Retraction: I posted about Mayor Blake Roberts posting a critical comment and then deleting it, I have since then found it was a Facebook connection error, and he had not deleted his criticism. We still have some disagreements, but it would be unfair to allow anyone to think he had done so. I apologise for my mistake, and have said so to Mayor Roberts.
Mayor Roberts did say in a Facebook comment that I need to get my facts straight before making claims and posting clickbait. I think it's healthy to have debate and disagree, but I have been checking my sources for every claim I've made. I've decided to post every scrap of information I've been using in my campaign, and while talking to the voters.
The following is page 7 from the Ehlers Public Advisors report presented to the city council on August 24th, 2026. This has not been uploaded to the city's website, last I checked. I requested it from the city offices on September 22, 2026 and recieved it the same day. This is the basis for my claim that the city is in Debt, and will pay nearly $26 Million dollars in debt and interest by 2041. See the highlighted portions below,
This is Page 4 of the Capital Improvement Plan, published and available on the city website, link below. Highlighted are the Line items for Ebikes and the Lawn Mower.
On October 4th, 2026 I posted on Facebook the following.
"Alright Forest Lake, it's time to make your opinions known! There is a survey on the "City of Forest Lake Government" Facebook page asking people to share their opinions on whether to redesign Lakeside Park by moving the Boat Launch and adding a band shell. This all ties into the desire that some of the city has to "revitalize downtown" by adding a hotel, more bars and restaurants, and turn it into something that looks like downtown Stillwater. But they want us to pay for it! Also, we've already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the park as it is, they want to redesign it, spend another half a million dollars, and then spend god knows how much money maintaining the new structures. Enough is enough!"
That was the post that the Mayor commented upon, saying I need to get my facts straight. I based my claims on the following.
May 28, 2019, a website was registered and still exists.
https://www.investinforestlake.com/
The page includes a PDF document called the "Forest Lake Downtown Plan" adopted July 25th, 2022. You can download it from that website.
The acknowledgement page includes many names of city officials, but notably, current Mayor Blake Roberts and current council member Leif Erikson, both of whom are credited as EDA (Economic Development Authority) Commissioners.
The document cites surveys, with as many as 530 unique visitors (page 29), 82% of which don't live or work downtown, and later, (page 30) suggests the key words in the comments from this survey by a whopping 75 people, somehow means we all want a revitalized downtown. (paraphrasing)
There are multiple pages explaining how terrible parking is, which leads to Page 49, "Plan Directives" the second item is "Creation of a parking ramp"
Later, on Page 45, we see the vision for downtown, and even see a picture with Blake Roberts sitting at the table, with the caption "participants in the vision workshop". I don't think it's a stretch that the name of the website, "Invest in Forest Lake" was intended to attract developers to downtown Forest Lake. It's also linked from the Fox News segment on how the Mayor wants to revitalize Forest Lake to resemble Stillwater.
Watch it here!
Another Document on the same page, the Downtown Shoreline Redesign dated March 2024, includes a budget estimate of $1.06 Million dollars to relocate the boat launch.
