Reading the Highland Villager #210

[A Villager on a mat.]

[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: Lawsuit targets organized trash; City’s proposed system is said to violate state’s Waste Management Act
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Saint Paul is still trying to organize the trash collection trucks. [Part 1502 of a long-saga of efficient governance, discouraging dumping, and decreasing wear on roads.]  A person is suing the city because of the fee structure of the new trash system. [If this state law does indeed govern garbage fees, file this under “dumb mistakes by the city’s legal team,” a too-thick drawer in the file cabinet if you ask me.] The contracts have already been signed. The state law is from 1980. [What is going to happen here, provided the lawsuit is not meritorious, is that there will be a lot of flailing and gnashing of teeth during the rollout of the new system, and then once it’s in place everyone will forget all about it almost immediately and things will have improved. See also: the dreaded recycling bins.]



Headline: Revision of city’s historic preservation regulations delayed; HPC postpones action to give proposed changes a broader public hearing
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There was a well-attended public meeting about how exactly the Heritage Preservation Commission conducts its business. Many people don’t like the regulations. Quote from person: “it took him three years to replace a garage.” [File under: “MOAR process.” Another thick drawer in the proverbial STP file cabinet.] There are lots of rules. The HPC and city want to charge a fee for people who appeal the process. The city has a lot of costs associated with this. [TONS of staff time! IMO having a fee of some kind to process the hours of work involved is very reasonable.] Quote from member of SARPA (summit avenue residential preservation association [as if you did not know!]): “the city does not charge bicyclists every time it stripes a bicycle lane on a street.” [Is there a law for invoking bicyclist metaphors even when there’s no logical connection? Like a Godwin’s Law for bikes? How about “MAMIL’s Law: the longer a local political public meeting goes on, the probability that someone scapegoats bicyclists approaches 1.”] Article has way more quotes about historic rules, bureaucracy, and the pros and cons thereof such as this one: “The people in this room tonight are the actual constituency of historic preservation and the HPC. I would ask the commission to reflect on the antagonism that seems to exist between the audience and the commission and how to ameliorate it.” [Sounds like a fun chat.]



Headline: O’Gara’s fine-tunes plan for redeveloping Snelling-Selby; New five-story building will need a rezoning and permit for 62-foot height
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to built a five-story building on the site of a two-story bar, apartments, and surface parking lot at Snelling and Selby. [The bar formerly housed a small Charles Schultz museum.]



Headline: City fails to secure funds to replace crumbling RiverCentre ramp; Lobbying effort falls short at state Capitol
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: A big parking ramp downtown is falling apart. The City’s lobbyists asked the state legislature to help pay for it, but they did not. Article includes some history of ramp. A new 2K space ramp would cost $117 million. [Holy crapoly, that is a lot of money. Think of what you could do to improve downtown with that kind of money!] Quote from St Paul state legislator: “They were asking for an incredibly amount of money for a parking ramp; the $58M would bring the cost of a single parking space in the ramp to $54K.” Article claims that the last-minute change of city priorities from a new bridge on 3rd Street threw a big wrench into the bonding bill process. [NOTE: this is a really interesting article with some fascinating quotes. The city seems like it did not handle its bonding requests very well this year.]


Headline: Calming Snelling; New Medians put pedestrian-friendly face on Highland Park thoroughfare
Author: Erin Robinson

Short short version: They are [finally!] putting medians on Snelling so that people can cross the street. It cost $2.2M. Article mentions “edge friction” and traffic calming. [Wow, the Villager is really getting hot and heavy with some road design deets.] Article includes references to studies about safety. [Wow again.] Some people quoted like it for safety reasons, others do not for traffic reasons. Quote referencing Funeral Home guy: “would have preferred the city use the money to fix potholes instead of adding crosswalks where there may not be that many pedestrians. He was also concerned about the effects the medians would have on funeral processions.” [I.e. “won’t someone think about the dead people and the folks driving in cars symbolically for a change?” Wouldn't it be amazing if Saint Paul nixed street safety measures in order to keep traffic moving for funeral processions? That would be truly amazing. Note that this reminds me of the funeral home person who fought the bike boulevard at Charles and Snelling, for similar reasons.]


Headline: Six citizens withdraw from Pedro Park design process
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A while ago the city put together a committee to help design a park but many of them quit because they did not feel they had any say in the process and because the city is selling half the plot to a developer.


Headline: Neighbors appeal permit for Snelling-St. Clair development
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A group is appealing a conditional use permit for a mixed-use building on Snelling and St. Clair. The group claims that granting the permit would be “detrimental to the character of the neighborhood / endanger the public’s health safety and general welfare.”


Headline: Commission favors allowing accessory dwellings citywide
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: People will probably soon be able to [theoretically] build ADUs anywhere in Saint Paul now, not just in a small spot. [So far there is one (1) ADU in Saint Paul.]


Headline: Council grants garage license with conditions on West End
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A business person can build an auto repair garage on Randolph Avenue, as long as they have a nice fence and not too many cars.


Headline: Hearing set on new distance regs for off-sale liquor stores
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Saint Paul liquor stores might soon be able to be slightly closer to each other. [This is about the Big Top where the soccer stadium is going. I heard it is moving into the old Perkins! That is a wild turn of events: “liquor store Perkins Big Top Perkins” sounds like an old West Bank blues musician.] 


Headline: Walking tours of Marshall Avenue preview proposed zoning changes
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There is a plan to maybe rezone a part of Marshall Avenue, downzoning part of it and upzoning other parts. [Weirdly, they are going to downzone the part that is on the route of the #21 bus and future aBRT line, while upzoning the part that is not really directly on the transit line.] Neighbors are concerned about students living near them, preserving old homes, and “the specter of large-scale redevelopment.” [A spectre is haunting saint Paul – it is the spectre of private real estate, the presence of young people, and 50-year-old zoning.] People will walk around and look at the street on June 18th.


Headline: Concerns aired over sewer project’s possible impact on Coldwater Spring
Author: Bill Wagner

Short short version: An historic spring and civic site might be affected by a sanitary sewer tunnel.The National Park Service person does not seem concerned.  Neighbors are concerned about delineating the footprint of the watershed. [You can tell this story takes place in Minneapolis because traffic and parking are not mentioned. Also, Coldwater Spring is sacred to tribes.]


Headline: Gov’t snafu wipes out Merriam Park neighbors’ $10,000 landscape project; Xcel crew clear-cuts freeway berm 2 years after it was replanted [Call me an old fashioned fuddy duddy if you must, but I think SNAFU should be capitalized.]
Author: Lucas Hansen

Short short version: The vegetation on a freeway berm that had been planted for two years was cut down by utility workers in early May. The utility had cut down all the vegetation three years ago and people replanted it. There was “miscommunication between the city of St. .Paul and MnDOT” that caused the clear cutting. Neighbors want to see Xcel and MnDOT fix the problem. Quote from CM Henningson: “it’s one of those situations where the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.” Quote from upset neighbor: “I don’t want an apology; I want to have the earth restored.” [Go ahead and put that on my gravestone, please!]


Headline: Commission favors plan for senior campus on old Riverside site
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Planning Commission approved a rezoning and CUP to build housing for older people at the site of an old school. It will also include the reconfiguring of a dangerous intersection to make it safer.Another building is planned.


Headline: Fitzgerald’s wants to demolish Urban League building to add parking
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A restaurant in a busy walkable area wants to tear down a late 50s-era building to build a parking lot and patio. The building housed an African-American community group that has lots its funding in the last ten years.