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Posted Keith Vandervort ELY – One of the clear and present roadblocks to economic growth in the greater Ely area is the severe shortage of daycare services. Former mayor Ross Petersen was recently empowered by the Ely Economic Development Authority to spearhead a wide-ranging exploration of potential solutions to the continuing dilemma of attracting a younger, vibrant workforce to the area while a dearth of childcare services here continues. The move to form a working subcommittee by city council members acting as EEDA commissioners follows recent discussions by the city’s projects committee and the council. “Ely has a great need for daycare, I think we all know that,” Petersen said last week. “Ely lost over 40 percent of its daycare (providers) during the whole COVID thing. We didn’t have enough before COVID hit. Now there is a huge need for it and it is a huge problem.” ....
Print subscribers If you re a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one. Non-subscribers Council eyes private partnership for housing development 10-acre parcel available on north end of Miners Lake Posted Keith Vandervort ELY – The city council here is moving forward with a potential private-public partnership to develop a housing project on Miners Lake. Council members liked what they heard last week from a pair of developers who said they are exploring the possibility of building a clustered mix of single-family homes, townhouses, loft and villa dwellings on a 10-acre parcel along the northeast shore of the lake. ....
A city councilor and a former mayor have moved onto an August mayoral special election in Ely. Councilor Heidi Omerza finished atop a crowded primary field Tuesday with 203 votes, followed by former mayor Roger Skraba (146). The two candidates advanced to the Aug. 10 special election, which became necessary after Erik Urbas declined the job citing health reasons after the 2020 General Election. Omerza won her council seat in 2014 before losing in the DFL House Seat 03A special primary to current state Rep. Rob Ecklund and then winning her reelection to the council in 2018. Skraba was a council member for seven years in the 1990s, before serving as mayor in the mid-2000s. He lost the mayoral seat to Chuck Novak in 2004, returned to defeat him in 2006 and won reelection in 2008, before losing to Ross Petersen in 2012. ....
Competition to offer high-speed service is ramping up as various projects develop Posted Keith Vandervort ELY – As a variety of high-speed fiber projects get off the ground here, a long-time cable provider recently announced they want to join the party as competition increases. Existing cable and internet customers who are frustrated with all-too-common service disruptions recently learned that Midco activated more than 200 additional miles of fiber to create a northern Minnesota fiber ring that adds diverse network paths for the Ely area. The expansion and investment by the cable provider is an effort to reduce or eliminate service disruptions caused by fiber cuts and other sources of internet and business connections. Their recent investment announcement also appears to give the cable provider a bigger piece of the broadband pie in the immediate Ely area. ....
Keith Vandervort ELY – The local music scene is mourning the loss of Earl Bulinski this week. Word of his death, at age 72, swept over this community last weekend. Earl and his wife, Sharon, spent their winters in their home away from home on South Padre Island, Texas, and returned to their Pattison Street home in Ely every summer. In recent years, Bulinski played with Jef Cerniak and Andy Messerschmidt in the Tru Blu North Trio, and were regulars at various live music venues around the city as well as the Boundary Waters Blues Festival in Winton. The Electras were formed when brothers Bill (lead guitar, vocals) and Earl Bulinski (rhythm guitar) came together as a duo in 1962, soon after moving to Ely and enrolling at Ely Memorial High School. ....