Reading the Highland Villager #250

[A Villager endures in the West End.]

[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: Citizens group takes dim view [har har] of massive sign for Xcel Center; Appeals BZA decision to allow Wild to hang banner for three years
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A group of people who don't like billboards also don't like a big sign that would plug the NHL hockey team and the iPhone. The team wants to have the sign there for three whole years. [That's a long time!] Guy who heads the downtown BID claims that it will "spur downtown vitality." Saint Paul has sign regulations. [Whole thing seems dumb.]


Headline: Ryan Cos. buys Ford Plant site; Master developer will break ground in spring on new streets, utilities
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The developer has officially purchased the old truck factory. It cost $61M. Article includes history of the plant and development proposal.


Headline: City aims to rein in greenhouse gas emissions; Climate Action Plan focuses on greater energy-efficiency, fewer trips by motor vehicle
Author: Frank Jossi

Short short version: The City Council passed the Climate Action and Resilience Plan unanimously. Article has some info about the plan, as well as a photo of Russ Stark holding a bicycle. [It very much remains to be seen whether the City Council and the Mayor's Office actually does anything meaningful to achieve the goals here. Are we serious about this plan, or is it just feel-good rhetoric? At the very least, if we take this plan seriously, proposals like reducing Ayd Mill Road should be common sense. Instead, CM Tolbert and others are hemming and hawing and calling for a "study" instead of simply moving forward with a proposal aimed at emissions reduction goals. I worry that this plan is mostly symbolic.] 


Headline: McGuire scales back his hopes for Midway Center redevelopment
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Well this was very obviously going to happen the whole time...] The guy who owns the MLS soccer team, the parking lots, and some of the other land that surrounds the stadium had a meeting where he explained why there hasn't yet been any of the promised development. Neighbors are concerned about the lack of progress. The team owner is quoted saying "we don't have the rest of it yet, but we have a quarter-billion-dollar stadium that the whole world is talking about along with new streets, trees, grass and people." [The new streets were paid for with city tax dollars, BTW.] Also quoted saying "The odds of the site looking exactly like the master plan are zero," and said it will likely be a smaller scale.  He is looking for development partners. [This is largely disappointing. I'd like to see a project begin on the key corner at Snelling and University ASAP. That's the key to the whole stadium deal in the first place. Also, they just re-signed Heath? WTH. Heath sucks. This is much worse than the Twins' offseason!]


Headline: Commission grants permit, variances for 7-story building on W.  7th
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A parking lot and body shop will become 153 apartments. It was rezoned and received a variance for floor-area ratio. [Not sure why there are FAR caps, anyway. FAR minimums, I understand...] Two commissioners voted against it, one saying "I don't know who these are being built for." [Well, I would only say that they would be built for people looking for housing in Saint Paul. We have a severe housing shortage in the metro area and in Saint Paul, and need to build much more housing if there is any hope of keeping prices down.] 


Headline: Bike lane projects set to begin this spring on Summit, Marshall avenues.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Some bike lanes on Summit will be re-striped and buffered. Others on Marshall will be added in a two-way manner, between Western and the Cathedral. The city will also add bike lanes at the east end of Lake Como, and on Arlington Avenue by the Gateway Trail. The money come from the city's new dedicated bike fund. [This is a great list of "low-hanging fruit-type" bike projects. If only there were more money; I bet there's a lot more that could be easily done.]


Headline: Neighbors oppose Lexington Pkwy. project due to fears of gentrification
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The owners of a long-vacant lot by the Green Line have a development proposal that might put 236 apartments on the site. [The lot was used for many years as "snow storage," where a giant pile of snow would slowly melt there through the spring and into the summer. Sort of a public works / public art project... maybe meant to invoke climate change?] Neighbors are concerned about affordable housing, rising rents, and property taxes. Quote from academic: "there is a debate over whether new market-rate and luxury apartments will drive up rents in the surrounding neighborhood, [and] it is also debatable whether the building of more apartments relieves price pressures." [A good quote from Goetz/CURA that gets right to the key issue here. The key question: what effect does building, or not building, market-rate housing have on vulnerable people facing rising rents and housing costs? How you answer that question is critical, and shapes the rest of the conversation. Personally, I do not believe that we can stop displacement without building a lot more market-rate housing. There has been zero market-rate housing built along the Green Line in Saint Paul between Downtown and South Saint Anthony Park. That lack of market-rate housing has not kept housing prices down along the Green Line; in fact, they've been rising faster than anywhere else.] Article also mentions that this project proposes a dozen dedicated affordable units. [If Saint Paul had an inclusionary zoning ordinance identical to the one in Minneapolis, there would be 18 affordable units, rather than 12.]


Headline: Commission approves coffee shop drive-thru at Sibley Plaza
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A gas station by in a strip mall parking lot will become a Starbucks drive-thru. [Sigh. I voted for this. IMO, the real problem is the giant strip mall, and the Starbucks is an incidental improvement.] 


Headline: Property tax increases in 2020 vary greatly across St. Paul
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Property taxes and property values are going up, in some places more than others. Government services are expensive.


Headline: District council 'strenuously' objects to dynamic billboard near I-94
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Planning Commission approved a proposal to turn one billboard into a electronic "dynamic" billboard in exchange for taking down many other billboards that are grandfathered in throughout the city. Neighbors are concerned about safety and bright lights. [I am quoted here too. I voted for this because there's no other way to have billboards removed, and the ratio is about 7:1 for the number of billboards removed versus the one that is going to be digital. I do not think the road safety or light concerns are very compelling.]