Membership Sideblog
- The Marcus Welby of law, by Lance Heisler | Lampe Law Group
July 31, 2010 | 7:45 pmGrowing up in North Dakota during the 50s and 60s, I was privileged to experience something that's all too rare now - the old-fashioned family doctor. "Doc" delivered babies, set broken bones, treated pneumonia, and helped Grandpa with his newfangled hearing aid. Doc knew the community, the families, and the individuals whose basic medical needs he treated from birth through the end of life. Some of you who grew up in that time, and perhaps in smaller communities, may remember a Doc of your own. . . . → Read More: The Marcus Welby of law, by Lance Heisler | Lampe Law Group
- Kitty Mania at the Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
July 28, 2010 | 10:51 pm
Let’s talk about cats, cats and more cats! Why?? Because Prairie’s Edge Humane Society is full of cats and we have many more arriving daily. As of today, there are 44 cats on the adoption floor with more awaiting their surgeries so they are ready for adoption. There are cats in every corner of the shelter who need homes! We are in desperate need of homes for these cats. We cannot emphasize this enough. So we are having a cat sale and we are calling it Kitty Mania ! Kitty Mania is this weekend, beginning Thursday, July . . . → Read More: Kitty Mania at the Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
- On Watermelons and Widgets, by Tom Swift
July 12, 2010 | 11:50 am
The free market does many things well, but we know it does not do everything. Even market fundamentalists concede that the public must build roads, put out fires, police streets, and provide national defense. Most people, at least those to the left of the Tea Party edge of political spectrum, accept that the government must also be involved in education, disaster relief, and health care. That is, certain services must be rendered — necessary services, universal services — whether or not those services are financially profitable. If your house is on fire, you do not have time to . . . → Read More: On Watermelons and Widgets, by Tom Swift
- Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance, by Dan Bergeson
July 12, 2010 | 10:56 am
Okay, so most of the news about the Vintage Band Festival so far has been about the bands. But there’s a number of other events during the weekend. Like the VBF Contra Dance, for instance. The Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance will feature music by The Dodworth Saxhorn Band of Ann Arbor, Michigan and will be led by dance instructor/caller Robin Nelson. Dancing will begin at 8:30 p.m. with a “Grand March” led by 60 costumed members of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry Brigade, followed by a variety of period dances including polkas, contra dances, schottisches, reels and waltzes. . . . → Read More: Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance, by Dan Bergeson
- The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome, by Tom Swift
June 27, 2010 | 8:00 am
Even before I read the first word of this article I had a visceral reaction to it. The accompanying photographs — my eyes tend to skip over photographs in magazines — affected me in a manner that is difficult to articulate. I knew, immediately I knew, I was not going to like what I was about to read. In fact, for that reason I put the piece aside. Not now, I thought. Maybe tomorrow, I said to myself. But, then, I couldn’t not read it, either. If you have not done so already, I hope you will read . . . → Read More: The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome, by Tom Swift
- Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! by Kathy Jasnoch
June 27, 2010 | 7:54 am
June may be Adopt A Cat month here at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society and we have lots of wonderful cats, but we also have PUPPIES! We have a male Newfoundland mix named Chong who is 6 months old, he was a stray so we don’t know a lot about him. He loves to play! We also have three Australian Cattle Dog mixes who are two months old. Marcia, Bobby and Cindy were born at the shelter and spent some time in one of our fabulous foster homes. They are now back at the shelter and ready to find . . . → Read More: Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! by Kathy Jasnoch
- Relay for Life of Rice County, August 6th, Rice County Fairgrounds. By Sandy Vesledahl
June 23, 2010 | 9:35 pm
The American Cancer Society Relay for Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay for Life, teams of people camp out at local parks or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events. Relay for Life of Rice . . . → Read More: Relay for Life of Rice County, August 6th, Rice County Fairgrounds. By Sandy Vesledahl
- Critter Cam live from Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
June 16, 2010 | 9:04 amNow Showing! Live Kittens playing! You can now watch our adoptable animals at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society (PEHS) live 24/7 on the new Critter Cam installed in conjunction with KYMN Radio. Thanks to the fine folks at KYMN radio we now have a live feed of our adoptable animals showing on our website and KYMN’s website, Tim and Jeff are AWESOME! Currently the Critter Cam is featuring kittens available for adoption. Watch them play, sleep, eat, and everything else they do 24 hours a day 7 days a week! It’s better than anything you can see on TV! . . . → Read More: Critter Cam live from Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
- Save the Northfield Depot: fundraising help needed. By Lynn Vincent
June 11, 2010 | 11:34 am
A BIG Thanks to all of you who came to last Monday’s Volunteer Organization Meeting, and to those who contacted us saying you wanted to help but could not make the meeting. We have pretty full support for Communications and Design and Build sub-committees, and we got a web graphic designer to help with the site. Alice Thomas is facilitating the Communications group, and Steve Edwins is facilitating the Design and Build group. What we are missing and really need are Fund Raising people. We have two grant writiers, but we need folks who are committed to the . . . → Read More: Save the Northfield Depot: fundraising help needed. By Lynn Vincent
- Photo albums: 2010 Prairie’s Edge Humane Society Walk for the Animals, by Bridgette Hallcock Photography
June 11, 2010 | 8:09 am
Thank you to all of those who came to Alexander Park on a beautiful Saturday morning in May to help support Prairie’s Edge Humane Society! I have placed all of the fun photographs on my Bridgette Hallcock Photography Facebook page so that everyone can see how much fun we had! See the two 2010 Walk for the Animals albums here and here. If you would like a print, please contact me, as the proceeds will benefit the animals at PEHS.
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Podcast: The Triumvirate on the liquor store, neighborhood associations, and fluff galore
By Griff Wigley, on December 4, 2008, 6:57 am
It was just us co-hosts yesterday, wasting valuable airtime on community fluff before launching into arguments about Tracy’s neighborhood association blog post, followed by a (um) very polite discussion (again) about the liquor store land proposals.
Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.
Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM and on Fridays at 4 PM on KRLX 88.1 FM.
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but I’d have a hard time during the sabbatical not paying attention to see if that was actually the case. I think the more places in Northfield...
This may go in the liquor store thread, but it pertains to your on air discussion. If the city wants to consider the two offers that didn’t meet the criteria set out in the proposal, the city needs to toss all the proposals and start over with the broader criteria. There may be other good proposals that weren’t submitted because the owners knew they weren’t in the area to be considered.
The staff did nothing wrong by disqualifying the two proposals that weren’t in the downtown area, knowing that was the key consideration. If they had suggested broadening the scope of the discussion by including Hwy. 3 sites, I’m sure they would have been pilloried for that.
This is a no-win situation for the staff, and a clear example why limiting the discussion to downtown was wrong. The city should have written the RFP to consider all proposals, and if the council chooses to subsidize a more costly downtown location, then the council and NDDC should make the case to the taxpayers.
Anne -
I believe that you have made a number of incorrect assumptions in your comment. However, I will focus on only three.
First, your cost analysis appears to be based solely on your personal prejudices. In fact, I think it is reasonable to conclude that putting a liquor store in an existing building downtown could be $2 to 4 million cheaper than creating a new building on a flood fringe near Dundas.
Second, to my knowledge, the NDDC has had absolutely no involvement in the liquor store site selection process, from establishing the criteria, through evaluating the potential economic impacts, to quantitative ranking of the five or seven sites. Although the NDDC Board has written two letters thanking the City Council for considering sites in the downtown (first when they were considering, apparently, several sites on both sides of the 600 Block of Division Street and then when they were, apparently, moving forward on one or more sites on the west side of the 600 Block of Divison Street), the organization has never been invited to participate in the process.
Finally, I think that the most important “case” to be made to the taxpayers is the financial cost and potential benefits of, apparently, doubling the size of the liquor store. At least in my opinion, that independent analysis and procedural step should be completed to the satisfaction of the taxpayers long before individual sites are evaluated, compared and, apparently, selected.
- Ross
Ross, I’m sorry. It seems I was unclear. I admit I think liquor sales are better left to the private sector, but given that sales will be public, I don’t have any prejudices about the location. I am even open to the idea of choosing downtown site that is slightly less cost effective if it can be shown the new store will have a measurable effect on the economic health of downtown. I haven’t seen convincing data on that to date.
I am not assuming that a downtown site will be less cost effective. I do find it odd that the criteria wasn’t that a proposal meet minimum cost effectiveness standards, but that it fit in a geographic area. It lends credence to the idea that being downtown is more important than being profitable.
I simply said that if the process were opened up to include all proposals in town and the city chose a more expensive proposal because it was downtown, it should have to explain its reasoning. It has to do the same thing whenever it chooses to go with a bidder who doesn’t offer the cheapest bid for government job.
Finally, I didn’t say the NDDC was involved in the past, just that it should have to make a strong argument if it advocates for a downtown site that is more expensive than one in another part of town.
Hope this helps.
Ross – I was disappointed that NDDC wasn’t represented in the site selection process, particularly since the council established a downtown location as one of the 4 criteria. Who decided on which groups would do the rating, I wonder? Staff? EDA?
Kiffi – didn’t the city have a consultant do the kind of study Ross mentions – to determine the cost/benefit of a larger store quite a while ago?
Jane: I believe it was the staff who decided who would do the “rating”; Mr. Walinski could verify that. Those players kept changing also(indeed from the first rating session scheduled, to the time two days later when it was actually done; see minutes of 11.20 EDA meeting) as well as the sites to be rated.
As far as the study you mentioned there have been so many … six at least, I think … and I think the size of the store was a component of more than one study. I can’t tell you which specifically, as I don’t have copies of all. Again, staff could verify, if you want to look at that part of the ‘story’.