Reading the Highland Villager #204

[A Frogtown Villager unearthing.]

[Basically the problem is that the best source of Saint Paul streets & sidewalks news is the Highland Villager, a very fine and historical newspaper. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its not available online. You basically have to live in or frequent Saint Paul to read it. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free. See also: Three Reasons Why I Re-Blog the Highland Villager.]

Headline: Conservatory of Music to move to St. Paul’s church; It’s part of a larger plan for a performing arts center

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Planning Commission [it me!] approved a permit for an old church to be used as a concert and music lesson venue. The church is 104 years old and mostly empty. Neighbors are concerned about parking. [The group here is called SARPA.]

Headline: Police unveil new approach to using force in arresting possible suspects

Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: [Please don’t shoot people.]

Headline: St. Paul businesses are wary of a hike in minimum wage; Some question whether it is the best approach to reducing poverty in city

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Since when has paying people more helped reduce poverty? they asked  loudly.]

Headline: City Council supports $2 billion plan for Riverview streetcar line

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Riverview streetcar proposal [which as I said is very vague at the moment and missing crucial details like route and footprint and dedicated ROW %] was approved by the City Council. [Guess which CM was absent? Hint: starts with B and rhymes with “nostrom.” Nostrom, by the way, is an interesting word. I urge you to look it up.] There was a public hearing. CM Noecker, who represents the area, voted in favor. Neighbors are concerned about traffic and parking and a lack of room. Quote from a business owner: “You can’t put a square peg in a round hole.” [Little known fact: West 7^th once had streetcars running on it.] Quote from neighbor citing a “planned bikeway on West 7^th”: “Fixed rail and bicycles don’t play together.” [OTOH, bicycling on West 7^th is very not-good presently. Also there is no “planned bikeway on West 7^th” AFAIK. In fact, a special amendment to the bike plan explictly banned such a concept.] Other people were in favor of the idea.

Headline: Snelling/St. Clari site eyed for new one-story commercial building

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A flower shop / strip mall an Snelling Avenue will be developed into a one-story building. [This is the site of the proposed five-story housing development that was pulled because of a mix of neighbor concerns, lack of street level mixed-use, and a problem with site control involving a parking lot for a dance studio.] No housing is planned. There will be parking.

Headline: Allianz Field scores large sign variances

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The new soccer stadium can have a big sign during construction and also when it’s open. BZA (board of zoning appeals) people are worried that it might prevent development.

Headline: Sustain chair fined for stolen ‘Stop Ford’ signs

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A person was accused of stealing “anti-Ford site” development signs and sued over it before settling the "suit". One concerned neighbor filed the case in small claims court. The alleged sign stealer denies stealing the signs and is quoted thus: "I feel like they’re trying to make an example out of me” and “Unfortunately my neighbors have chosen to use the court system to seek restitution for yard signs placed in the city right-of-way.” [Placed in the city right-of-way? Yes, you heard that correctly.] The alleged sign taker-downer had earlier tweeted the following: “wonder who had the time today to bring a step ladder out and rip down Liveable signs illegally stapled high up on trees in the public right-of-way?” [Well this is just amazing to me personally. The thing here is that these signs were graffiti / illegal litter. They were just like the pro-Bob Fletcher signs placed in theyards of abandoned houses. They were strictly speaking much like the similarly-illegal yellow “We Buy Ugly Houses” signs that I wrote about years ago and that CM Brendmoen is rightly proud of removing from poles or trees in her neighborhood. OR that civic-minded people in North Minneapolis take down continually to such a degree that they have hundreds of these signs that accumulate and build sculptures out of them. So, yes, Stop Ford signs are the rich-neighborhood equivalent of predatory lending signs in a poor neighborhood. This is just petty and sad.] The alleged culprit denies taking the signs and said that he is a “pretty average looking young male.” [Counterpoint: I think Brandon Long is above average and handsome! Anyway, if it's an undisputed fact that these signs were litter placed illegally on the public right-of-way, then this situation is beyond frivolous. See below for File photo of City Council President Amy Brendmoen's trunk, containing illegally posted signage confiscated from the public right-of-way:

[This should have been one of those "I Am Spartacus!" moments where every young male in Saint Paul simultaneously admitted to taking them down. That is all.]

Headline: Not bluffing; Moose Country, strip mall to close by end of April to make way for housing development

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The 70s-era old timey looking [but not really] strip mall in Mendota Heights is going to become housing. [“Moose Country” is a terrible place. I used to go here all the time as a kid. The chinese restaurant, then called China Delight, was exotic and exciting at the time. Also there used to be a gun shop here. Wow!]

Headline: Proposed disc golf course expansion discussed by HDC

Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The parks department wants to add more disc golf holes. Neighbors are concerned about the loss of trees, frisbees hitting parked cars, and “criminal behavior.” [Disc golf seems like a fine upstanding activity to me. Serious! These anti-frisbee folks are kind of nuts-seeming.]

Headline: O'Gara's plans new mixed-use building on Snelling Ave. site
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The old Irish bar [renowned for hosting "urban conservative" social functions as well as my High School reunion as well as the 'big band in a small room' concept] is going to tear down its building and build a larger mixed-use building in its place. It might be four stories, and will occupy a whole bunch of the existing surface parking lot. Neighbors are concerned about property values and taxes. [????? grunt noise???] The owner is going to get "input" from the neighborhood. There will be parking. Article includes some mention of Charles Shultz. [I would have sworn there would be more gnashing of teeth and wailing of arms about this, but it's a weird situation because O'Gara's is also synonymous with libertarian and free-market narratives within Saint Paul. So it's like, the "lassiez faire" side of the coin is strong here. ¯\_(ツ)_/] Article includes O'Gara family history.

Headline: Commodore appeal is denied, but Rupp says he will keep dining room open
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Speaking of libertarian / free-market narratives within Saint Paul...] The owner of an old hotel / restaurant is upset about the City Council supporting a BZA denial of an appeal to keep open a part of a restaurant. Article includes long discussion of the "nonconforming use" permit etc. CM Thao says it will all work out. There is also a Squash Club in there somewhere. Article includes history of the hotel.

Headline: Another lot spot on 1900 block of Igelhart is denied
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The owner of an old house wanted to tear it down and subdivide the lot but the city said no. A neighborhood group is trying to save the house and move it somewhere else.

Headline: Proposed residential permit parking changes reviewed
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city is studying how permit parking works. There was a study and there will be two meetings. [Basically, this whole thing is a huge mess! The city loses money on this from administration costs alone, let alone opportunity costs about parking etc. The rules are arbitrary, there is supposedly rampant "gaming" of the system, and the policies change willy-nilly depending on which neighborhood you are in, and for police, it's almost impossible to enforce these rules in any way that does not involve an angry neighbor calling the police specifically. The reform should involve simplification, getting rid of the "one-hour" or "two hour" zones, raising the cost to cover inflation at the very least, having an escalating fee for the overall # of cars, and reducing the overall number of these areas to only the places where they're actually used. I doubt, though, that there will be a sensible discussion about this?]

Headline: St. Paul issues ultimatum for unregistered Airbnbs
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city passed a new short-term rental policy and is trying to get people who have short-term rentals to actually register them. They are mailing "warning notices."

Headline: Light-industrial firm opposes permit for 60 new apartments
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to turn an old abandoned slaughterhouse into housing in an industrial area but the trucking / engineering / testing firm next door is upset about it. [Name for the development: The Abbatoir Arms? Killing Floor Flats? Schlachthof-fünf?]

Headline: I-94 noise wall planned between Fairview and Prior
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: MN-DOT is putting a new noise wall along 94 between Fairview and Prior. They had a meeting about it. [Is Trump involved?]

Headline: RAS Restaurant is fined $500 for license violations
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A [East African] restaurant got fined. Two of the violations were parking related, including "expired tabs in the business' lot" and "failure to install barriers to prevent cars from parking on an adjacent vacant lot." [Seems petty.]

Headline: Correction [WOAH! This is a rare correction in the Villager! Check it out...]
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: "A story in the February 28 Villager on plans to add more sidewalks in Highland Park should have stated that once people walk past the sidewalk in front of Dawn Zaidel's home on Saratoga Street, they have to walk onto a neighbor's driveway and into the street." [Most Villager correction ever.]

-->