Category Archives: Community

Neighborhood associations in Northfield - where are you?

December 1, 2008 – 3:55 pm

As most LoGro readers probably know, the new Comprehensive Plan is finally done and was adopted by the City Council last month.
The Land Development Code Advisory Group is now reviewing Northfield’s new draft ordinances, which are/were being written concurrently with the Comp Plan by the consultant from ACP Visioning & Planning of Columbus, OH. [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Government | Comments (2)

Is Locally Grown the “liberal blog” in town?

November 20, 2008 – 8:11 pm

Over the past week or two, there have been a couple of comments indicating that Locally Grown is, or is perceived to be, a “liberal blog”. I find this both interesting and amusing.
One of the things I’ve always appreciated about local politics is that the issues we deal with are non-partisan, and [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Blogosphere | Comments (13)

No, It’s Not a Coup

November 20, 2008 – 3:03 pm

Last night, planning commissioners Alice Thomas, Suzie Nakasian, and I hosted a “get-to-know-you” party for our newly elected female councillors and the Mayor-elect.
Before I issued the invites, I checked with City Attorney Maren Swanson to determine if Alice, Suzie, and I could be at the same place and even [gasp] potentially discuss items [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Government, People, Politics | Comments (12)

City Boards and Commissions: Opportunities to Serve

November 10, 2008 – 12:43 pm

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Government | Comments (4)

“Chicks Rule” in local races

November 4, 2008 – 10:55 pm

‘Nuff said. Or maybe I should add, “It’s about time.”
See full results on MN Sec’y of State website

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Elections, Government | Comments (3)

Much Ado About Autos

October 31, 2008 – 4:00 pm

An recent op-ed the Sacramento Bee had an interesting angle on some of the traffic and transportation issues facing many parts of the U.S., including Northfield.

We’re stuck with the landscape we’ve built over the past 60 years, much of which is literally uninhabitable without a car. Trying to make our communities less car-dependent simply by [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Environment, Government, Health, Transportation & Streets | Comments (8)

RepJ reporter teams with Carleton student on story

October 29, 2008 – 1:47 pm

Hi, my name’s Ben Haynor. I’m a math and physics major at Carleton College. I ended up in a journalism class this semester and began looking at Northfield’s opiate problem. I met Bonnie on Friday and we decided to collaborate on a story. We had already been gathering information, conducting interviews and looking at [...]

By Bonnie Obremski | Also posted in Colleges, Health, RepJ Project, RepJ Stories | Comments (3)

CAC hoping hot meal program numbers level off

October 18, 2008 – 6:05 am

A free meal program called Thursday’s Table is attracting high numbers of guests as the economy worsens. There is plenty to go around now, but Northfield Community Action Center administrators are wondering what might happen if many more poeple begin to show up.

Click play to listen. Two minutes. Or download the MP3. Also see [...]

By Bonnie Obremski | Also posted in RepJ Stories | Tagged | Comments (2)

Candidates’ Forum Yesterday at the UCC

October 13, 2008 – 6:43 am

The Northfield East Side Neighborhood Association organized a candidates’ forum which was held yesterday afternoon. I attended for part of the forum but was unable to stay for the entire event.
Participants (listed in the order they appear in the photo, left to right) were mayoral candidates Paul Hager and Mary Rossing; 2nd Ward candidates [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Elections, Politics | Comments (23)

Student-Teacher Ratio in Northfield - Someone’s Numbers are Off

October 7, 2008 – 10:19 am

Bert Sperling has been generating “best places” lists for some time now. His lists are deemed more accurate and credible than many, owing to the proprietary algorithms he uses in calculating a number of weighted factors. Sperling is co-author of the book Cities Ranked and Rated, and regularly produces lists for Money magazine, USA [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in K-12 Education | Comments (4)

Rediscovering the Human Scale

October 6, 2008 – 5:20 pm

I have no confidence whatsoever that this won’t be polarized into a partisan issue, but it certainly shouldn’t be.

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Transportation & Streets | Comments (11)

St. Olaf says no more money for other non-profits

October 2, 2008 – 10:20 pm

Saint Olaf College administrators have decided to stop donating the institution’s money to Northfield non-profits.
“It’s ethically troubling in hard economic times, with rising costs of higher education, to take tuition money and capriciously gift that to other non-profits,” Steve Blodgett, Director of Marketing and Communications, said on Thursday

David Anderson, college president, met with the city’s [...]

By Bonnie Obremski | Also posted in Colleges | Tagged , | Comments (21)

“Slow Food” in Northfield

September 30, 2008 – 6:15 am

As a logical followup to my earlier post on the “Eat Local” challenge, I was reading a report of the Slow Food Nation conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
The “slow food” movement, which started in Italy in 1986 to protest a McDonald’s in central Rome, has picked up momentum, with foodie notables like Michael [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Arts & Culture, Colleges, Environment, Health | Comments (2)

Could Northfield Use a “Co-Working” Site?

September 24, 2008 – 5:01 am

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune about the rising trend of “co-working” space (shared space where the self-employed or telecommuting employee can plug in to work) got me thinking again about the benefits of such a space for Northfield. Is there a market?
The local coffeehouses are serving this function now, but I [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Arts & Culture, Businesses, Health | Comments (11)

Final Comp Plan Public Open House Next Tuesday 9/23

September 19, 2008 – 6:24 am

At the Northfield Armory, 519 Division Street, from 7:00-9:00p. This is the final public open house prior to public hearings at the Planning Commission and City Council meetings at which the new Plan and Land Development Regulations will be adopted (dates TBD). The purpose of the meeting is to present an overview of [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Government | Comments (0)