[Mpls] Re: Fantasy Group Needs New Members: Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee

[Svattheriver at aol.com]

I welcome interest and debate concerning the Above the Falls Master  Plan. 
Dyna Sluyter asks some important questions. My reply is not an official  
response from the Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee. I am speaking for  
myself as one member of a large committee.

The seat I was elected to is  as a neighborhood representative of all the 
neighborhoods in the Mississippi  Watershed (formerly the Middle Mississippi 
Watershed).  It is the largest  geographic area represented, so I really 
appreciate this forum as a way of  communicating.

In a message dated 6/1/04 11:48:34 PM Central  Daylight Time, 
dyna at unions-america.com

Dyna says- (This is a thirty  year plan)
"That will only cost a couple billion dollars to  implement."

The Plan both costs money and generates money. The plan  addresses jobs and 
cost benefits. Are the predictions accurate and too  optimistic? That can and 
should be debated. But the Plan does address those  issues:

Major Benefits of Plan Implementation
90 acres of new park  
15 milesof bike lanes and recreational trails 
4 miles of restored  riverbank 
5.25 miles of parkway and boulevard 
2,500 housing units in new  riverfront neighborhoods 
2,000 net additional jobs 
Over $10 million in  additional annual tax revenue 


> Dyna says: AFCAC doesn't  represent, " the thousands of ordinary working 
folks that will lose their  
jobs if the plan is ever implemented."
AFCAC is a really interesting  group of people that does include the people 
that Dyna say are excluded.
For  example there are members from American Iron, La Farge Corporation, 
Marshall  Concrete and Aggregate industries who are representing heavy industry. 
As for  blue collar workers and ordinary working folks they are represented on 
the board  by myself and others. 

The Upper Harbor Terminal has- I think 5 employees- and is a financial  drain 
on the City. There is a current study about what to do when and if the  
Harbor Closes. I think that it can be closed if there is a place to dump dredge  
spoils. Whether it should be closed or not is a much larger  question. 
Housing-, our metro population is predicted to increase by one million in  
the near future. 

Dyna says:  "This plan is years  old and that has yet to happen... says 
something of 
the interest in said  plan."
There is interest and funding. To name a few:
There is the Grain Belt Complex with a great new library on the  river.
The wonderful North Interpretive Center and Park.
GAF received a grant to implement a more environmentally friendly  presence 
on the River.
Close architects are putting the final touches on plans for trail and  park 
improvements for Skyline Park and the western shoreline between the  Plymouth 
and the BN bridge.
There is funding for major stormwater improvements in the Hawthorne  
neighborhood.
There is a masterplan and a funding for Edgewater Park
(Gluek park is an unfunded tragedy)
There is an Army Corps Plan for pool one (this area) that would  greatly 
improve the health of the river.
There is an additional 11.2 million dollars from the Mississippi Watershed  
Management Organization 10 year capital improvement plan slated for the  Above 
the Falls Plan.
There is 1.9 million from the National Park Service MNRRA area which  
includes the AFCAC area.
I will try to address Dyna's other comments in an other email. 
Thanks, 
Scott Vreeland  Seward