Growing 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
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 !
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
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.
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
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
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.
Now 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
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.
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.
Brian O’Connell, Northfield community development director, and Joel Walinski, interim city administrator, discussed the remaining details of a proposed annexation agreement with Greenvale Township‘s three supervisors for more than an hour on Tuesday night.
In the accompanying video, O’Connell and Walinski are on the left side of the table. Township supervisors Robert Winter, Bernard Budin and Chairman Richard Moore are on the right (Moore is the furthest in the background). The woman at the end of the table is Edith Nelson, the township’s secretary.
The annexation agreement, among other things, indicates how much Northfield would reimburse Greenvale for the property taxes the township will lose when 530 acres of undeveloped farmland goes onto the city’s tax rolls. Northfield is annexing the land to attract industrial developers.
The discussion led to two clarifications in the draft of the agreement. Walinski said he will release a copy of the final draft of the annexation agreement in his memo on Friday. The first clarification, which is shown in the video, addresses Greenvale’s request to prohibit Northfield from annexing any more of the township’s land for a period of five years following the current annexation deal.
O’Connell and Walinski said, in order to keep with the goals of Northfield’s comprehensive plan, they would not prohibit annexation across the next five years, but agreed to a restriction that Greenvale landowners who petition the city for annexation within that period must get written consent from the owners of every neighboring property.
The next clarification had to do with how Northfield will calculate its tax reimbursement payment to Greenvale. The proposed payment plan would reimburse Greenvale in the amount of about $3,854 a year for five years. That figure is the amount of money Greenvale currently collects in taxes on the property. According to the agreement, the reimbursement amount would change year-to-year as the property tax rate changes. In the sixth year, Northfield would pay a “balloon payment” that would equal 20 more years of annual payments. In all, Northfield would pay Greenvale about $96,362, using today’s property tax rate figure.
At Tuesday’s meeting, O’Connell and Walinski said the city would calculate the balloon payment by using a tax rate figure equal to the average of tax rates in the previous five years.
At the end of the meeting, the Northfield and Greenvale representatives agreed to allow their respective lawyers to look at the final draft of the agreement before signing the document. Three Greenvale residents attending the meeting said they were not completely satisfied with the way their supervisors negotiated the annexation agreement. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19 in the Township Hall on Guam Avenue.
Well, what happens now? With Greg Langer beating out the incumbent in Greenvale, actually, I think two of the incumbents being unseated………what is the status of the annexation agreement?
Can the new Greenvale supervisors protest to the State Office of Boundaries before the annexation agreement is ratified?
What are the possibilities?
I was under the impression (misunderstanding?) that the annexed land was to be an industrial park. Now I hear that 20% of the land has been dedicated to housing and retail. Any explanation/clarification?
Norman, you’re right that the annexed land is intended for industrial development. Creating a master plan for the new business park will be a major part of the EDA’s work along with Council members and relevant boards and commissions, public, etc.
The infamous 20% residential is by no means guaranteed or even on the table at this time. The rationale is that it would be unwise to contractually eliminate the possibility of residential or retail uses. I’m somewhat dubious about this rationale as I am about most aspects of the NW annexation, but there are no plans to build housing.
Betsey is, of course, completely correct that there is no plan to build housing at this time…….. However, why did the staff who negotiated the annexation agreement take it upon themselves to feel that that option had to be in the agreement NOW, saying that THEY didn’t feel the ‘city’s’ “hands should be tied”. Everyone knows a development agreement can be changed with the decision of both parties, if that was an issue to be re-visited in the future.
I look at this as the staff making what should have been , and actually was… by resolution last June, a City Council policy decision.
I don’t understand why this council went along with this 20% housing inclusion; half of them being new is no excuse. There was no big discussion of the issue, no permission sought and received; I believe it was just brought to the council as a staff recommendation at a work session, which they then accepted without exploration of the previous council and the Planning Commission’s policy decisions.
As I said, Betsey is completely correct on the fact; the backstory and rationale need more explanation…….. done deal or not.
What is the point of big idealistic Plans, Comprehensive or other, if they are not honored?
Just an additional step in the whole big annexation issue … last night the council agreed to change the wording in the city’s annexation ordinance ( 891 ). The packet states that this change would make the ord “conform to state statute and prevent legal challenges”. ( David Bly was quoted as telling a constituent that municipalities have the right to be more restrictive than state statute, but not less restrictive, so some of the packet reasoning seemed like the proverbial red herring. )
The change relieves the applicant for annexation from having to obtain written agreement from the Township supervisors approving/agreeing to annexation.
Staff reassured the Council that this would not affect the specific/individual agreements that the City of Northfield has with each Township…
What ??? there’s something here I am not getting … there seems to be a built in opportunity for legal challenge if the ordinance says one thing and the agreement with the Twp. says something else.
There were a lot ( 30? ) of Waterford Twp residents in attendance, and a lot of interest in this change.
Maybe that concern, was all misplaced … but I remain questioning of the need for this change .. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if this ‘story’ continues…
Griff Wigley: This is comment #35,085 made on the last of 2,976 blog posts, with 187 podcast episodes tossed in for good measure. Now shut down for August. The LoGroNo office at GBM is vacant. But you can follow Ross, Tracy, and I on our...
Griff Wigley: Jane/William, I’m pretty sure I’ve trained you both to behave 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...
Griff Wigley: Jeez, Ross. You adopted Chance? Now we’re going to have to add your new PEHS dog to our About page. No, we’re not changing from the Triumvirate to something four-related, ie, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Phil Poyner: Yes, but where would we put all the egos?
Phil Poyner: Ray, I believe 11 states or so have full military pension exemption, but many others (including MN) have some sort of partial exemption or tax credit. But I know for many veterans taxes are not the number one factor when...
Barry Cipra: Ray, here’s a thought that ties these threads together (and which I think will appeal to Paul): Let’s not tax the income of people with PhDs from accredited universities. When you don’t tax PhD income, you tend...
Ross Currier: Sorry Griff, but that article concludes with the inside-the-same-old-box type of ideas. I suppose that’s what you get when you ask people inside-the-municipal-box for solutions. Hopefully, there will be citizens,...
kiffi summa: Norman and Ross… let me be so bold as to add an observation about this ‘opportunity’̷ 0; I find it so bizarre that mr. Walinski would come up with this staff consolidation plan as a ‘going away...
Griff Wigley: Here’s a silent video of me walking the area around the Scriver Bldg. Note: * the cozy canopy that the trees provide * that there’s only one small tree nearby in Bridge Square * how nicely the two trees frame and...
norman butler: Hayes: Many thanks for the ADA costs, almost $750,000. I assume that additional to this is the remodelling of the second floor etc, at a total cost of, say, $1,000,000 to make this wonderful, ancient, iconic, historic,...
Griff Wigley: I’ve added a straw poll on the trees. See the upper left sidebar.
Griff Wigley: Straw poll results: How should the City solve the geese poop problem along the Cannon River in downtown Northfield? * Harvest the geese for area food shelves (36%, 24 Votes) * Use border collies to chase the geese away (24%, 16...
David Ludescher: Griff: It doesn’t make sense to me that we spent a half of million dollars on places where geese like to sh*t.
Phil Poyner: Excerpt from “Development of a Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard Program at Langley AFB, Virginia.” Canada geese- In June 1999, more than 225 resident Canada geese were molting at Eaglewood golf course adjacent to the...
Michelle Hawkins: As far as Mr Denison and past records of those serving or wishing to serve in public office, I think the public is smart enough to judge for themselves rather than rely on only what they find in a newspaper, for their...
Michelle Hawkins: If a person lives in a drug infested,alcoholic ridden apartment complex and also works on a one to one basis with such while at the same time receives threats as a result of that volunteer work and their work with battered...
Patrick Enders: Carol, Jerry was a plaintiff in a lawsuit in California which Scott found interesting. Scott posted about it here on LGN, and Jerry (Jerold) answered about it here.
Griff Wigley: I’ve added photos I took at the League of Women Voters candidates forum on 7/29 to the blog post above.
Griff Wigley: KYMN Radio video: 07/29/10 League of Women Voters Candidate Forum (Archived)
Griff Wigley: Nfld News: Council candidates weigh in at forum During the first half of the forum, which focused on the Fourth Ward candidates, Gehring expressed his support for an aggressive plan laid out by Mayor Mary Rossing to hire a new...
Sandy Vesledahl: Don’t miss out on “Kitty Mania” today at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society. If you have been thinking about adopting a cat now is the perfect time to do so!
Griff Wigley: Thanks, Tracy. I’ll look at that City Mgr blog in Ventura, CA. I’ll be interested to see if he’s better blogger than former Northfield City Administrator Scott Neal who’s been a blogger client of...
Jerry Bilek: I look at all of this technology as a tool. it has the potential to do good things or is a huge time waster. some blogs are amazingly helpful while others just a way to kill time. For business use, it can be beneficial, but it...
Bright Spencer: orange and yellows are the colors that draw people in, and stimulate intellectual inklings. But, like the sun, too much is not so good.
Bright Spencer: orange and yellows are the colors that draw people in, like the sun, too much is off putting though
Griff Wigley: Would there be a combination of colors that might make the site more agreeable to the eyes? Lots of gray and blue now. Tracy, want to take a whack at it?
norman butler: Tracy; the article you quoted above made mention of the city of Maywood’s services now being provided by a neighboring city: “…The [parking] ticket was issued by enforcement clerks for the neighboring city of...
kiffi summa: If you look at the disbursements in the Council packets, you will see the janitorial work IS being contracted out; here’s some numbers from the July 6 disbursement list: 6/11/10 May City Hall Cleaning – 1282.50...
Tracy Davis: From the Wall Street Journal, 7/19: Cities Rent Police, Janitors to Save Cash
Griff Wigley: A competitor to SeeClickFix is CitySourced: http://www.citysourced.com/
Griff Wigley: Phil, services like SeeClickFix take that into account, ie, people can weigh in to endorse what someone else has submitted. For example, see the service in action at this CT newspaper: http://www.journalinquirer.com / Click...
Phil Poyner: I see a downside to what you’re saying. Theoretically it may make sense to have a single problem submitted just once. But my experience has been that until a group of people submit the same problem, the problem can be...
Griff Wigley: Hey Don, great to hear from you… and that you’re still doing the outdoor thing. I’d never heard of water cycling.
Don Haugo: Cycle America was started in 1988. In 1997 Greg Walsh took it over and has been running it since. I live in Bloomington, Minnesota and am about to start marketing a couple of new outdoor adventure events for next year, the...
Sean Hayford O'Leary: That’s a shame, Erica. But since we now know that a (brief) crossing period can be accommodated without interrupting traffic at that particular intersection (which has the shortest crossing distance and relatively...
Erica Zweifel: It appears that the automatic crossing was temporary, this Saturday I had to push the button to get the pedestrian signal at 5th Street.
Griff Wigley: Sean, I’ll try to capture the audio at a low traffic time so everyone can hear the loud beep-beep and the quiet messages. And I’ll check the 5th St. intersection but all the improvements there look to be the same as...
Griff Wigley: MPR’s Question of the day: Do you depend on sirens to alert you to severe weather?
Griff Wigley: Jane/Josh, thanks for the reports. I’ve blogged your comments with some photos at: http://locallygrownnorthfield. org/post/18720/
Josh Dale: I live on the north-east corner of St. Olaf property, off Highland Ave. The power went out shortly after 1am. No power=no warnings, other than a lightning strike, blown transformers or downed power lines…it was a good...
Griff Wigley: You’re welcome, Jeanette. The slimy handshake was memorable!
Jeanette Nelson: Hi Griff, Thanks so much for receiving so graciously, however reluctantly, a hug from a fellow Norwegian! Oh, and also for the wet slimy handshake.
Kathie Galotti: What Rob said–about Crazy Days. I kinda like the new layout of LoGroNo, though, myself.
Rob Hardy: No. I LOVE downtown Northfield, but I prefer its charming everyday self, not the hyped-up crazy version. I grinchily observed Crazy Daze this year by riding my bike out to Target. Also: while I’m being a Grinch, I hate the...
Bright Spencer: You mean have Crazy,Crazy Daze? Always have a plan B and maybe even C. C?
kiffi summa: Jane: you are correct about the randomness of the discussion that followed… in some ways that is understandable as someone (MNDOT) had just thrown a big wrench into the works of the Council’s fast moving train. I...
Jane McWilliams: I was pleased to read that the council has decided against a November referendum, but I was dismayed at the randomness of the discussion which followed. It would serve them well to put the whole project on ice for a few...
David Ludescher: Ray, It might happen now with a number of new Council members and a new City Administrator, especially if this Division Street site is a real, and not a fanciful, option. It sounds as if the City Council still doesn’t...
Sandy Vesledahl: We will be selling luminaria’s on Bridge Square during Crazy Daze for Relay for Life of Rice County. If you would like to purchase one to be lit at this year’s event to honor a loved one who has been affected by...
kiffi summa: Forgot to mention that I believe this agenda item was titled specifically to avoid controversy. It is true that the position also entailed the Welcome Center duties , that may have been the majority of the job’s hours, but...
kiffi summa: Was doing the Observing for the LWV… so yeah… Council voted 4-3 to table ’til the Aug 3 meeting. C. Pownell had asked C. Zweifel to table the issue (Zweifel had asked for the reconsideration) because C. Pownell...
Tracy Davis: Funny, Griff, I posted this link on the wiki thread before I saw you put it here!
David Henson: Tom, food prices have fallen for years and years (decades and decades) in the USA (free market). And the government in every country mentioned for riots has grown so your cause and effect seems either driven by an emotional...
Griff Wigley: I forgot to tell Tom to link to his Writer’s Notebook blog: http://tom-swift.com/weblog/ I’ve added it to the bottom of his blog post above.
Griff Wigley: Kaufman has a blog and he’s got the pdf of his Food Bubble article on it. His blog has links to other media that have covered the article.
Tom Swift: Here’s one response to those numbers, Griff: “If we use the ratio from the last quarter, it implies Amazon has sold around 22 million Kindle books so far this year. That’s just the equivalent of 6 percent of the...
Griff Wigley: NY Times: E-Books Top Hardcovers at Amazon Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest booksellers, announced Monday that for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover...
Bright Spencer: Rob, I read about half and skimmed thru the other, I have never liked to read through the excess of words that are often set before us because people are getting paid by each word they write. I will give myself a chance to...
Tracy Davis: I met with Rhonda Pownell yesterday on another issue and asked her about this. From her comments I wondered again whether the Council was given adequate and thorough enough information upon which to base their decision....
Jessica Paxton: Wow. These are stunning. Too bad the City didn’t consider looking in its own back yard and hire someone like Mark to produce its promotional video….
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...
Well, what happens now? With Greg Langer beating out the incumbent in Greenvale, actually, I think two of the incumbents being unseated………what is the status of the annexation agreement?
Can the new Greenvale supervisors protest to the State Office of Boundaries before the annexation agreement is ratified?
What are the possibilities?
I was under the impression (misunderstanding?) that the annexed land was to be an industrial park. Now I hear that 20% of the land has been dedicated to housing and retail. Any explanation/clarification?
Norman, you’re right that the annexed land is intended for industrial development. Creating a master plan for the new business park will be a major part of the EDA’s work along with Council members and relevant boards and commissions, public, etc.
The infamous 20% residential is by no means guaranteed or even on the table at this time. The rationale is that it would be unwise to contractually eliminate the possibility of residential or retail uses. I’m somewhat dubious about this rationale as I am about most aspects of the NW annexation, but there are no plans to build housing.
Betsey is, of course, completely correct that there is no plan to build housing at this time…….. However, why did the staff who negotiated the annexation agreement take it upon themselves to feel that that option had to be in the agreement NOW, saying that THEY didn’t feel the ‘city’s’ “hands should be tied”. Everyone knows a development agreement can be changed with the decision of both parties, if that was an issue to be re-visited in the future.
I look at this as the staff making what should have been , and actually was… by resolution last June, a City Council policy decision.
I don’t understand why this council went along with this 20% housing inclusion; half of them being new is no excuse. There was no big discussion of the issue, no permission sought and received; I believe it was just brought to the council as a staff recommendation at a work session, which they then accepted without exploration of the previous council and the Planning Commission’s policy decisions.
As I said, Betsey is completely correct on the fact; the backstory and rationale need more explanation…….. done deal or not.
What is the point of big idealistic Plans, Comprehensive or other, if they are not honored?
Just an additional step in the whole big annexation issue … last night the council agreed to change the wording in the city’s annexation ordinance ( 891 ). The packet states that this change would make the ord “conform to state statute and prevent legal challenges”. ( David Bly was quoted as telling a constituent that municipalities have the right to be more restrictive than state statute, but not less restrictive, so some of the packet reasoning seemed like the proverbial red herring. )
The change relieves the applicant for annexation from having to obtain written agreement from the Township supervisors approving/agreeing to annexation.
Staff reassured the Council that this would not affect the specific/individual agreements that the City of Northfield has with each Township…
What ??? there’s something here I am not getting … there seems to be a built in opportunity for legal challenge if the ordinance says one thing and the agreement with the Twp. says something else.
There were a lot ( 30? ) of Waterford Twp residents in attendance, and a lot of interest in this change.
Maybe that concern, was all misplaced … but I remain questioning of the need for this change .. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if this ‘story’ continues…