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By Griff Wigley, on December 9, 2009, 7:31 am
By Griff Wigley, on December 8, 2009, 7:31 am
 Ross was AWOL yesterday so Tracy put on her PC-ZBA hat and I pretended to be interested, asking her about the latest with the annexations in Greenvale and Bridgewater townships as well as the Land Development Code. We introduced the show with lots of fun fluff, natch.
Continue reading Podcast: 2/3 Triumvirate, PC oriented
By Tracy Davis, on December 1, 2009, 12:23 pm
Somehow, word of this got missed, so I’ll start at the end and work back to the beginning: There is an open house today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday) from 4:00-6:00pm at Community Resource Bank, 1605 Heritage Drive. The purpose of the open house is to get reaction to each day’s work on design/concept charrettes drafted by HKG with input from the steering committee. The charrettes are very much works in process. I’ll add details to this post as I can over the next couple of hours (I’m between meetings). But for now – please plan to attend the open house and give feedback on the concepts being considered.
Continue reading Public Input Wanted on Concepts for Potential Business Campus
By Griff Wigley, on December 1, 2009, 11:27 am
 Our radio show/podcast guest this week: Nancy Braker, Director of the Carleton Arb (AKA the Carleton College Cowling Arboretum), talking with us about the great things happening with the Arb and some of the challenges. (Guess which is the biggest problem currently: off-leash dogs, invasive species, or overabundance of deer?)
Continue reading Podcast: Guest Nancy Braker, Director of the Carleton Arb
By Griff Wigley, on November 30, 2009, 8:22 am
By Griff Wigley, on November 28, 2009, 7:11 am
 I’m thrilled to see that the Be Local … Buy Local (BLBL) campaign initiated by the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Northfield Downtown Development Corporation is not only web-savvy but recognizes the role that the local blogosphere plays in both the local economy and the information ecosystem. The HTML code they provide for BLBL images includes these explanations:
Continue reading Chamber/NDDC ‘Be Local Buy Local’ campaign embraces the local blogosphere
By Griff Wigley, on November 25, 2009, 6:59 am
 Our radio show/podcast guest yesterday: KYMN Radio’s operations and sales guy, Tim Freeland, talking with us about how Northfield area retailers can make use of social media for marketing.
Continue reading Podcast: Guest Tim Freeland on retailers using social media
By Tracy Davis, on November 24, 2009, 1:00 pm
 Application to serve on one of the city’s Boards and Commissions. Take your pick, there’s something for everybody, and we need fresh meat.
Continue reading Come one, come all, step right up and get yer….
By Griff Wigley, on November 22, 2009, 10:44 pm
By Griff Wigley, on November 19, 2009, 10:28 am
 A local citizen stopped by my corner office at GBM this morning, concerned that the historic design for the proposed new building at 25 Bridge Square could make downtown Northfield look too much like the newly created Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes downtown (wikipedia entry and photo). I asked him to find me some examples of alternatives and then I looked across the street. (continued)
Continue reading Could something other than 1880s historic work for 25 Bridge Square?
By Griff Wigley, on November 18, 2009, 7:49 am
 There’s a new Construction Bulletin newsletter out this week that contains a Northfield listing on a “Governmental Office(s) Study For Possible Additions & Renovations To City Hall” with Hay Dobbs Architecture listed as the contact. Last year, city hall renovation was a hot and divisive issue (that links to our blog posts tagged with that phrase). I don’t think this has been discussed publicly so it’s a bit of a surprise, much like the Construction Bulletin on the Muni that I blogged back in Oct. Someone is paying to have these notices listed so it’s hard to imagine how it can be a mistake. So Victor, time for a new petition?
By Griff Wigley, on November 17, 2009, 7:23 am
 Our radio show/podcast guest yesterday: local developer and former mayor Jerry Anderson, talking about the historic-looking office building proposed for downtown Northfield.
Click play to listen. 30 minutes. I’ve turned off comments for this post. Continue the discussion here.
Continue reading Podcast: Jerry Anderson on the proposed 25 Bridge Square building
By Griff Wigley, on November 16, 2009, 11:15 pm
 The Northfield City Council tonight opted for reuse of the existing Safety Center location for new fire station; a new location for police station; and expansion of the library downtown southward to include parking. The not-to-exceed price tag targets: $8.5M for the library; $8.5M for the police station and the fire station. Timetable: police station in 2011, fire station in 2012, library expansion in 2014.
See our live chat transcript as well as the archived KYMN video stream of the meeting.
By Griff Wigley, on November 16, 2009, 1:11 pm
  Northfield is on the front page of the Strib again today: Teachers broke law by posting top test scores. "In an advisory opinion, the Minnesota Department of Administration agreed with a parent who complained that posting her son’s test results in class for all to see was a violation of state law protecting student data."
I was informed about this situation earlier this year when the parent, Kathie Galotti, brought it to my attention, asking for my opinion about the situation. I contacted her this morning when I saw the story and got her permission to post PDF’s of her letter to the Dept. and the subsequent ruling. I think there are still issues to discuss since the practice is evidently still continuing, albeit with parental permission of individual students.
By Griff Wigley, on November 16, 2009, 9:01 am
 Ross and I (and a few other malcontents concerned citizens) got a tour of the Northfield Safety Center on Friday. Tonight’s Council meeting addresses it. (See Councilor Betsey Buckheit’s blog post, CIP discussion continues, but action imminent.) It’s more than a little distressing that, as far as I know, no one from the City has acknowledged that it’s been irresponsible to have not done the deferred maintenance on the building for over 20 years. (continued)
Continue reading On taking responsibility for 20+ years of deferring maintenance on the Northfield Safety Center
By Griff Wigley, on November 15, 2009, 6:50 am
 Candidates for governor have been campaigning in Northfield the past few weeks. Yesterday morning, Steve Kelley visited with local citizens at the Goodbye Blue Monday. We’ve also had visits from Paul Thissen and John Marty. The Politics in Minnesota website has a comprehensive list of those running for governor (and not running).
Discuss the candidates, the campaigns, and the relevant statewide issue here.
By Griff Wigley, on November 12, 2009, 9:45 am
  I chatted briefly yesterday with Jim Braucher, Principal of Professional Design Group, a Northfield architectural and engineering firm, on the plans to redevelop the site of the Community Resource Bank and the old Aldsworth building overlooking Bridge Square with a historic-looking 4-story office building. I may be drinking the Kool-Aid but I’m not inclined to jump on the ‘save the Aldsworth’ bandwagon since only its facade was renovated in 1997. According to my Deep Throat at GBM, the interior structure is badly dilapidated. (continued)
Continue reading Proposed historic-looking office building would ‘replace’ the Aldsworth
By Griff Wigley, on November 1, 2009, 11:44 am
 Pages 15-22 of Monday’s Northfield City Council meeting and work session packet (PDF) includes details on the process used by the Selection Committee in recent months. See also the Sat. Nfld News: Swanson’s letter to city isn’t swaying mayor’s opinion.
I’ve copy/pasted the text from pages 18-22 here to make it easier to reference for discussion. I’ve turned off comments here. Continue the discussion on our Sept. blog post, What’s up with the City Attorney selection process? (continued)
Continue reading City attorney contract selection process detailed
By Griff Wigley, on October 29, 2009, 9:30 am
 Given the condition of this streetlight at 3rd St. and Hwy 3 on Monday, it may appear that those who are against the proposed streetlight fee (tax?) are taking matters into their own hands.
Not true. But it’s still a hot issue. Listen to Councilor Jon Denison’s comments on KYMN last Friday; and see the discussion attached to Councilor Betsey Buckheit’s Oct. 11 blog post, where she starts out:
Continue reading Streetlight utility discussions continuing
By Griff Wigley, on October 28, 2009, 6:28 am
By Griff Wigley, on October 27, 2009, 3:32 pm
 Bob Will was our guest this week, talking with us about efforts to save the Northfield train depot. You might think Bob is an old geezer, given that he has a few ‘formers’ associated with his name (eg, former Carleton economics professor, former Northfield Rotary Club president). But he’s more than a little active in community affairs (eg, current member of the City of Northfield Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) and the Streetscape Task Force).
Click play to listen. 30 minutes. I’ve turned off comments for this post. Continue the discussion here.
Continue reading Podcast: Bob Will on saving the Northfield train depot
By Griff Wigley, on October 25, 2009, 7:50 am
 We’re planning on offering a paid Locally Grown membership option Real Soon Now. The idea is to continue some (much?) of what we do now for free, maybe supported with ads.
But we’d also offer a paid option in which a variety of benefits are available to members only. So what might the benefits be? I’ve thought of four and would like to hear a reaction to these, as well as ideas on other possible benefits. (continued)
Continue reading Locally Grown’s membership option: what might the benefits be?
By Griff Wigley, on October 24, 2009, 7:07 am
 Greenvale Township resident Ann Occhiato wrote us earlier this week, asking that we start a discussion thread here on LoGroNo about the proposed Greenvale Township wind farm. Ann has a letter to the editor in the Wed. Northfield News, opposing the wind farm. Background:
By Griff Wigley, on October 23, 2009, 12:41 am
I spent a couple hours yesterday afternoon with the Carleton students who are in the journalism class that’s publishing Pressville… which I took to task last week (Pressville stories miss the new journalism boat). One student asked me if I had similar criticisms of the Northfield News. Oh yeah.
 I had an email exchange with Publisher Sam Gett and Regional Editor Jaci Smith last June, asking them, for the record, what their policy was on linking to area websites from articles on their website, as well as including web addresses in articles in the print edition. Here’s the transcript:
Continue reading Help change the Northfield News’ practice of not linking to local gov’t, school, and non-profit web sites
By Griff Wigley, on October 21, 2009, 2:22 pm
 The Northfield Area of Commerce sponsored a forum this morning at the Community Resource Bank‘s Community Room. Purpose: "… for local employers, property owners, and our city government leaders to hear from each." See the agenda screenshot on the right.
I captured the audio and took two dozen photos. (continued)
Continue reading Photo album, audio: City of Northfield takes some heat from Chamber audience of local employers and property owners
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