Senior housing Cluster of housing units could be an exciting addition to area

All the details aren't worked out yet but tentative plans for a senior housing development in Baxter near the Northland Arboretum sound promising.

There is a pressing need for senior housing since a sizable percentage of the area's population is starting to age at a rapid pace. Now is the time to start making plans.

And the plans for Arboretum Trails aired at last week's Baxter City Council meeting had a great deal of potential. Wilson Management Limited proposes to build four different types of housing for seniors on a 10-acre tract -- 25 detached homes, a 60-unit apartment, a 52-unit assisted living building and a 14- unit memory care building for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

As in most real estate deals, location is the key factor in this development. Proximity to the Northland Arboretum, the Paul Bunyan Trail and the Pine Meadows at Brainerd Golf Course, offers active seniors numerous recreational opportunities. Also, the clustering of these units mean that if one spouse starts to require more care the other one can continue to live nearby.

The integration of senior housing sites so close to recreational areas could pose some challenges, but if any possible conflicts can be resolved, Arboretum Trails could be a model of the big-picture planning that needs to be done as the area's housing needs are addressed.

Dick Cheney

Bush's pick of the Washington insider won't hurt his chances

Presidential candidates always say the first quality they look for in a vice presidential candidate is that person's ability to serve as president, if needed.

The presumptive Republican nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, apparently meant it when he said it. Dick Cheney's solid background in a variety of government positions is the sort of resume that is the envy of most politicians. The last vice presidential candidate to have such an impressive resume was George Herbert Walker Bush, the governor's father and the former president.

It's a cinch the younger Bush picked Cheney on the basis of his experience and his presidential qualifications. He is not an exciting campaigner and his political base, the state of Wyoming, has a whopping total of three electoral votes.

What Cheney brings to the table is a quarter century of solid Washington experience including stints as a presidential chief of staff, a congressman and a secretary of defense. He also brings a reputation as a decent and civil politician, one who can work well with members of the opposite political party.

The only possible drawback is Cheney's history of three heart attacks, although the latest was about a decade ago and by all accounts he's been given a clean bill of health.

Political pundits tell us that come election day, voters will discount the vice presidential candidate, voting instead for or against the person at the top of the ticket. That said, Cheney should give voters no reason to vote against George W. Bush.