Reading the Highland Villager #100

[Yay!]

[Can you believe it? 100 Villagers! Oh how the time flies. I feel like its only yesterday that I picked up my first Villager and began to type. Maybe that's because I often get deja lu when reading the Villager?]



Headline: Parks Commission OKs leasing Como, Phalen golf courses to private operator
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Two of the city owned golf courses have been losing money and will be run by a private company now. The City Council vote was close. [...for some reason.] Article includes quote from attorney, "this is about privatizing our city assets. Instead we need to demand better management from the city." [I agree with her sort of. I don't like privatizing city assets! But this is really about golf's waning popularity, and the City Council not wanting to make the tough choice of closing the course for good.]


Headline: Snelling-Selby traffic safety concerns draw a crowd; Solutions are offered, but the elephant in room is Ayd Mill Road
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There was a community group meeting [ostensibly] about the new Snelby Whole Foods development, [that was really about Ayd Mill Road]. People challenged the traffic study [that claimed that the new store wouldn't generate much traffic]. Article lists many different traffic engineering solutions [except getting rid of the road altogether].  Most interesting idea: "a 'walk-in' where motorists get ticketed for failing to yield to pedestrians." [I was at this meeting. We filled O'Gara's.]


Headline: Consensus on Ayd Mill Road proves to be elusive [Hell, people can't even agree on how to pronounce it!]
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Piece on the Ayd Mill Road task force goings on in a neighborhood group, advocating for a connection on the North end. Article includes ADT counts for different intersections [but not for Ayd Mill road itself, for some reason]. Quote from neighborhood group director, "we seem to be really stuck here." Article includes [long] history of previous Ayd Mill Road task forces and studies. [Stay tuned to this one, folks.]


Headline: Master plan for Victoria Park nears completion
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The plan for a new park by the bluff by West 7th Street is almost done. Article includes "concerns about soccer."


Headline: Western Avenue reconstruction finally coming to fruition; Stretch from University to Selby avenues to get upgrades, bicycle route
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: From University to almost Selby, Western Avenue will get a bike lane. They're adding an extended bumpout at the strange Marshall Avenue corner, too. [Western is one of the best / only north-south routes in the city, folks!]


Headline: Montreal to get major makeover from Snelling-St. Paul aves
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The western part of Montreal Avenue will soon have bike lanes and / or sharrows [in the low-traffic part of the street].


Headline: Ramsey Hill residents weigh expense of retaining their brick-paved streets
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There are two block with old paver bricks on it, but they need to be re-done. It'll cost about $1M, and the [wealthy] residents of the two streets are deciding whether to pay for it. There are debates. [Holy crap, that's expensive.]


Headline: Highland to lose more ash trees in battle against borer
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A bug is eating old trees, again. 200 more of them, in fact. People were hoping that the winter would kill the bugs, but it seems a bit doubtful.


Headline: Power of milk; New life awaits the Old Home building that still stands as a symbol of MN's dairy industry
Author: Lisa Heinrich

Short short version: The old milk factory on Western and University is becoming a mixed-used development. Article offers long history of the building and a few cool old photos. Best detail: the art deco building facade features a bas-relief sculpture of a "young girl and boy, whom the company's advertising christened Mistress Polly Plump and Master Henry Husky." [Yay!]


Headline: Committee favors variances, permit for Waters of Highland
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A funeral home is going to be replaced with an old folks home on Snelling Avenue. [From a literal vitality standpoint, I guess that's progress!]


Headline: Federation opposes plans for combined Caribou-Bruegger's
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to build a coffee shop / bagel place where the abandoned Dairy Queen is on West 7th Street, but nobody likes the idea because it includes a drive-thru. [I've heard that they developer is going ahead anyway, trying to re-use the old building as-is instead of going ahead without the drive-thru. Because if you can't have a bagel without getting out of your car, you shouldn't be having a bagel in the first place.]


Headline: Hearing set on next phase of making Marshall Ave. greener
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A meeting will happen about traffic calming and medians on Marshall Avenue by Cleveland Avenue. [A friend of mine hates these Marshall medians because they narrow the street too much for bicyclists in the winter.]


Headline: Variance sought from city's student housing ordinance
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A homeowner is trying to establish a new student housing residence despite being too close to another student housing residence. [I hate this ordinance.]


Headline: Open house set on plans for Snelling Bus Rapid Transit line
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A meeting will happen about potential [yet unfunded] bus improvements on Snelling.


Headline: City Council allows new Summit Hill carriage house on appeal
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A property owner will be allowed to convert their carriage house into an apartment after all. [This is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing all over our city.] They will have to build a parking space somewhere.


Headline: St. Thomas to break ground on new engineering building
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There will be a new building on the UST campus instead of a parking lot.
[There goes the neighborhood.]