Albert Lea, Minnesota

ALBERT LEA , MINNESOTA in the community to live healthy. As part of that, we’ve added nine miles of sidewalk and recently passed a Tobacco 21 policy (no one under 21 can purchase tobacco). We’ve decreased our smoking rates significantly and been recognized around the world for the many different accomplishments we’ve had as a Certified Blue Zones Community.” Gabrielatos: “We’re also a Green Step City. The Green Step program was designed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to help cities reach their sustainability goals. We enter data into it frequently and that monitors ways we can make the city cleaner and greener. We’re also awaiting review of our application for the Main Street Program. We’ve made a lot of progress with our downtown and I believe that enrolling in this program will help us sustain that progress because it uses pillars to propel cities forward. So, we’ll be starting that program very soon.” Rasmussen: “Albert Lea has one of the largest historic downtown districts in Minnesota. Two years ago we hosted the statewide Historic Preservation conference to showcase the preservation efforts we’ve pursued as a city. There’s a large heritage building downtown – the crown jewel – that was vacant for 20 years; the city invested $2.2 million into restoring it and now we have a local web- based company called Mortarr that has renovated it and is taking control of it. We sold them the first two floors, and they have first refusal to buy the top two floors, over time, as they need them.” The City of Albert Lea has so much going for it, including a superb quality of life and a wealth of natural attributes. As Mayor Rasmussen sums it up, “We are a community that’s looking for opportunities and for reasons to succeed, not reasons not to.”