Grid 8 Neighborhood Issues
National Night Out:
Thank you to those who signed the grid petition at the neighborhood block parties. I attended the event Friday at the Lutheran Church (Spruce Tree and Roy), which attracted more than 400 people. I also attended last night in front of Bill Oetting’s house on Hershel, and met quite a few of you. The signatures enable me to continue to vote at the Merriam Park neighborhood council, which due to consolidation, is now District Council 13, Inc. Since you left me with your e-mail addresses, I will summarize my activities over the past year for you. I promise not to bother you much.
Crime:
My house feels safe to me. I live across from a church with plenty of lighting and activity 24 hours a day. I also live next to a sheriff. But, I am aware that there are crime issues in the neighborhood. The police department summarizes the crime report for District 13. Theresa Heiland helps community members from District 13 deal with specific crime issues. I suggest you contact her with your crime issues.
Light Rail:
I have strong feelings about the proposed light rail for University Avenue, and have weighed in as much as I can. To summarize, I support transit oriented development and the zoning overlay, since I believe strongly in public transit. But, I believe building public transit stations at street level is a bad idea. In Kyoto, a city of 1.5 million, they have been replacing street cars with subways for the past thirty years! I will continue to attend meetings and advocate for doing it right.
Update 3/20/2009: I no longer support "transit oriented development" because its supporters hypocritically seem to be supporting development that they would not live in and transit that they would not ride.
Snelling Avenue Safety:
Public works presented a Snelling-University Capacity study with options for funneling more traffic through Snelling Avenue. I opposed this because no attention seems to have been paid to safety. I would like to see proposals for dealing with the intersections of Snelling Avenue and the two I-94 frontage roads, which have the number one and number two highest accident rates in the State of Minnesota.
HealthEast Parking Lot:
Last year, when HealthEast proposed to bulldoze four houses to add a parking lot, this issue came before the neighborhood council. Jim Marti (president), Glen McClusky (vice president), Theresa Heiland (paid staff) and I attended the meetings at HealthEast with a number of residents from Hershel. The neighborhood was not happy about the houses getting demolished. At least, HealthEast listened to neighbors regarding ugly fences, snow plowing, lighting and security cameras.
Land Use:
New construction and zoning proposals come up routinely at the Land Use Committee meetings. If you have strong feelings about the proposed Walgreens drive-through or the proposed Home Depot, please let me know or attend a Land Use Committee meeting.
There are plenty of ways to get involved if you are interested in impacting these or other neighborhood issues, and desire that our area north of I-94 have more of a voice.
Thank you to those who signed the grid petition at the neighborhood block parties. I attended the event Friday at the Lutheran Church (Spruce Tree and Roy), which attracted more than 400 people. I also attended last night in front of Bill Oetting’s house on Hershel, and met quite a few of you. The signatures enable me to continue to vote at the Merriam Park neighborhood council, which due to consolidation, is now District Council 13, Inc. Since you left me with your e-mail addresses, I will summarize my activities over the past year for you. I promise not to bother you much.
Crime:
My house feels safe to me. I live across from a church with plenty of lighting and activity 24 hours a day. I also live next to a sheriff. But, I am aware that there are crime issues in the neighborhood. The police department summarizes the crime report for District 13. Theresa Heiland helps community members from District 13 deal with specific crime issues. I suggest you contact her with your crime issues.
Light Rail:
I have strong feelings about the proposed light rail for University Avenue, and have weighed in as much as I can. To summarize, I support transit oriented development and the zoning overlay, since I believe strongly in public transit. But, I believe building public transit stations at street level is a bad idea. In Kyoto, a city of 1.5 million, they have been replacing street cars with subways for the past thirty years! I will continue to attend meetings and advocate for doing it right.
Update 3/20/2009: I no longer support "transit oriented development" because its supporters hypocritically seem to be supporting development that they would not live in and transit that they would not ride.
Snelling Avenue Safety:
Public works presented a Snelling-University Capacity study with options for funneling more traffic through Snelling Avenue. I opposed this because no attention seems to have been paid to safety. I would like to see proposals for dealing with the intersections of Snelling Avenue and the two I-94 frontage roads, which have the number one and number two highest accident rates in the State of Minnesota.
HealthEast Parking Lot:
Last year, when HealthEast proposed to bulldoze four houses to add a parking lot, this issue came before the neighborhood council. Jim Marti (president), Glen McClusky (vice president), Theresa Heiland (paid staff) and I attended the meetings at HealthEast with a number of residents from Hershel. The neighborhood was not happy about the houses getting demolished. At least, HealthEast listened to neighbors regarding ugly fences, snow plowing, lighting and security cameras.
Land Use:
New construction and zoning proposals come up routinely at the Land Use Committee meetings. If you have strong feelings about the proposed Walgreens drive-through or the proposed Home Depot, please let me know or attend a Land Use Committee meeting.
There are plenty of ways to get involved if you are interested in impacting these or other neighborhood issues, and desire that our area north of I-94 have more of a voice.
Labels: D13
posted by David Rasmussen at 10:23 AM
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