The Lake Detroiters Association's (LDA) Board of Directors endorses and supports the 1 percent food & beverage vote on the city ballot November 2nd. The board encourages Detroit Lakes residents to join in supporting this important measure.
A portion of the 1 percent food & beverage revenue on Tuesday's ballot will help fund a flowering rush (an aquatic invasive plant in our city lakes) research effort by the Pelican River Watershed District. This research is a vital step in a critical process to gather important technical data. The data will likely become an essential tool in convincing the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to authorize the use of available herbicides to control and eradicate flowering rush. These efforts would primarily focus on our city beach but also apply to other critical areas of our city lakes. This is important for all residents of Detroit Lakes. The negative economic community-wide impact of the growing aquatic invasive species population in the lakes can become significant. The Detroit Lakes community risks the loss of lake enjoyment and visitors to our community, which will result in a decline of vacation days spent in our community and incremental revenue to our city. Real estate values likely would be negatively impacted.
Our city lakes are a valuable resource to our community. We must strengthen the resistance to non-native infestations to keep our community viable.
Although none of us is comfortable with increasing costs at any level, we are concerned that, without the revenue to fund this needed effort, our community is at risk. Our City Council and officials have identified an appropriate source of revenue. The LDA Board respectfully encourages you to ask you to consider these points as you enter the voting booth on Nov. 2 and vote YES!!!
Respectfully,
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Howard Hansen
President, Lake Detroiters Association
