased view of outstanding places to hunt, fish, find your soul or free your spirit.

For those of us otherwise caught straddling the border, the rivalry sometimes generates side benefits. It took a long time, but the Duluth side of the Port of Duluth-Superior is now the indirect beneficiary of a Wisconsin initiative.

Ignore, for a moment, the fact that for decades I have insisted this is the Port of Duluth-Superior. I've used all the clichés: One port, one harbor, one navigational system. Three bridges, thousands of daily crossover employees. A rising tide lifts all boats.

I've said these things despite the fact that in 1979 the legislators in Madison created something called the Wisconsin Harbor Assistance Program and, obviously, only one side of our "Port" was eligible.

Those of us in Duluth and on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi watched with envy as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation awarded grants of up to 80 percent of project costs to improve port facilities in Superior, Milwaukee and Green Bay, all of which compete for Minnesota commerce. Although we had occasional success in securing capital improvement funding from the Minnesota Legislature, we had little consistency and no bona fide program.

Consequently, in the late 1980s we started working with the late Bill Newstrand, director of ports and waterways for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, to develop our own program. By 1991 - thanks to Mr. Newstrand's tenacity in first selling the concept within his own department - the legislature passed a bill establishing the Minnesota Port Development Assistance Program.

For those of us who measure progress instead of perfection, it was a step forward. We got what we wanted - a program - but that was it. Money was another question and took another five years.

A key component of finally getting some dollars into the program was the formation in 1995 of the Minnesota Ports Association. We joined the river ports of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Red Wing and Winona and, with formal structure intact, hired a lobbyist.

In 1996, the legislature responded with $3 million. The program, administered by MnDot through Bill Newstrand's successor, Dick Lambert, allows the ports to compete for grants of up to 80 percent for capital improvements. In the first two years, all of the money was appropriated, including $1.4 million to this agency as the springboard for $1.8 million in Port improvements.

The first real test of the program's sustainability came this spring - and we're deeply appreciative to the legislature for replenishing the port development coffers with $4.5 million. We are grateful to more people than we can mention here - and, of course, to our friends in Wisconsin.

Minnesota does not like to get beat by Wisconsin in anything. Ask the governors or the economic developers or the sports fans. But were it not for the success of the Wisconsin port program, we may not have been able to get ours off the ground. So thanks, Wisconsin.

With that out of the way: "Go Gophers!"