For the first time since becoming Grand Forks Mayor in 2020, Brandon Bochenski delivered his “State of the City” address in person Wednesday afternoon at the Alerus Center.
Bochenski said because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he gave his speech remotely two years ago.
“In my 2021 address, I talked about the great optimism and momentum our community had coming through the pandemic and I stand here today to proudly say that momentum has not let up,” he said. “It’s been a challenging past couple of years but anything worth doing is not going to be easy. There’s no doubt, as Teddy Roosevelt proudly stated, ‘it is not the critic that counts, it is the man in the arena,’ and we have no doubt been in the arena.”
Bochenski thanked public works – and private — crews for clearing 85.2 inches of snow this winter, the second-highest snowfall in Grand Forks history.
“They hauled more than 9,900 loads of snow out of the city this past winter and they had to drop everything and plowed the entire city nine different times. The fact that our crews can have every city street plowed within 24 hours of a snowfall is really impressive.”
As for the pothole problems on 32nd Avenue South, The mayor noted that the North Dakota DOT and city council moved-up the project two years, and work will start this summer.
Also looking ahead, Bochenski said the city is in the final planning stages for three major infrastructure projects: the underpass at Demers Avenue and 42nd Street; the 47th Avenue interstate interchange, and the Red River Valley water supply.
Economic development was a major theme of Bochenski’s address.
Bochenski highlighted upcoming projects during the speech ranging from downtown development and agri-business plans for Epitome Energy…to the Career Impact Academy construction…future UAS opportunities…and missions at the GFAFB.
The mayor said there’s a reason why so much emphasis gets put on economic development.
“Economic growth funds schools, raises wages, it pulls people out of poverty, gets them into homes, allows them to build equity, allows them to start business and allows those businesses to succeed,” he said. “Simply put, economic growth creates opportunity.”
Bochenski says projects like a children’s museum and aquatics center are also important to a community the size of Grand Forks because quality of life and economic development go hand in hand.
“We’ve seen the concepts and the locations for all of these facilities,” he said. “Now it’s time to get the finances right. We will work hard to secure private funding interests, but we need to take a deep look at what a public funding model would look like without Impacting the citizens of Grand Forks.”
The mayor added: “Those are hard conversations to have, but they are worth having to keep our community moving forward.”
Bochenski says a joint city council / park board meeting is scheduled later this month to keep the conversation moving forward.
As part of his speech, Bochenski interviewed UND President Andrew Armacost, Altru CEO Todd Forkel and Col. Delbert Rivera, vice commander of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing of the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
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