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Photo redux: Winter Walk 2009

winterwalk09-sshotNorthfield’s 12th Annual Winter Walk is coming up this Thursday, Dec. 3. See the schedule of events (PDF) on the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce site.

See the Winter Walk albums for 2002, 03, 04, 05, 06, and 08. (I missed ‘07).

See the album for 2009, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

City Administrator’s weekly memo for Friday June 4

Joel-WalinskiThe “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

It’s the first Friday of the month, so this week’s memo (PDF) also includes the Boards & Commissions report (PDF) for May. I admit to colossal failure as this is the third consecutive month for which there is no report from the Planning Commission.  I think that’s been remedied for future, i.e. it will be handled by someone other than me.

You can find the Friday Memo and the Boards & Commissions report on the memo page for the week.

Items of note in the Friday Memo include:

  • A timeline for the Mayo Clinic project – annexation request, hearings, etc.
  • Acknowledgment that the downtown recycling cans are ugly
  • Great update on activities from the Housing department
  • Miscellaneous engineering & construction updates – Fourth street, trails, etc.

It’s a busy week at City Hall, including a City Council work session on Tuesday (which includes the next segment of the new LDC from the Planning Commission), and an open house (PDF) to review the preliminary draft of the new stormwater ordinance (more on that to follow in a separate post).

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

City Administrator's Friday Memo of Feb. 26, 2010

Joel-WalinskiThe “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page. This is the  memo page for the week.

This week’s memo consisted mostly of business as usual (ongoing projects, etc.)  Engineering gave a heads-up about construction at the intersection of 4th and Division which will take place this spring.

There is a special closed meeting for review of the City Administrator will start at 6:00p, with a regular City Council meeting to follow. You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City calendar.

Land Vista’s signs on Hwy 19: ‘Northfield’s newest gateway’

Land Vista's sign on Hwy 19 Land Vista's sign on Hwy 19 
Land Vista LLC has put up two signs on Hwy 19, just west of Decker Ave. The signs read:

Northfield’s newest gateway
Future business / industrial park
40 acres + or -

Land Vista also has a blog, a Facebook page, and a Twitter feed.

City Administrator Joel Walinski’s Friday Memo of Sept. 11, 2009

Joel-WalinskiThe Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. This week’s memo also includes the monthly Board & Commission update.

Some items of interest in this week’s memo include various engineering/infrastructure updates, timeline for the business park(s) master plan, work with the MPCA on remediation of the underground storage tank at the Safety Center, and lighting options for the Riverside Trail.

NOTE: There will be a City Council meeting tonight, beginning with a closed session at 6:30 to discuss litigation against  the City, and a regular meeting at 7:15p.

You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.

Talking Head on Perfect City

DavidByrneIn yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, there was a piece by Talking Heads’ frontman (and visual artist) David Byrne on his vision of a perfect city.  I think that he has an interesting perspective.

Most significantly, at least in my mind, he notes that a “liveable city” means different things for different people.  It’s all about your priorities: access to freeways or access to wi-fi.

His evaluation system uses the following categories: size, density, sensibility and attitude, security, chaos and danger, human scale, parking, boulevards, mixed-use, and public spaces.  I don’t agree with everything he says, I certainly value parking more than he does, but he definitely raises some interesting ideas.

One of his thoughts was extremely appealing to me, “In my perfect city there would always be something going on nearby.”  However, I’ll admit, from 1977 to 1987, one of my priorities was the Talking Heads.

Merry Christmas!

800px-merry_christmas_1

Hope y’all have a very Merry Christmas today.  We’ll be back with goodies tomorrow.

It’s That Time of Year Again – Ideas for Holiday Shopping in Northfield!

majoraward.jpgI wrote a post last year about shopping local for the holidays, which yielded some excellent ideas.

Northfield is such a great place for holiday shopping – our local independent retailers have such cool, innovative, retro, practical, and quirky stuff. We’ve had lots of conversation here about shopping local, and hows and whys and pros and cons, but at this time of year, it becomes especially relevant.

This post may become an annual thing; I must confess that it’s 50% local business boosting, 50% laziness (so I can benefit from other people’s ideas when my creative well runs dry).

So – who’s got cool stuff? Who has good ideas? Creative options for recessionary times? Feel free to review some of the fabulous suggestions in last year’s post, but I closed comments on that one in order to redirect everyone back here to post suggestions or information about what’s new.

The Mod Squad now has DWI arrest zones here in Northfield

Kathy Cooper, Rice County Safe Communities, alerted me to the new DWI task force, called the MOD-Squad (“Modifying Driving Behavior”).

Griff, as you probably remember from last year, Rice County was number 11 of the top 15 deadliest counties for alcohol-related deaths and injuries.   Unfortunately, we are on the list again… There will be a briefing in Northfield on Friday, December 5 at 2030 hrs.

I blogged last year at this time about Rice County’s dubious distinction of being among the deadliest counties in the state for DWI-related deaths and serious injuries. I guess it didn’t do any good because…

modsquad-poster-sshot
We’re now 8th deadliest. See the poster (PDF).

Mod Squad briefing  Mod Squad briefing  
So I attended the Mod Squad briefing last night at the Northfield Law Enforcement Center. (Click thumbnails to enlarge photos.)

MN State Patrol Lt. Nancy Silkey   Rice County Deputy Blaine Smith Deputy Blaine Smith, Lt. Nancy Silkey, Sgt. Mark Murphy 
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Nancy Silkey and Rice County Deputy Blaine Smith did the presentation. Sgt. Mark Murphy is the coordinator for the Northfield Police Department.  I captured the audio:


Click play to listen. 20 minutes.

 Deputy Blaine Smith with DWI Arrest Zone sign Deputy Blaine Smith with DWI Arrest Zone sign 
After the briefing, I watched Deputy Smith place a DWI Arrest Zone sign on N. Hwy 3 by the Dairy Queen.

We’re planning to have Silkey and Smith on next week’s Locally Grown radio show/podcast.

See the Rice County 11/22 press release High Visibility Enforcement Scheduled and the press release of arrests made on Thanksgiving eve titled Coming Soon . . . To A City Near You: Rice County MOD Squad Initial DWI Enforcement Effort Successful in Making the Rice County Roads Safer by Arresting 8 Impaired Drivers.

11:30am update: I’ve added the poster above, as the announcement was just made that Rice County went from 11th to 8th deadliest county in the state.

Here’s the email from Deputy Smith explaining the program:

Continue reading The Mod Squad now has DWI arrest zones here in Northfield

Love Your Town

DowntownNorthfield.jpgIn yesterday’s Star Tribune, there was an article titled “Love your city? It might love you back“. The piece suggested that well-loved cities are more economically successful.

A three-year study of more than two dozen cities has found that there is a relationship between civic pride and economic growth. Paula Ellis of the Knight Foundation, the group funding the study says, “This is a new way of looking at how engaged residents create successful communities”.

For the Minnesota cities studied, the findings indicate that a city’s offerings for social life, how welcoming residents were to others, education and community aesthetics were the qualities that most inspired loyalty and passion. There’s a significant correlation between this loyalty and passion and the gross domestic product growth over the past five years in each of the 26 cities studied.

A vibrant social life, welcoming environment, quality education, and community aesthetics…could this be the conceptually elusive “sense of place”?

How to be a frugalista and still have fun

Tom Friedman wrote in his NY Times column yesterday:

I go into restaurants these days, look around at the tables often still crowded with young people, and I have this urge to go from table to table and say: “You don’t know me, but I have to tell you that you shouldn’t be here. You should be saving your money. You should be home eating tuna fish. This financial crisis is so far from over. We are just at the end of the beginning. Please, wrap up that steak in a doggy bag and go home.”

Don’t like Friedman? How about Ben Stein’s recent economic view? Or William Kristol’s? Or my recent favorite (thanks for the tip, Tyson) on our economic meltdown, Peter Schiff (AKA Dr. Doom, Wikipedia entry here) who predicted it with uncanny accuracy in this 2006 speech to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It’s a great education to watch the speech. Here’s the first of 8 videos (each about 10 minutes):

Schiff’s recent columns include his Nov. 21st column titled The Truth About Bailouts in which he says (bold italics mine):

So for the same reasons that Washington should not bail out General Motors, the world should not bailout America. Like GM, our economy is in desperate need of a restructuring. Spending must be replaced with savings, and consumption with production. The service sector must shrink and manufacturing must expand to fill the void. The dollar must fall, wages in America must be brought down to a competitive level, and hopefully government spending and burdensome regulation can be reduced.

This transformation will not be fun, but it is necessary. Our standard of living must decline to reflect years of reckless consumption and the disintegration of our industrial base. Only by swallowing this tough medicine now will our sick economy ever recover. By accepting a lower standard of living today, we will eventually be rewarded with a higher one tomorrow.

New Oxford Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year finalists include ‘frugalista’ — “a person who lives a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, growing own produce, etc.”

frug

Robbie and I decided this weekend that it’s time for us to ratchet back our consumption and work harder at being frugalistas, even though we’re not in any immediate financial danger.

Her first suggestion was to find free or inexpensive entertainment, both locally and in the Twin Cities. So on Saturday, we spent the afternoon exploring the new Minneapolis Central Library. (Among the treasures: the PostSecret exhibition. Amazing.)

Her second suggestion: do more adventurous cooking at home. The recipes category of the Just Food Co-op blog was a good place to start.

Do you have suggestions for how to be a frugalista in Northfield?  Attach a comment.

(No economic policy comments here, please. Hop over to the Our nation’s financial crisis blog post for that.)

Chicks, broads, and sluts in context: Yo, people, lighten up

 jaciblog jaci-smith

Jaci Smith, managing editor of the Northfield News, has been getting hammered by citizens who were offended by her Broadening the Field front-page headline in the Nov. 5 edition of the paper, announcing the results of the city council elections.

See the letters to the editor in this week’s paper. Her column in last Saturday’s paper was titled, Defining a ‘broad,’ and a race in which she wrote:

In my e-mail to the councilors- and mayor-elect, I wrote that I think of a “broad” as a woman who is smart, savvy, tough and confident; a woman who can balance work, family and business and still find a way to be involved in the community. A leader. I can’t think of anything we need more for our city. So, in my eagerness to impart that message in three words or less on Tuesday night, “Broadening the field” seemed appropriate.

I am profoundly relieved that our new female leadership took the headline in the spirit that it was intended. But by choosing the headline I did, I managed to sidetrack the momentum and the conversation from all the exciting possibilities before us onto something much less interesting and noteworthy. And that’s what I regret most of all.

We joked about ‘broads’ vs. ‘chicks’ on this week’s Locally Grown podcast… a show where Ross and I regularly turn to Tracy and say, “Tracy, you ignorant slut!” ala Dan Akroyd-to-Jane Curtin in SNL’s Counterpoint.

I thought Jaci’s headline was clever.  If the term once was offensive, it no longer is, just like the phrase “that sucks” used be offensive but no longer is. Even old timers from Frank Sinatra’s day might remember that he used ‘broad’ as an affectionate term for a girl or woman with sex appeal.

Jaci should not have (weakly) apologized, but rather should have defended herself by citing none other than Eve Webster, president of the League of Women Voters Northfield-Cannon Falls, who was quoted by Suzi Rook in the Northfield News in October:

Having women and men at the table when determining the city’s course is important, said Thurston, who served two terms on the council. “I think it’s good to have a woman’s voice and a man’s,” she said. Webster, with the LWV, agrees. Decisions about public policy are more wisely made when a variety of perspectives are available,” she said. “It’s a matter of broadening the field.”

Friend of alleged dealer offers perspective

Last week, I spoke to a friend of one of Northfield’s alleged heroin dealers. Since she is 15 years old and talking about a sensitive matter, I decided to keep her name and the name of her friend anonymous, even though she gave me permission to use her name.


Click play to listen. 1 minute, 22 seconds.

LWV/Northfield News candidate forum videos now available

The League of Women Voters Northfield-Cannon Falls (LWVNCF) teamed up with the Northfield News this year to host three candidate forums. The first was a Northfield City Council primary forum in August.)

This week on Thursday night, the forum featured the Northfield City Council candidates. Here’s the video that’s posted to the LWV blog.


Click play to watch. Segments: intro (0:00 to 04:00), Ward 3 (04:00 to 21:48), 4-year At-large (21:48 to 38:30), Ward 2  (38:30 to 54:35), 2-year At-large (54:35 to 72:22) and Mayor (72:22 to end).

On Oct. 18, other local candidates were featured in a forum. Here’s the video that’s posted to the LWV blog.


Click play to watch. Dundas City Council (05:25), Dundas Mayor (12:56), MN State House Distrct 25B (24:22), Rice County District 5 (41:39), Rice County District 1 (58:46), Dakota County District 1 (74:47), and MN State House District 36B (79:36).

Much Ado About Autos

Freeway CF

Freeway CF

An recent op-ed the Sacramento Bee had an interesting angle on some of the traffic and transportation issues facing many parts of the U.S., including Northfield.

We’re stuck with the landscape we’ve built over the past 60 years, much of which is literally uninhabitable without a car. Trying to make our communities less car-dependent simply by adding more buses, streetcars and light rail is like trying to make a bowl of chicken soup vegan simply by picking the chicken out.

The author goes on to explain how our built environment has stacked the deck in favor of the individual automobile, at the expense of community, human health, and the environment. He points out, “Cities and suburbs throughout Western Europe have proven for decades that people will choose walking, bicycling and public transit over personal cars if the price is right and the trip is pleasant.”

But unlike more militant voices, he doesn’t take a hard line against cars per se, instead focusing what we can regain by re-thinking the design of our cities and towns.

… how we use cars, how we plan our economies and communities around cars, and even how we build cars, all have to change. . . Millions upon millions of Europeans are living rich, modern lives without requiring a private car to meet their most basic needs. They’re in communities that function perfectly well with gasoline three times the price as at our pumps, and with the resilience to continue thriving if prices doubled tomorrow. How many places in America can say the same?

He concludes with the point that the way things were built prior to the mid-20th century may also make good sense in how we handle the increasing cost of oil and the fact that it’s a finite resource which is running out.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Northfield is the fact that most of it was built to what has come to be called “human scale”, without the speed and enclosure of automobiles to skew our sense of distance. This community is geographically compact, which gives us several advantages IF we make wise decisions about transportation and land use going forward.

What do you think of this whole idea? How is Northfield better or less prepared than other parts of the country to embrace changes like this?

Read the full article here, and come back to comment.

Why the widely differing straw poll results on the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment?

I blogged a straw poll here on Locally Grown on Oct 20 that asked:

On Nov. 4, will you vote for the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment?

Results:

Yes (56%, 76 Votes)
No (44%, 59 Votes)
Total Voters: 135

The Northfield News ran a similar straw poll on Oct 25 that asked:

Will you vote to approve an increase in the sales tax to support the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment?

Results:

No 61.4%
Yes 33.1%
I don’t know 5.5%
Totals voters: 145

I was surprised at the difference until I noticed that the paper’s question included the phrase “vote to approve an increase in the sales tax to…”

Could it be that LoGroNo site visitors didn’t realize that voting ‘yes’ means voting for an increase in the sales tax?  If not that, then what’s the reason for the discrepancy?

Northfield News’ 2008 Voters Guide now online; Council candidate forum tonight

nnvoterguide-sshot

Last weekend’s Nfld News contained their 2008 Northfield Area Voter Guide supplement. It’s now available as a PDF on their website.

And tonight, the paper is teaming up with the League of Women Voters of Northfield & Cannon Falls to host a City Council candidates’ forum at City Hall.

See the press release on the Nfld News site here or on the LWV blog here.

  • 7:05 p.m. Ward 3 candidates — Don McGee and Erica Zweifel
  • 7:25 p.m. Council member at-large (two-year term) candidates — Dana Graham and Kris Vohs
  • 7:45 p.m. Ward 2 candidates — Betsey Buckheit and Jerold Friedman
  • 8:05 p.m. Council member at-large (four-year term) candidates — Joe Gasior, Rhonda Pownell, Victor Summa and C. Lynn Vincent
  • 8:35 p.m. Mayoral candidates — Paul Hager and Mary Rossing

RepJ reporter teams with Carleton student on story

Hi, my name’s Ben Haynor. I’m a math and physics major at Carleton College. I ended up in a journalism class this semester and began looking at Northfield’s opiate problem. I met Bonnie on Friday and we decided to collaborate on a story. We had already been gathering information, conducting interviews and looking at the history of Northfield’s opiate problem this month. When seven were arraigned on drug charges on Monday, we felt prepared to cover the news and we were glad to have a team of two to do so.

In the coming week we’ll be talking with the authorities to learn more about the arrests, get a better sense of what problems our community still faces, and learn how police intend to continue combating problems with heroin. We’ll be speaking with police in other towns that have had similar bouts with heroin dealing to gain perspective on how a community can fight the problem. If you know more about Northfield’s opiate scene, and are willing to speak, please contact Bonnie or me at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com or haynorb@carleton.edu.

Election 2008 discussion: Northfield City Council Ward 3 – candidates and issues

Don McGee Erica Zwiefel 
Don McGee and Erica Zweifel are running for Northfield City Council, Ward 3. We’ve invited them to interact online with us (the LoGroNo Triumvirate) here in the message thread attached to this blog post for the next few days.

And then we’ll invite you, the citizens of Northfield, to also chime in over the next ten days or so. Here are some links to find out more about the candidates:

Candidate web sites:

Northfield.org (includes their answers to a dozen questions from citizens)

Northfield News:

  • Don McGee
  • Erica Zweifel

Election 2008 discussion: Northfield City Council 2-yr At-Large – candidates and issues

Joe Gasior Rhonda Pownell Victor Summa Lynn Vincent

L to R: Joe Gasior, Rhonda Pownell, Victor Summa, and Lynn Vincent are running for Northfield City Council, At-Large, a 2-year term (remaining years from Noah Cashman’s seat). We’ve invited them to interact online with us (the LoGroNo Triumvirate) here in the message thread attached to this blog post for the next few days.

And then we’ll invite you, the citizens of Northfield, to also chime in over the next ten days or so. Here are some links to find out more about the candidates:

Candidate web sites:

  • Joe Gasior (none)
  • Rhonda Pownell (none)
  • Victor Summa (none)
  • Lynn Vincent (none)

Northfield.org (includes their answers to a dozen questions from citizens)

Northfield News:

Northfield East Side Neighborhood Association

Election 2008 discussion: Northfield City Council 4-yr At-Large – candidates and issues

Dana Graham Kris Vohs

Dana Graham and Kris Vohs are running for Northfield City Council, At-Large, a 4-year term. We’ve invited them to interact online with us (the LoGroNo Triumvirate) here in the message thread attached to this blog post for the next few days.

And then we’ll invite you, the citizens of Northfield, to also chime in over the next ten days or so. Here are some links to find out more about the candidates:

Candidate web sites:

  • Dana Graham (none)
  • Kris Vohs (none)

Northfield.org (includes their answers to a dozen questions from citizens)

Northfield News:

Northfield East Side Neighborhood Association

Election 2008 discussion: Northfield City Council Ward 2 – candidates and issues

Betsey Buckheit Jerold Friedman
Betsey Buckheit and Jerold Friedman are running for Northfield City Council, Ward 2. We’ve invited them to interact online with us (the LoGroNo Triumvirate) here in the message thread attached to this blog post for the next few days.

And then we’ll invite you, the citizens of Northfield, to also chime in over the next ten days or so.

Here are some links to find out more about the candidates:

Candidate web sites:

Northfield.org (includes their answers to a dozen questions from citizens)

Northfield News:

Northfield East Side Neighborhood Association

Election 2008 discussion: Northfield Mayor – candidates and issues

Paul Hager Mary Rossing

Paul Hager and Mary Rossing are running for Mayor of Northfield. We’ve invited them to interact online with us (the LoGroNo Triumvirate) here in the message thread attached to this blog post for the next few days.

And then we’ll invite you, the citizens of Northfield, to also chime in over the next ten days or so.

Here are some links to find out more about the candidates:

Candidate web sites:

Representative Journalism (RepJ)

Northfield.org:

Northfield News:

Northfield East Side Neighborhood Association

Election 2008 summary: LG discussions of candidates, issues, campaigns

election-2008We’re hosting online discussions with local candidates here on Locally Grown, right up to election day. We’ll keep this blog post at the top of the blog.  We’ll attach comments updating you on which discussions are active.

Discussion of local races Discussion of State/Federal races

Northfield.org’s Election Forum: submit your questions by Friday, Oct. 10

norg-candidates2008Northfield.org is hosting an election forum for Northfield, both city council and school board races.

It’s not really a forum in the traditional online sense, eg, message board, email discussion list, real-time chat, etc. Rather, it’s an asynchronous Q&A — questions submitted via email by Oct. 10 will be forwarded to candidates and responses will be posted to their web site by Oct. 20.