[MPLS] Lasallians in the news

[Annie Young]

Just a sidebar comment regarding the Bridge:

Speaking of Taj Mahal's (of which the county usually gets the dubious 
distinction when building things):
That bridge is the shortest suspension bridge in America, the plaques on 
the bridge are pure somethhing (somebody told me gold once- but I don't 
believe that).
And guess who was Chair of the Board when they did that project...
you got it! our friend, John Derus.

A little tidbit of info,
Annie Young
East Phillips


At 01:32 PM 10/30/05 -0600, Chris Johnson wrote:

>wmmarks wrote:
>
>>If Nicollet Island is a public, regional park, then there are real 
>>questions about DLS, the houses, Nicollet Island Inn, the railroad tracks 
>>still in use, and whatever is in the old creamery on the downstream end 
>>of the island. Frankly, with all that, a major bridge six lanes wide and 
>>parking lots and roads, there's very darn little park in that park. 
>>Several park boards and other public entities, have never guarded 
>>Nicollet Island as park space. It's a joke to pretend that the island is 
>>a park.
>>I would feel much better about the park reformers if I had heard them 
>>point out how little park there truly is on Nicollet Island and what a 
>>shame it is that an historic regional park is treated so shabbily.
>>WizardMarks, Central
>
>Wizard,
>
>I'm sorry you haven't heard that, and you are right that that is the 
>case.  We often got lost in the minutiae of defending a specific instance, 
>assuming that everyone else knows the bigger picture.  But it's just a 
>lack of your hearing and our saying, not a lack of belief.
>
>Here's my feelings on the Island:
>
>First, I think you need to visit the island and walk all the way around 
>it. Ask Chris Steller to give you a tour; I think it would be eye 
>opening.  Parts of the island are more park-like than you seem to imply.
>
>On the other hand:
>
>Yes, the 6-lane Hennepin Avenue bridge is too large for the regional park 
>it is crossing.  At the time it was built, it probably seemed like a good 
>idea. The vast majority of the time, traffic does not need those 6 
>lanes.  It is yet another symptom of our automobile-centric culture.  As 
>driving becomes more expensive, and public transportation becomes better, 
>the 6 lanes on on that bridge will become more and more 
>superfluous.  However, bridges like that are expensive, so we will have to 
>live with it for 50 to 100 years.  If I could snap my fingers and make it 
>4 lanes, I'd do it.
>
>Look at an aerial photograph of the island:  the biggest blots on it being 
>a park are the bridge and DeLaSalle High School and its associated 
>facilities and parking lots.  DeLaSalle has not always been that 
>large.  They expanded their building as recently as 2000.  From the looks 
>of their success, their enrollment will continue to grow.  Where are they 
>going to find the space for those additional students, classrooms, cars, buses?
>
>The Park Board is also guilty of screwing up the regional-park 
>characteristics.  They paved over half an acre of prairie in the last 
>decade with a new parking lot for the convenience of Mintahoe -- to which 
>the Park Board has leased the Picnic Pavilion, and which Mintahoe is 
>busily expanding the footprint of.
>
>The houses on the north end actually have the least detrimental impact to 
>the park -- and it all depends on one's definition of park, as well.  Many 
>people would call a collection of historic buildings in a historic setting 
>a "park" of sorts.  I can name several such parks in locations other than 
>Minnesota. But even if houses don't fit with a conventional sense of a 
>park, they are small compared to the bridge, the parking lots and DeLaSalle.
>
>So the question really ought to be:  should Nicollet Island really be a 
>regional park, or should it be something else?  Currently, at least by lip 
>service, it is the former.  But as Wizard Marks pointed out, in the main 
>it does not get treated, respected and maintained as the regional park it is.
>
>Were it up to me, Mintahoe would be gone.  I would go back to eating 
>picnics in the Pavilion.  I would go back to attending summer concerts in 
>the amphitheater.  The bridge would be 4 lanes, and actually be 2 bridges 
>connecting to Bridge Street.  And DeLaSalle would move completely off the 
>island to a location where it could have all the room it needed for a 
>growing student population, and an athletic facility that included a 
>running track and tennis courts, in addition to the football/soccer 
>stadium they want so disparately.  Unfortunately, we've already lost much 
>of the history on the island, especially from the most historic period 
>(from which its historic designation derives) of the late 1800s.  People 
>would use the park for the historic park that it is and could 
>be.  Nicollet Island is nearly as unique and historically important as St. 
>Anthony Falls.  It ought to be treated that way.
>
>Or should the regional park designation just go away?  Maybe it should go 
>back to private ownership.  The home owners can buy their lots, DeLaSalle 
>can expand further, the Nicollet Island Inn can buy its lot, Mintahoe can 
>buy the many acres it is leasing, and a developer could buy the 
>amphitheater and put a nice 10-story condo in that location.  The land is 
>worth millions; the Park Board, the MCDA/CPED/City and the Met Council 
>could all reap large profits. I'm 1,000% opposed to that idea, but if 
>that's what people really want, it seems more practical than faking that 
>it's a regional park while treating it like bargaining-chip real estate as 
>the Park Board has.
>
>
>Chris Johnson
>Fulton
>
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