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By Griff Wigley, on October 5, 2011, 7:51 am
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.
Earlier this week they published a Curbside Chat Companion Booklet:
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.
Northfield City Councilor Betsey Buckheit attended a Curbside Chat in Richfield this summer (her blog posts about it are here, here and here) and helped with some editing of the companion booklet.
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.
In the meantime, keep up with Strong Towns via their blog, Facebook page, Twitter, podcast, email list.
By Griff Wigley, on May 2, 2011, 12:07 am
 Last week’s Council packet (page 0-135) has the results of the 2011 Northfield community survey conducted by Bill Morris of Decision Resources, Inc.
Councilor Betsey Buckheit published her opinion about the survey in a new blog post yesterday. She was not impressed.
By Griff Wigley, on December 23, 2010, 7:53 am
City of Northfield Councilor Betsey Buckheit has a new blog post today titled What would an economically healthy Northfield look like?
 (More) Jobs and (increased) tax base are good things which I, too, would like to see, but pursuing these as isolated goals, throwing huge dollars at big projects and subsidizing individual businesses is not how I think Northfield should allocate its (very limited) resources.
I have a bigger vision for an economically healthy community than the Mayor’s and EDA’s rather old-fashioned conception of economic development (I’d call the Mayor and EDA firm Second Wave proponents). Here are 2 visions:
Discuss her vision here or there.
By Griff Wigley, on October 28, 2010, 8:59 am
With my civic and business hat on, I’m hosting a free webinar on social media use by local government on Monday, Nov. 1, at 8 PM CDT. It will feature:
- A tour of several local government websites (primarily cities in the US) to see some best practices of how social media tools (blogs, web forums, email lists, webinars, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.) are being used to enable more transparency and engagement.
- A discussion about the hurdles that local government officials face when implementing the use of social media.
The panelists (all bloggers), all have some Northfield connections:
  
- Left: Betsey Buckheit, Councilor, City of Northfield, MN
Prior to her election in 2008, Betsey served on Northfield’s Charter Commission, Planning Commission, Non-Motorized Transportation Task Force, and Library Board. She’s been a Humphrey Institute Public Policy Fellow and part of the Blandin Community Leadership Program. See her Council news, local issues, and public policy blog here.
- Center: Steven Clift, founder and Executive Director, E-Democracy.org
Steve is also a speaker and consultant on e-democracy and was the guy who brought the UK e-gov delegation to Northfield in 2004 (hosted at the Contented Cow) and a field trip to Northfield for the International Symposium on Local E-Democracy in 2005 (hosted at the Cow and the Archer House). See his Democracies Online (DoWire) blog here.
- Right: Scott Neal, City Manager, City of Eden Prairie, MN
Scott was Northfield’s City Administrator from 1996-2002. His last day at Eden Prairie is today. He begins his new job as City Manager for Edina, MN on Nov. 8. See his Eden Prairie City Manager blog here.
Some photos of Betsey, Steve and Scott in Northfield from 2004-05 with their blogger hats on:
  
Please register for the free webinar on social media use by local government for Monday, Nov. 1, at 8 PM CDT.
If you’re unable to attend, the webinar will be recorded and archived on the web.
Got questions or comments? Attach a comment here or contact me.
Nov. 2 update:
By Griff Wigley, on January 12, 2010, 6:43 am
 Our guest this week was Northfield Second Ward City Councilor Betsey Buckheit. We discussed her reflections of her first year on the Council, which she wrote about on her blog last month in a post titled What I’ve learned so far.
Click play to listen. 30 minutes:
Continue reading Podcast: Northfield Second Ward City Councilor Betsey Buckheit
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 August 2, 2009, 7:13 am
By Griff Wigley, on April 23, 2009, 6:10 am
 Our guest this week apparently was Ward 2 Councilor and blogger Betsey Buckheit, discussing the state of the Northfield City Council now that she’s served for 100+ days.
I say ‘apparently’ because I wasn’t there and my lame colleagues neglected to take a photo. Here’s a recycled one from Betsey’s appearance on the show back in November.
Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.
Continue reading Podcast: Councilor Betsey Buckheit on her first 100 days
By Griff Wigley, on April 3, 2009, 6:59 am
 I blogged last fall that Jasnoch Construction had started grading for an apartment building in the big empty lot across Jefferson Road between Heritage Drive and Honey Locust Drive, adjacent to their Hidden Valley Apartments. The walls started going up this week. I took the photo looking southwest, with Northfield Target, First National Bank Northfield South, and Community Resource Bank in the background.
Update 4/6: I’ve added the photo on the right, as a new sign was put up that says “Heritage Aparments” with an opening scheduled for fall, 2009. It also says that these are luxury apartments, and that the building will include underground parking and an elevator.
Then-planning commissioner, now-Councilor Betsey Buckheit wrote in a comment on that blog post:
This development could be called the first one developed under the still not quite adopted Comp Plan (Public hearing at the Planning Commission Tuesday – almost there!). The Jasnochs should get a round of applause for agreeing to work with the new plan even though it isn’t yet the law of the city.
Under the new form-based, mixed use principles of the new plan, parking is distributed in smaller lots, apartment entrances face the street rather than parking, and the entire site is envisioned as mixed use with commercial as well as residential development. I’d like to see this succeed. The Planning Commission struggled mightily trying to arrive at a definition of “mixed use” under the old comp plan back in 2002 or 2003 and failed. The new Comp Plan and supporting regulations are much clearer about how to do this.
As Sean points out, apartment living is more efficient. Thinking slightly larger but still compactly, by providing housing and a small commercial center around the Heritage/Jefferson Road intersection, Northfield could create another walkable area for the folks in the surrounding apartments and the single family homes up behind Target.
By Griff Wigley, on January 23, 2009, 9:50 am
 Betsey Buckheit started her blog last fall when she began running for office and she’s been continuing to blog since she was elected. We now aggregate her blog’s feed on our left sidebar. (We had her as a guest on our show/podcast back in late Nov.)
Here’s a Wordle of her blog that gives you a glimpse of what she’s currently writing about. Click to enlarge. (continued)
Continue reading Northfield blogger of the week: Betsey Buckheit, Second Ward Councilor
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