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| [The Villager, my friend, is blowin in the wind.] |
Title: City lines up financing for new ballpark in Lowertown
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The city found some money for the Saints stadium [in the backseat of Soucheray's Lincoln, behind Onyx John, by scuba-diving the bottom of Lake Phalen] through $8M in bonds and a loan from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority from the "parking fund." Article includes quotes from Saints boosters. CM Thune is worried about parking. Interest rates are lower than expected.
Title: Ford Parkway in line for redo; County has designs on overhauling stretch from Snelling to Howell
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The county is going to be reconstructing a large chunk of Ford Parkway [but not the important part by "the Village"]. It is only two-lanes in this stretch, but some 'neighbors" are still complaining about speeding traffic. They county had a meeting about it. Bike lanes are on the table, as well as a median, and more sophisticated turn lanes. [I was at a meeting about this, and the county's proposal looks good, though they still need to get excemptions from the "state aid standards" in order to complete a design that's actually safe for everyone. How stupid is that? Those standards are going to be changing soon, right? Isn't the state supposed to adopt a complete streets policy at some point?] Article includes quote from County Commissioner Ortega hand-wringing about whether one lane in each direction will be enough in the future. There will be more meetings. [Hot button issue, folks! We might get a quality bike lane out of this, which, you know, doesn't happen too often in Shelbyville.]
Title: Committee favors permit, rezoning for memory care facility; White Pine looks to remodel former convent in Highland
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A ex-convent on Prior Avenue [as opposed to an ex-con vent, which is where rehabilitated felons go to kvetsch] will become a place for people who are lowing their memory. [Imagine the wayfinding signage at that place.] It was originally going to be a home for people with chemical dependency issues, but neighbors complained about that. The building has more parking than they really need.
Title: Committee to review site plan for new bank at Snelling-Selby [the Snelby neological moniker has not yet been approved by the Villager's style guide]
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The plan for the first part of the Snelby project is about to be approved. This isn't the large corner project plan, the traffic plan, or the shared [PID!] parking lot plan.
Title: Effort to preserve Ford plant history is running out of time
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: People are trying to save parts of the old Ford truck plant. There's a group that's been formed, the "Save Our Ford Heritage Committee." [I think 270 million US cars and 1/2 of our city paved into parking lots and roads is a pretty good "Ford heritage."] Article seems skeptical about preserving any of the building's facade.
Title: Feline Rescue gets permit to expand Fairview Ave. shelter
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A cat shelter Fairview can expand. ["Now with more cats!"]
Title: Gas pipeline reconstruction set along Highway 55 corridor
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: There will be a new pipeline along Hiawatha by Coldwater Spring and Minneahaha Park [you know, where they had the whole thing with the sacred Dakota sites and the trees and the sit-ins and everything].
Title: Study will look at shrinking University Ave. to single lane
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: There will be a $115K study to look at adding on-street parking [and presumably bike lanes] along University Avenue. Article includes brief mention of pros and cons. [What do you think? I am intrigued by this, but skeptical that anyone will have the guts to pull it of.]
Title: Commission OKs use of former Mac alumni house as a duplex
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: A house on Lincoln can be a duplex again.
Title: City reviews its options in rezoning former Ford plant
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The study for the Ford plant site is finished [sort of]. The city is deciding whether to come up with new zoning for the property, or to leave it alone. [That seems like a no-brainer to me.] "Scenarios" from 2007 all involved mixed-use development in different patterns.. Nobody knows how much of the land is polluted. All this will take a long, long time.
Title: Summit-U is striding toward a more walkable Dale Street
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: There was a "walkability charette" to look at Dale Street north of Selby [aka. the part that completely sucks because the street is too wide]. People came up with the following ideas: brighter lights, wider sidewalks, more medians, slower traffic, and re-timed lights. The sidewalks are 4' wide with large turning radii, especially by the I-94 bridge. Dale is a county road, but the county is considering a "road diet." [That's the obvious solution, which means it probably won't be considered very strongly.] Article includes comment from a community member about the Nice Ride rack on Dale: "It gives the impression that Dale Street is safe for biking. It is not."
Title: Federation's effort to renovate 17 West End homes is dealt setback
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: The neighborhood group along West 7th Street is trying to develop and rehab buildings by the base of the high bridge, but the City Council denied them a developer status. Apparently the City Council wants to keep rehab policies open to anyone, not just to certain neighborhood groups.
Title: Not up to par; Growing deficits at St. Paul's municipal courses have city officials pushing for privatizations of Como and Phalen links
Author: Jane McClure
Short short version: St Paul's golf courses have been losing money for years, and the city is going to think about hiring private companies to run them instead of the city. [IMO, that won't really work. Golf is the problem with these golf courses, not who's running them.] The vote was delayed.
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