Locally Grown Northfield

The people, issues, and events of Northfield, MN

Putting out fires and not deferring maintenance on the Muni roof

By Griff Wigley, on November 19, 2009, 10:35 am

I took this photo of a construction/roofing crew working the Northfield Municipal Liquor Store roof yesterday morning. It later caught fire (Nfld News story). The Northfield Fire Department responded but the fire was put out by the construction crew.

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Sidewalk poetry: is it worth $12,000 of taxpayer money? (12)
- rob hardy: Griff: I will eventually have three poems stamped in concrete on Northfield sidewalks. You are welcome to walk upon and read, free of charge, the valuable intellectual property I have donated to the City of Northfield. The quality of...
- kiffi summa: What does “aesthetic” mean to you, Griff? The engineering dept and the public works dept walked the downtown sidewalks to see what sections needed to be replaced, and that is where the poetry stamps were then used....
- Hayes Scriven: Griff: You are correct that none of the TIF money went to the Harvest sculpture, most of it came from MOM Brands (Malt-O-Meal). But you can argue that without the TIF money going to the SLP the sculpture would not have happened.
- Griff Wigley: Jane/Hayes/Kiffi, I support sidewalk poetry as a legitimate artistic enhancement to downtown. But I don’t think Streetscape (downtown TIF) money should be used for art projects. “Aesthetic improvement of the...
- Barry Cipra: Hayes, I agree. I remember thinking Wallace’s work would fit wonderfully well in Northfield’s historic downtown.
Props to the Northfield News for the Fire Relief Association ethics story (12)
- Curt Benson: Kiffi, I agree that the $75/hour ambulance time section was incomplete and confusing. However, I wouldn’t negate the whole article because of one weak section. What do you think about the city paying overtime for rescue squad...
- kiffi summa: Griff: here’s why I used the word “vendetta”: there has been discord between the firefighters since the Dept of Public Safety was created with one Dept Head, i.e. Police Chief Taylor. That’s close to two years...
- kiffi summa: Curt: Once again the NFNews article has left a confusion instead of a clarification, because it says that Elko paid $75 dollars an hour to have a rescue squad presence (and that seems very low to me), and then it says the city was...
- Curt Benson: Griff and Kiffi–is this a reasonable recap? The city was paying city employees overtime to be on site at Elko’s events, using the Rescue Squad’s truck. Elko didn’t reimburse the city for it’s overtime...
- Griff Wigley: I chose that excerpt from Rook’s article because it’s a good example of the financial problems associated with the two activities funds (Fire Relief Association and the Rescue Squad Association) about which we still know...
Carbone’s Pizza and Sports Bar, opening Aug. 1, is now hiring (1)
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): Awesome! Now if we can just get Italian Pie Shoppe, I’ll never again have cause to drive to Eagan.
The skate park will open in Riverside Park this week (3)
- Kathie Galotti: I’m glad the kids will have this for this summer. I recognize it’s not ideal. Unfortunately, there seems to be NO ideal place.
- rob hardy: The PRAB met on Thursday, and the subcommittee on siting a permanent skatepark was on the agenda. Does anyone know what was discussed, and whether the process is moving forward in a timely manner?
- Susan Hvistendahl: This is IMBY, Griff! We’ll see how it goes.
Dylanfest ’12 is a week from today (1)
- Brenton Balvin: Wish I could attend this and listen to the tunes Blowing in the Wind. Unfortunately I’ll be dealing with a Hurricane of issues at work.
Proposed: City of Northfield Statement for Our Safe and Welcoming Community (204)
- john george: Peter- I’ll be glad to do that, if I can figure out how. I’m technologically challenged, to say the least.
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): John, that sounds lovely. I will try to remember to call. If I don’t, ping me (email is usually good for reaching me) to remind me, because I have a really bad memory for things I was going to do.
- john george: Peter- I was just thinking that I would enjoy a cup of coffee with you sometime. You can ask Grifff- I don’t bite! My days off are Monday & Tuesday. I’ve bee a little tied up recently with new grandchildren being born...
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): I think we are probably pretty close to agreement on that one. One of my hobbies is nudging things along to get people out of some of the various poverty loops. It is amazing how little money it takes to move someone from...
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): A clarifying note: Consequences of Gay Marriage. No one is proposing making homosexuality a civil right. Marriage is already a civil right, and gays are already a protected class for discrimination purposes in most cases....
Why is the Northfield Rescue Squad Association retaining attorney David Hvistendahl? (6)
- Curt Benson: Hvistendahl’s strange request for omerta from the Rescue Squad’s auditors doesn’t seem so strange today, after Suzy Rook’s NFN article: http://www.southernminn.com/no rthfield_news/news/article_...
- Griff Wigley: Props to the newspaper and Suzy Rook for mentioning LoGro twice in the story: Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or...
- Griff Wigley: Posted to Northfield News at 1pm: Ethical questions arise over Northfield Fire Relief Association expenses Donations made to Northfield Fire Relief Association aren’t public dollars, but that hasn’t extinguished city...
- Griff Wigley: Curt/Robert, There’s a summary of the Rescue Squad on Page 21 of the 2009 NFD report to the City. It doesn’t mention that there’s a Rescue Squad Association. The last paragraph states: The Northfield Rescue Squad is...
- Robert Palmquist: If Hvistendahl’s motivation was to keep the financials from getting known, his submitting a memo like that just really backfired. I agree, why would these financials be such a secret??? And why did the NRSA hire a lawyer to...
Who’s running for mayor and City Council? (2)
- Tom Kotula: Despite rumors you may have heard to the contrary, I have not thrown my hat into the ring.
- Sean Hayford Oleary: I was glad to hear Erica Zweifel is running again. She’s done an excellent job and has advocated well for her ward. I’m eager to see some filings for mayor.
Save the date: May 15 high school mountain bike racing team information mtg for student-athletes & parents (5)
- Griff Wigley: Good turnout last night for the Cannon Valley Mountain Bike Team meeting at the high school. I’ve blogged a summary with the ppt presentations.
- Griff Wigley: Jordan Osterman, the new Sports Editor for the Northfield News, scooped me on Saturday. I’m glad! Northfield high school mountain bike team forming As a club sport, mountain biking would have no official affiliation with either...
- Griff Wigley: Good suggestion, Curt. I’ll do that for next week’s blurb. I have been verbally emphasizing the importance of having girls on the team, especially since their points on race days count more than boys’ points. Other...
- Curt Benson: Hey Griff, I wonder if you shouldn’t put a bit more emphasis on the idea that you’re recruiting both boys and girls for this team. And that the scores for both the boys and girls make up a team score. I think that in the...
- Griff Wigley: It should be noted that this team does not yet exist! So this meeting is for those student-athletes (and their parents) who might be interested in joining this new team.
George Kinney wants you at Saturday’s solar energy workshop (1)
- Adam Elg: Keep up the good work George!
A backyard campfire: one of my favorite simple pleasures of spring (2)
- john george: Living where we do, it is only a few blocks walk to North Street and a grand view of the sunsets. Also, with our neighbors’ mature white pines & spruce, our covered deck affords outdoor enjoyment with a fair amount of...
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): Mmm, fire.
Two build-outs underway on downtown’s West side. Guess the businesses; guess the media coverage (6)
- Griff Wigley: Nfld Patch: Denmark-based Firm to Set Up U.S. Headquarters in Northfield
Never mind that NEG cover, Girls Nite Out is Friday (3)
- Jim Haas: Happens to me a lot. So much that my lovely wife had to coin a term for it: she says I have datelexia.
- norman butler: Since coming to my adopted country 16 years ago I have observed, amongst other things, that not putting the day with the date is both common and peculiar to Northfield (MN? USA?).
- John Thomas: Just a reminder, advance tickets for Girls Night Out 2012 can be purchased on The Grand’s website at http://www.thegrandnorthfield. com/public-events. Your tickets will then be available at a special “Will Call” at...
Howie and Jeni’s downtown gem: Eco Gardens (2)
- Liz Reppe: This is a great place to buy plants! Jeni is very knowledgeable and they are both really helpful. You get great service and plant expertise, but the prices are not higher than other places in town.
- Peter Seebach (Seebs): Awesome place. We get plants there.
R.I.P. Ray ‘Jake’ Jacobson. His legacy of public sculptures has helped to make Northfield a vibrant place (3)
- bill metz: While most of how Jake is being remembered revolves around, and rightly so, his great and wonderful talent as an artist and teacher and the works of sculpture he has left for our and the next generations enjoyment, I have had the...
- Ross Currier: It was an honor for me and the NDDC to work with Jake. His pieces of sculpture in our community send a powerful visual message that Northfield is an Art Town. I still marvel at his clever and creative approach to building social and...
- paul krause: The memorial service will be held at 11am. Doors to the Chapel will open at 10am for a chance to visit with family members and friends to share memories of our dear friend. Anyone who would like to view the documentary Harvest (which...
Now that we know Northfield’s firefighters aren’t really volunteers, more transparency is needed on their fundraising activities (22)
- kiffi summa: Come on, Griff… you say you’re “more than a little clueless about about investments” but you “just happened to notice”… and from what you said, were reading analytically, etc etc… Once...
- Griff Wigley: I’m more than a little clueless about investments but I noticed on page 14 in the April 24 Council packet that the Fire Relief Association has 85% of its pension portfolio in stocks. Isn’t that a bit risky/aggressive for...
- Griff Wigley: Has there been any media reporting on the intergovernmental meeting in Bridgewater Township that was held on April 25 re: the Rural Fire Protection District and the City of Northfield?
South Hwy 3 is much less ugly (2)
- Jim Mangan: I noticed this morning that a few of the newly planted trees along South Highway 3 have a pronounced lean. Could it be storm damage?
Construction underway at Rejoice!; citizen group trying to get sanctuary restored (33)
- Raymond Daniels: Just saw on NN that the City of Dundas and Rejoice! prevailed in the lawsuit.
Cliff and Sofie want you Out of the Silence & Onto the Streets for a LGBT rights march on Sat. May 5 (3)
- Vicki Serreno: I wish I’d known – this is my neighborhood since I left Northfield in 2010. I’d have shown up to support them.

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Putting out fires and not deferring maintenance on the Muni roof

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