Earlier this week the Bemidji Pioneer posted an article on a recent visit from Greater Minnesota Partnership, where the Partnership made a call for better broadband to encourage more jobs. That article was followed up by another article dismissing the Greater Minnesota Partnership…

A lobbying group to represent the interests of outstate (read: not the Twin Cities) Minnesota at both the state, regional and national level is a smart move for communities similar in size and smaller than Bemidji.

The Greater Minnesota Partnership is just such a group, and Bemidji recently joined the new organization. The organization held one of several information-gathering meetings in Bemidji late last week for area civic and business leaders.

One of the topics raised was the issue of connectivity to broadband Internet services, or lack thereof.

And while we agree this is an issue for some communities in rural Minnesota, we are glad it is not a problem for Bemidji and the immediate area.

That spurred a letter to the editor from Gary Evans…

Bemidji should be commended for having the foresight to understand that broadband is a crucial component of economic growth and promoting the investment necessary to bring high-quality Internet into its community.

Although Bemidji has been among the state’s broadband leaders, much of Greater Minnesota — including areas not far outside the city — still lacks high-quality, high-speed Internet.

That is why it is extremely important that the Greater Minnesota Partnership include broadband in its list of priorities going into the 2014 Legislative Session.

It’s an interesting discussion – and that I think more often happens between the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota – while it’s great that Bemidji is well served – we still, as a state, need to rally to get the rest of the state served.

I get that Bemidji doesn’t want to be guilty of having no broadband by association – as the Oct 22 letter points out, there are some rural areas with great broadband, and Bemidji is well served. I think the more recent article does a good job of pointing out that getting the rest of the state served will be a benefit to Bemidji (and other served areas) as well…

However, that doesn’t mean Bemidji shouldn’t care about bringing broadband to the rest of Greater Minnesota. As a regional center, the businesses, health care facilities and educational institutions in Bemidji will be able to serve more people and become even stronger if the surrounding areas have the same reliable Internet access that exists within the city.