I’m not sure when it happened exactly but some time in the past few weeks, a crew from the City of Northfield Streets, Parks & Facilities Divisions mowed down all the noxious trees at the south end of the pond in Hidden Valley Park. There were hundreds of small trees there, blocking the view of the pond for those of us who live on the south end. The trees also inhibit the pond’s stormwater function.
A tip-of-the-blogger-hat to Street & Park Supervisor TJ Heinricy and his staff for doing this at several parks.
Some sharp-eyed citizens alerted me to more graffiti in downtown Northfield. I’m not sure if these are new or part of the outbreak I blogged about back in mid-January.
In a Dec. 28 letter, 27 of the department’s 32 firefighters asked that the City Council schedule a work session “to discuss improvement to the road map for the Fire Department, specifically the selection or election of the fire chief and appointment of officers and the new fire hall.”
Northfield Fire Chief Gerry Franek said last week that he believes a meeting with the council will alleviate some of the firefighters’ concerns. In meetings with the city’s administrator and public safety director, who oversees the Fire Department, several firefighters have voiced their unhappiness with proposed changes the city plans to make when choosing a fire chief…
The mayor also prefers to honor the established chain of command, and continue communicating through the city’ administrator, public safety director and fire chief.
It’s an odd request for nearly an entire department (27 people) to want to meet directly with the City Council, seemingly without the involvement of their supervisor, in this case, Public Safety Director Mark Taylor. Imagine if all the public works employees made a similar request, going around their supervisor. Something’s amiss here and I don’t understand what it is.
A discussion about how Northfield should go about redistricting took a left turn Tuesday as the city council approved a proposal to do away with its four wards and elect all its councilors at-large… “I don’t think we have a need for wards at all,” said Patrick Ganey, who represents Ward Four. “I feel we could do a much better job with at-large representatives.”
Councilors Suzie Nakasian and Erica Zweifel said their positions as ward representatives foster relationships between council member and residents. Rhonda Pownell, who at one time suggested doing away with wards, said she’s since changed her mind, agreeing with Nakasian and Zweifel, saying that electing councilors only at-large eliminates the personal connection residents can have with their ward rep.
…
Having discussions about eliminating wards while considering redistricting irritated Nakasian, who said parallel discussions would be “prejudicial;” Zweifel added that they would “feel disingenuous.”
Ganey defended his proposal, saying that the time and energy needed to redivide the city into voting wards is too great and that the city isn’t large enough to have sections of town with similar issues. “I’d like to avoid the redistricting process,” he said.
Anyone know if Rossing, Buckheit or Imm weighed in on the issue with their rationale for supporting Ganey’s position?
I’m undecided about whether 1) wards for a city the size of Northfield make sense and 2) if this is a good time to consider the issue. See Northfield’s Ward and Precinct map (PDF) and chime in.
Several downtown locations (businesses and public spaces) were tagged with graffiti over the weekend. I’m not sure when it happened. The last time there was a big outbreak was in March of 2008.
Randy Jennings has a guest column in yesterday’s Nfld News titled What is economic development? Yawn? Nosiree. It is a benign title for a hard-hitting piece. (I assume the headline was crafted by the editorial staff at the paper, hence my use of the word ‘excoriates’ in the blog post title. It essentially means ‘kicks the ass of’ but you can look it up.)
It’s a well-written piece, so I encourage you to read the whole thing. But here are some excerpts:
With its takeover of the Economic Development Authority and the resignation of yet another member of the city’s professional staff, the city council has completed its dismantling of Northfield’s economic development, community development and city planning efforts…
Since then, the city council has new members with their own agendas and priorities. Community re-engineering ideas with clever names like “green steps,” “strong towns” and “complete streets” get attention. Job creation and tax base expansion do not…
Several current council members are actively opposed to commercial and industrial development. They spent more than a year angling to take control of the EDA without advancing a single idea about job creation or tax base expansion. They are instead funding specific organizations and activities that enhance their definitions of quality of life in Northfield. No impact on attracting jobs or expanding the tax base. Not economic development…
Perhaps the next election will serve as a referendum on what kind of a future Northfield would like to develop: more quality of life re-engineering, or more jobs and an expanded tax base…
I’m not well-informed on matters of economic development but I’m more supportive of the direction the current City Council has taken. Two large Northfield employers, Monster Games and Perkins Specialized Transportation Contracting, were featured in the Northfield Community Video project for which Randy was hired to be the Project Coordinator by the EDA. If you watch the videos that feature their owners (here and here), you’ll see that they attribute their location of their businesses in Northfield in large part to the very things that Randy criticizes in his column: Northfield’s vibrant downtown and overall quality of life.
So let’s talk Northfield economic development: the good, the bad, the ugly.
While calls for service are up through the end of last week, crime overall is down, most notably in the burglary category, which saw a 40 percent drop over 2010.
Deputy Police Chief Chuck Walerius believes that the reduction, along with a drop in reported crimes, is linked to a new method of policing the department instituted this year that takes into account the types of crimes being committed and the most likely trouble spots when allocating resources. Walerius said it’s not only helped to reduce crime, but help officers catch things as they unfold.
Here’s a map of property crimes in Northfield in the past 90 days, as generated by Northfield’s Police Incident Mapping Application. The pushpin icons represent burglaries, thefts, vehicle thefts, and damage to property. No robberies or arsons were reported. (The crime map only displays property crimes, whereas the table above shows all types of crimes. Also, see this site on the difference between theft and burglary.)
Where are the "most likely trouble spots" that would be new?
And what might Deputy Police Chief Chuck Walerius mean when he says that the new policing method "takes into account the types of crimes being committed"?
I may be able to get him to comment here but it might be helpful to first have some discussion. Maybe I’m the only one who’s puzzled.
I am writing to you not as executive director of the NDDC but as a citizen of Northfield. It is on a subject about which I have very strong beliefs.
Northfield’s economy is driven by knowledge workers, the "creative class", or economic innovators. These individuals, businesses, and institutions "export" their information-based products and services around the country and the world. Their clients and customers reflect the diversity our our country and our world. In addition, our economic future is based on our community’s ability to continue to attract and retain these people and these organizations. Northfield must be safe and welcoming to all people.
Working with a small group of Northfield citizens, I have drafted a statement (which I have attached) that I hope the Council will adopt for MLK Day 2012. For many Americans, Dr. King has come to symbolize the on-going struggle for human rights. I thought adopting the statement for his birthday was a way of honoring his work.
I have only managed to share this idea with a dozen or so people. I plan to come to the January 3rd City Council meeting to ask for Council adoption of the statement. I may be alone or I may be joined by others.
Thank you for considering my request and thank you for all you do for Northfield,
The 2011 national survey results from the Monitoring the Future study show decreases in teen smoking in all three grades under study—grades 8, 10, and 12. The proportion saying that they smoked at all in the prior 30 days fell significantly for the three grades combined, from 12.8% in 2010 to 11.7% this year.
Officials from the City of Northfield this week, while acknowledging that this is good news for obvious reasons, expressed some concern because the Northfield Municipal Liquor Store profits from its sale of cigarettes and cigars.
"These teens are our potential future customers," said Juan Morefore DeRhode, Muni Manager. "If this trend holds up, we’re going to have to revisit the revenue projections in our long-range plan and adjust accordingly."
When asked what marketing strategies he’d consider that might help to ensure future tobacco revenues, DeRhode said he continues to have discussions with the gift shop at the Northfield Hospital, owned by the City of Northfield but operated by the Northfield Hospital Auxiliary. "We’ve always said that one of the reasons we carry tobacco products at the Muni is for the convenience of the customer. That rationale holds up for the hospital’s gift shop, too, with so many of its patients addicted to tobacco. We’d be delighted to work with them and split the profits."
"Tobacco will prematurely kill the kids who smoke but only when they get much older," said Task Force member Dr. Kirsten Mashton. "So we’re not really concerned about that. Our worries are tied to the revenue projections. We received $15,750 in 2011 from the Muni. If the decline in teen smoking continues, that jeopardizes our future funding and our ability to make an impact."
The City’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) is also concerned. "We worked hard to bring two tobacco businesses to Northfield in the past year," said EDA President Janis Tappan. "It would be a shame if Tobacco Field or Division Tobacco took a hit from this decline in teen smoking and had to close."
While the survey measures more than retail activity (it includes taxable sales reported by a dozen different industry classification codes), the presence of a single big-box retailer can significantly boost one city’s fortunes at the expense of another.
Schwartau illustrated how that’s happening in Fairmont, a city that doesn’t have a building materials retailer. His analysis suggests people are leaving Fairmont to buy building materials at the Home Depot in Mankato. Once they get there, it only stands to reason that they’re more likely shop for other things as well, such as clothes or groceries.
The anti-big-box crowd might say this illustrates exactly why small cities should be discouraged from recruiting chain retailers, but Schwartau suggests the opposite might be true. The best way for Fairmont to protect its local retail base might be to recruit its own big-box home improvement store.
From the report:
Destiny is not preordained. Cities of similar size and location often experience different outcomes. Albert Lea in southern Minnesota appears to be outperforming nearby Austin. Owatonna has outperformed Faribault. Cities can change their own vitality by making conscious decisions and investments. For example, Owatonna was successful in attracting Cabela’s, Target, Lowe’s, Walmart, and an outlet shopping center, thus becoming a retail destination.
Are Northfielder’s grateful that there’s a Menards and a K-Mart just across the border in Dundas, as well as a Target nearby, just inside our city limits?
I am. It saves having to make a lot of trips to the south Metro or to Faribault.
I wonder, though, if more couldn’t be done to attract those who travel to the area for our big-box stores to our downtown. Any ideas?
I’ll try to contact the applicants and ask them to copy/paste the info that they submitted in the application packet into a comment attached to this blog post, specifically their replies to:
Please summarize why you are interested in the appointment
Please list your education, training and/or experience that is relevant to the appointment
No, we don’t get to vote. The Council interviews the applicants and then chooses. (I don’t know how they do it exactly. I checked the Code/Charter here but it didn’t have details. Anyone?)
But an online discussion about/with the applicants might be helpful to members of the City Council when it comes time for them to make a decision.
The Northfield City Council invites persons interested in being appointed to fill the vacancy on the Council created by Councilor Kris Vohs’ resignation, to submit an application to the City Clerk no later than 5 p.m. on November 29, 2011. The term of the appointment will be January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012. Additional information can be found in the attached press release and attached application packet.
Northfield City Administrator Tim Madagascar announced last week in his Weekly Memo that City Hall will open for business at midnight (12:01 am) on Black Friday.
"Since it’s the busiest shopping day of the year, our customers—sometimes known as citizens—are demanding that we be responsive," Madagascar said. " Northfield Target is opening at midnight and we want to be ready to serve those folks who might want to apply for a license, make a reservation, or submit an application for the council vacancy when they’re done shopping. It’s part of our mission—striving for excellence, committed to service."
"My Board of Directors thinks it’s an opportunity for us to tell the out-of-towners who will be heading to Northfield Target all the great things about shopping in Northfield," said Fellbore. "Frankly, I think that’s a stretch, since no other stores are opening at that hour. Nonetheless, we’ll be open, handing out CVB brochures and selling our line of Buy More cards that we have left over from last year."
When asked whether it might be more cost-effective for the City and the Chamber to be offering these services via their websites 24X7, both indicated that e-commerce was something they’d be adding in the next five years or so. "Online shopping is likely to catch on with the public by then and when it does, we’ll be ready for it," said Fellbore.
Griff: I saw your recent post about the newly installed compact parking stall signage near the intersection of Division Street and 3rd Street.
The new signage was installed after a large amount of citizen requests to resolve a sight issue when going West on 3rd Street onto Division Street. The issue is being able to see oncoming traffic when trying to enter Division Street from 3rd Street.
The stall is planned to be shortened when the City of Northfield contracted paint striper is back in town.
Ever since, this big red pickup truck has been regularly seen parking there. I took photos of it a week ago in this spot. It was there again yesterday morning.
Yes, the parking stall has not yet been downsized so it’s somewhat inviting to those with big vehicles.
But the owner of this big red pickup truck (MN license plate 422 BXL) doesn’t even bother to stay within the boundaries of the stall, making visibility even more of a problem for vehicles descending the 3rd St. hill and turning onto Division.
On a number of occasions during my tenure as Mayor I have felt the need to address the Council publicly, and to remind my colleagues that in order to be be effective in our jobs it is important that we maintain a level of protocol and respect in our deliberations. This is expressed in how we speak to each other, to the public or to our City Staff. In recent weeks I have personally observed, and have had it pointed out to me by various members of our community that it appears that it has become acceptable for staff to be discredited and put down in public.
That is not right and it should not be acceptable in these Chambers. That is not to say that we must agree with staff opinions or with their recommendations or that we cannot question the basis for such opinions. But when they speak from their position as professionals, they must be respected.
Councilors Kris Vohs and Rhonda Pownell are quoted in the article as also being unhappy with the tenor at times at meetings and elsewhere. No word from the others:
Councilors Betsey Buckheit and Suzie Nakasian declined to comment for this story. Councilors Patrick Ganey and Erica Zweifel could not be reached for comment.
Since I’m someone often accused of having a bug up his ass about the importance of civility in conversations, I’m interested in this issue. But neither the article nor Rossing’s statement mention any specifics, so it’s hard to know what’s going on. Sometimes when people are critical of others, that’s seen as automatic disrespect, whereas I believe that public criticism can be done in a way that’s respectful.
Can anyone who’s been at Council meetings lately or who has watched the proceedings via cable TV or live streaming cite some interactions that might be examples of disrespect towards city staff by councilors?
The City of Northfield has applied for $1 million of federal money (Tiger Grant) to construct a pedestrian trail that would connect downtown to the west side. The proposed route would connect to Greenvale Ave. and St. Olaf Ave via the Hwy. 3 underpass at North Water St. The City must contribute $500K to the project.
At last night’s City Council meeting, Councilors evidently decided that half the cost of trail would come from the downtown fund, according to the Northfield News, with the It’s not clear from the article where the other half would come from. “remainder coming from city reserves.” It’s also not clear what this would do to the prioritized list of other projects that the downtown Streetscape Task Force has identified for funding with money from that downtown fund, especially parking. See NDDC Executive Director Ross Currier’s Oct. 5 blog post: TIF District #4, The Streetscape Task Force, and Downtown Parking.
There is currently enough revenue projected for the TIF District to pay for the Task Force’s long-standing recommendations as well as the City Council’s recent additions. Downtown stakeholders hope that the long-needed parking project will continue to move forward and that this economically critical investment in downtown will be implemented before the TIF District expires.
See pages 68-72 of the Council packet (PDF). It contains a map of the route but streets aren’t marked. Here’s my live Google Map with the approximate route:
The City has created a new parking space on the east side of Division St. at 3rd, marked now with a sign that says "COMPACT CARS ONLY." Nice.
However, the length of the parking space appears to be the same as all the other parking spots on that side of Division.
As a result, I’m guessing that owners of larger vehicles (SUV’s, pickup trucks, etc.) will park there. I have my camera ready to capture the moment when Wayne Eddy parks his 1975 Delta 88 Olds Convertible there.
The goal of the project is to get citizens who spend too much of their leisure time watching television indoors to spend more time outdoors.
"We know it’s not realistic for most hard-core couch potatoes to become recreational users of our parks overnight," said Knute Nathanial, PRAB chair. "Research shows that the use of recliners are effective at helping people make a gradual transition. And since TV programs can now be watched on one’s smartphone, the time was perfect to try this."
The PRAB has rescued a number of Barcaloungers and La-Z-Boys from the colleges’ dumpsters in recent years so that no taxpayer money has to be spent on acquiring them for the project. All the recliners will have plastic tarps stored underneath them to protect them from the elements.
Strong Towns is a Minnesota-based non-profit that advocates "for changes in our pattern of development and a complete understanding of the full costs of our methods of growth." Their mission is "to support a model for growth that allows America’s towns to become financially strong and resilient."
They’ve been invited to bring their Curbside Chat program to Northfield on November 29. I don’t yet have the details on time/place.
This booklet is a companion to our Curbside Chat program. The Chat presentation itself contains so much information—information that challenges the very core of our collective beliefs on growth and development—that it was overwhelming to many participants.
Our hope is this companion booklet will be an additional resource which people can go back to again and again to absorb, at their own pace, the enormity of the change that is upon us. We urge you to share it with others.
In preparation for their Nov. 29 visit to Northfield, I thought it might be interesting to engage in some online discussion of the Strong Towns approach to development and how it relates to Northfield.
On the newly paved Jefferson Road between Jefferson Parkway and Heritage Drive, the City of Northfield has installed 13 ‘BIKE LANE/No Parking’ signs on the east side of the street and 7 ‘SHARE THE ROAD’ signs on the west side. All the storm water grates have been spray-painted a florescent green.
Will there be striping? Stay tuned.
Update Oct. 8: Striping is now complete on both sides, with bike icons and arrows in the bike lane on the east side of the street.
Update Oct. 10: This morning, a City of Northfield street crew was removing the overabundance of bike lane signs that were installed by the contractor. The signs will be used elsewhere:
Mary Closner alerted me to the new signs on the signs along the Sesqui Plaza.
The City of Northfield’s ‘No feeding of wildlife’ signs appear to have made a huge difference in preventing the Canada geese from defecating all over the Plaza. (I was going to say ‘shitting’ but decided I’ve been too fowl-mouthed lately. Take that, John George!)
The Northfield News has a Remembering the Flood of 2010 feature in the Sept. 24 print edition. Only one of the four print articles is viewable from its online News category/section (and, strangely, none from its Flood of 2010 section). So I dug around and found them, as I think it’s a great follow-up to the flooding post-mortem blog post and discussion we had here on Locally Grown for several months starting a few days after the flood.
Nfld News series, Remembering the Flood of 2010, Sept. 24, 2011 edition:
But my affection is now for the Waterford Iron Bridge because I regularly visit there, biking and walking across it as it’s adjacent to the Carleton Arb. It was one year ago this weekend when the flood nearly washed it away.
Northfielder Paul Hager has produced this gorgeous Waterford Iron Bridge video:
So 1) get your butt over to the Partners in Preservation Facebook page, 2) Like the page, 3) authorize their app so you can vote, and then 4) vote every day till Oct. 12.
You can also vote via your smartphone. Scan their QR code to make it easy.
See these links for local Waterford Iron Bridge media coverage:
On Tuesday night, I sat in on a meeting of citizens who are interested in taking the Northfield Roundtable’s Greening of the Commons to the next stage.
Those present (clockwise from the left): Steve Engler, Bonnie Jean Flom, EdDee Imm, Dave Van Wylen, Lynne Young, Pat Allen, Dale Gehring, Lynn Vincent, Ann Mosey.
There will be others at the next meeting who couldn’t be at this one.
A document of conceptual illustrations to inspire ideas, generate conversation and explore “what could be.” A Framework Plan supports a larger idea of the whole, that is easily lost when individual elements are only considered as separate entities or identities.
Intentions of the Framework Plan
The Framework Plan will always be a work in progress. It is a document designed to be inspirational rather than prescriptive, with an emphasis on what could be as opposed to what should be. The goal is to encourage long-range visioning that will keep Northfield, Minnesota, an attractive and vibrant place to live, learn, work and play…well into the future.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Challenging our beliefs is usually a healthy thing. I would hate to see what the world would look like if we didn’t have a long history of at least occasionally challenging them. It amuses me greatly that I’ve...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Power of attorney doesn’t make you next of kin. You have to be legally kin for that. In other words, as long as DOMA is on the books, there is no legal mechanism to get that right for any purpose involving the federal...
john george: Peter- Thank you! I have enjoyed my interraction with you, also, as you demonstrate thoughtfulness, civility, and considertion in your posts. I like to engage those who do not follow the same tenets that I follow. It gives me...
john george: Peter- What about power of attorney? Anyone has the right/authority to place anyone they choose to be in charge of their affairs in case they become incapacitated. This is not limited to just those in a “marriage”...
kiffi summa: To follow up on Peter’s You Tube video recommendation, read the May 12th article in the New York Times (search archives) entitled “Harming the Troops”. Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, led by Rep. Todd...
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.
Hayes Scriven: Griff, the money the Arts and Culture Commission got from SEMAC is to go for projects like this! That is why the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment was passed! Now, yes there are some programing projects I have heard bout that I...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): There may well be better things the money could be spent on, but there are certainly many worse things. I do think that things like this contribute to a feeling of community, and I think they dovetail nicely with the...
kiffi summa: I must wonder, Griff, what your opinion on this ”investment” is… I sense your opinion is questioning the wisdom of the expenditure; or are you just “stirring the pot”? I personally think it is a teriffic...
Jane McWilliams: Griff – I think the poetry project is a good investment. As you see from the quote below from the Streetscape Task Force page on the city web site, money comes from the Master Development Fund which is designated for...
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.
Griff Wigley: Suzy Rook has a sidebar to today’s Nfld News update on last night’s Council meeting. Excerpt: The city administrator and finance director say they have asked for the information on several occasions, including last month...
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...
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...
Curt Benson: So Hvistendahl has found another place to wet his beak. You ask a good question, “Why is it important that the City not know the Northfield Rescue Squad Association financials?”
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...
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.
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...
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?
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?
Ross Currier: It’s great that someone is enhancing the connection between downtown and uptown. I know they coordinated their work with MNDoT, City staff, and the Streetscape Task Force. Uh, raise your trowels in a toast to the Northfield...
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.
Kathie Galotti: My neighbor and sometimes babysitter Maggie Kennedy appears in this video as well! Go Maggie, and Cliff and Sophie and Parker and everyone else! Well done, guys!
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Heh, we had those when I was in college. Guess we’re making progress, they’re starting years earlier now!
Sandy Vesledahl: Thanks for blogging our garage sale Griff! We are at 2018 Jefferson Rd, Suite 1, thanks to the Jasnoch Family for allowing us to use the space. We will be there until 5:00 today and again from 8-2 on Saturday. We’ve had a...
Bright Spencer: I have an 8 year old dog that has not been neutered, has not reproduced and never been out unleashed except in our yard. It costs nothing to care for your pet properly.
Arlen Malecha: I wish more establishments had outdoor seating & dining. Now that our offices (Coldwell Banker South Metro www.CBSouthMetro.com are downtown, I love to see people sitting and dining outside. It is fun to walk up and down...
Sean Hayford O'Leary: I would say the current configuration of Division Street makes me grateful not everyone is doing it. Sidewalk dining brings a lot of livelihood to the street — but I’ll admit that I’ve been occasionally...
Griff Wigley: Rebecca, there are several Northfield eating and drinking establishments that have outdoor dining with tables and chairs, serving alcohol, but not SIDEWALK dining. Downtown ones that come to mind: The Tavern, Chapati, The Cow, Froggy...
Rebecca Bliss: Timely post, Griff -I didn’t realize this. I was just commenting to my husband about how nice it would be to dine al fresco now that the weather is getting warmer. Guess this is another discovery for the new...
Officials from the City of Northfield this week, while acknowledging that this is good news for obvious reasons, expressed some concern because the 
Are Northfielder’s grateful that there’s a Menards and a K-Mart just across the border in Dundas, as well as a Target nearby, just inside our city limits?
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