Have you heard the song, “Uptown Funk”, featuring Bruno Mars? “I gotta kiss myself, so pretty”. Love that line… I don’t really know what the lyrics mean… but the song is fun, so it’s my latest ‘go to’ song when I want to energize. In particular, it’s my energizer song for Moorhead’s downtown. Our Uptown/Downtown/RiverMoor is going to be a process, but I like how things are moving in the right direction.

The Moorhead Center Mall just signed on to 3 new leases. Melissa Rademacher, the Mall’s manager has a number of fun things in the works. “Torn Ideas” will have their grand opening on March 7th, and almost every weekend is filled with interesting events. March 10th, MSUM Dragons will invade the mall, as we connect students with our Community for their academic projects. April 25th will bring back our Home & Garden Show in a big way.

The FM Area Foundation is continuing their Moorhead Voices with community discussions about a vision for our downtown. Along with the interest, the City is exploring a more visible, more accessible, more welcoming role for our Economic Development office.

My Mayor’s Art Task Force is meeting and working on grants for the downtown and beyond. There are a lot of “spinning plates”; some will work, some, not so much. It will be a process and some things will pop faster than others, but I’m pleased with the interest and discussions that are happening with our heart of the City.

2015 will be pivotal year. I’m energized and hope you’ll feel it soon too.