BLAINE, Minn. – (Nov. 1, 2018) – As many political hopefuls are looking to get into politics, one long-serving Blaine City Council Member is ready to say goodbye. After 20 years on the city council, Dave Clark decided not to seek re-election. Before he says his goodbyes, he shared some of his favorite memories on city council.
“I’ve always been interested in politics ever since I was a kid,” Clark said. “I remember the Nixon-McGovern election, you know, and the kids in school and the neighborhood arguing over that, (and) watching Watergate, I kind of always followed politics.”
In grad school, he realized that he’d like to run for office at some point. After volunteering a few campaigns, he ran for city council.
“Went out, raised a few dollars and said ‘OK, let’s do this’ and ended up winning and next thing you know, here I am,” he said.
Blaine looked different 20 years ago, and Dave was proud to be a part of bringing more opportunities to Blaine, including The Lakes development.
“We basically added a $1 billion market value to the city,” he said about The Lakes. Clark also mentioned the Cub grocery store at at 109th and University, along with the Walmart and Lowes of Ulysses and Highway 65. He’s also proud of the Lexington Athletic Complex.
There were also the projects that didn’t happen that Clark thinks benefited his city.
“Even dealing with the whole Vikings stadium and what that brought to the city. Even though we didn’t get the stadium, we still brought a lot of things to the city, a lot of notoriety, in terms of development, probably one of my proudest ones is the curling facility,” he said.
Clark also brought up the open space referendum, the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary, along with the addition of the natural resources conservation board, and roads.
“We did Lexington Avenue, we did Radisson Road, we did University Avenue. We did 105th Avenue, (and) we did the intersection at 65 and Main Street,” Clark recalled.
Through his five terms in office, he has enjoyed watching Blaine grow and develop.
“It’s nice to be a part of what’s going on, I liked being able to help shape the future of the city, and really kind of help be a part of the community and help make Blaine a better place,” he said.
He didn’t make the decision to retire for council lightly, but has been considering it for a few years.
“This isn’t something you just wake up one day and say ‘I’m done,’ This is something I’ve been thinking about probably about five, maybe six years,” he said. “When I ran last time I was kind of like 80 percent yes, 20 percent no, so I went ahead and I ran again, now it’s clearly the other way, I’m ready to be done, it’s been 20 years, it’s enough. Let’s give somebody else the opportunity to come in and learn and enjoy the experience and contribute to the city.”
While he says there are some things he wishes had gone differently in his time in office, including the Blaine Community Center. Overall, he is proud of the work he has done, and happy to have served the residents of the city.
“I hope they feel like I’ve done right be them over the years, I guess that’s for them to judge, but all I want to say is thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve and do this, and we’ll see where life takes us.”
