Exactly one year ago yesterday, I blogged about the lack of progress in the City’s effort to control the problem of Canada geese shitting in Ames Park, Riverside Park, Babcock Park, and Sesquicentennial Plaza. I suggested a solution (Border Collies), other suggestions emerged in the discussion thread, and the Northfield News drew attention to the problem with an article, editorial, and letters to the editor.
But as you can see from these photos of Riverside Park this week, the problem is worse than ever. Are condo owners at Village on the Cannon pissed? Not only are the geese spoiling their ‘front yard’ and adjacent walking trails, they are likely hurting the sales of condos. Ironically, on their association’s home page, they feature a photo of the geese on the Cannon River. Oy.
It’s just as bad in Ames Park and in and around the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge in Babcock Park. It’s especially bad on Sesquicentennial Legacy Plaza. I wonder if Ray ‘Jake’ Jacobson knows what the geese are doing to the granite pavers surrounding his ‘Harvest’ sculpture?
I waved Northfield Park and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) chair Nathan Knutson over to my corner office at GBM yesterday and told him I had just taken photos of the problem. He said the issue came up at the PRAB retreat recently and that they were considering what to do. I don’t see anything about it their recent minutes and agendas but I hope this blog post will help focus attention on the problem.
Bike lanes have been painted on the new pavement on both sides of Union St. between 4th and 5th and on both sides of 4th St. between Union and Nevada.
The segment on 5th between Union and Washington (paved last year) does not yet have lanes. 5th St’s bike lanes extend to Water St. where they connect to the Riverside Park trail extension that was installed last year… and which connects to the Mill Towns Trail via the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge.
Are there other places in Northfield with bike lanes in which car parking has been restricted to only one side of the street?
Northfield applied for funding for the construction of a 3-mile trail from Babcock Park to Dundas through the 2009 Trail Legacy program and was granted $150,000 of the $500,000 requested. In addition the Rotary committed $100,000 to development of the trail along with a commitment from Dundas for $7,000. Due to the budget shortfall, cuts were made to the project including eliminating part of the proposed connecting trail section and paving the trail using crushed rock for the trail surface rather than bituminous as proposed.
Subsequently the City submitted two applications for the 2010 Legacy Grants to help fund the portions of the project that were eliminated. The City received $45,000 for construction of the connecting spur to Honeylocust. The City was not successful funding the paving portion of the project.
Completion of the paving portion of the trail project would provide the community with a few benefits. It would open the trail up to more user types such as inline skaters, skate skiers and those with mobility challenges. Paving would also provide a more stable and sustainable surface, holding up better in an area that is prone to flooding from time to time.
I’m not sure what’s happened since the March 15 meeting. Anyone have details on whether the trail will be paved this year? I checked the Mill Towns Trail news page and the Northfield Rotary news page, but alas, nothing.
In the annals of LoGro wildlife fluff (beaver, ducks, owls, etc ), I can now add a snapping turtle to my collection. I took these photos last night on the Mill Towns Trail near Sechlar Park.
FYI, I’m on a jury for a civil trial in federal court in St. Paul. Day 4. Great experience so far. Judge, attorneys, court staff all excellent. No wifi but I’m able to use my new G2 Google phone with the WordPress app to post this.
And then in April, I took this photo of workers removing the fencing along the west side of the Cannon River in Ames Park. I sent this email to City Engineer Katy Gehler-Hess:
Hi Katy, I see the fencing along the Cannon River downtown was removed this morning. The plantings didn’t grow? What’s plan B??
I never got a reply but she evidently forwarded my email to Street/Park Supervisor T.J. Heinricy who wrote:
The fence in Ames park was removed per the recommendation of Bonestroo Inc. They were the contractor hired to do the install. I asked them this Spring about the fence removal. The gentleman that did the install did a very detailed inspection. The planting’s are doing just fine and are thriving. That was their assessment.
I took these photos last night. The geese use the canoe ramps and the bank next to the Ames Mill fence that’s not city property to enter and exit the river. And the plantings are NOT thriving everywhere as Bonestroo contended. There are many spots that look like this:
Nfld News:
City Administrator Joel Walinski said it will take time to see the full effect of the new shoreline, which looks much better than it did two years ago, he said.
Border Collies (BC) are specially trained herding dogs that are extremely effective for keeping geese out of areas where they are considered a problem. Border collies are the method of choice for large open areas such as golf courses, airports, parks, school ground recreation fields, corporate parks, etc.
Results are immediate. Usually requires aggressive initial use (several times a day for 1-2 weeks) until geese get tired of being hassled and stay away. While the wolf-like gaze of Border Collies is incredibly frightening to geese, these dogs will not harm them or children.
The Riverside Trail Extension connects downtown with the Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge over the Cannon River at Hwy 3 and then on to the Mill Towns Trail.
The $245,000 to construct the trail came from the City’s Master Development District Fund.
Update 7/12: I’ve added these two photos taken on 6/27 that show the signs urging people to walk their bikes around the corner.
Sunram Construction resumed construction work this week on the trail extension between 5th St. and Riverside Park. Funding for the work is from the City’s Master Development District Fund.
As the map below shows, the trail would loop around Heath Creek south of Old Dutch Road and north of Armstrong Road, adjacent to the Gill-Prawer property that’s currently in annexation negotiations for the development of the West Armstrong Business Park:
The trees have been removed (see this July blog post for background) and construction has begun on the Mill Towns Trail segment through Riverside Park to 5th St.
Every time we get a substantial rainfall, the new retaining wall along the Mill Towns Trail (MTT) in Babcock Park (between the PPP Bridge and the Hwy 3 bridge) seeps water at its base and over the blacktop trail.
My degree in philosophy equips me to wonder whether this is a feature or a problem. It seems like water should seep under the trail and into the river. Discoloration is already evident. And as the weather turns colder, it seems like ice could build up there. That could make for an interesting challenge for walkers, bikers, skaters, skateboarders, et al. while the occasional mishap provides a boost to the local legal and medical economy.
The routing of the new trail ($245,000 from the City’s Master Development District Fund) from the Mill Towns Trail bridge through Riverside Park will evidently necessitate the removal of (some? all?) the trees along the river adjacent to the 5th St. bridge. Among the larger trees there are three Norway (red) pines, an ash, a Chinese elm, and a diseased American elm.
When I saw in last week’s Nfld News (River trail, bridge are on course) that $240,000 is being allocated for the 600 feet from the new Mill Towns Trail (MTT) bridge through Riverside Park to 5th St. and Water St., I wondered where that money is coming from. And as I dug a bit, I discovered that it’s also not easy to figure out where the money came from to pay for the $820,000 for the bridge.
As construction continues on the access to and from the new Peggy Prowe Pedestrian Bridge (AKA DNR Bridge #66549) for the Mill Towns Trail in Northfield, it’s not clear where the trail will go as it enters downtown Northfield. And then what? It’ll be years before there’s a connection to the Cannon Valley Trail in Cannon Falls, so it would seem that getting bikers into downtown at the Riverwalk / Sesquicentennial Legacy Plaza would be ideal. But how? (continued)
The Mill Towns Trail (MTT) bridge over the Cannon River in Northfield was put in place this morning. Peggy Prowe, AKA ‘queen of the MTT’,’ was shining as brightly as the sun.
It should be quite a show on Monday when the Mill Towns Trail bridge gets put in place over the Cannon. The two cranes on the east side of the river will lift the two sections (now welded together) while the crane on the west side will lift a single section. What happens then? Steelworkers climb out and bolt them together with some of those infamous gusset plates, I’m guessing. Piece o’ cake. What could happen?
Three trucks delivered the bridge girders for the Mill Towns Trail bridge over the Cannon River this morning. They’ll be put in place next week. (A tip-of-the-blogger hat to John Thomas for alerting me.)
I last blogged photos of the construction in February. In the message thread attached to that post, I linked to the Northfield News editorial which highlighted problems with the portion of the trail that will connect the bridge to 5th St. and Water St. Have these issues been resolved? (I’ve closed comments here. Continue discussion there.)
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...
David Henson: Peter, you have the Internet you do the research. Use San Francisco as a baseline (an accepting place) – gays there have very high rates of depression and drug use.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Those are fascinating beliefs, but conveniently for us, the research has already been done, and they’re wrong. Legalizing gay marriage has no effect on the observed incidence of homosexuality, and the concept of...
David Henson: John, I understand sexuality to be a continuum and not a hard and discrete fact. I earnestly believe that if gay marriage is approved many more people will experiment with gay sex and some numbers will get AIDS (and depression and...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Kiffi, I am not sure that is fair. As long as peoples’ condemnation does not translate into hostile action, I am of the general opinion that people have a right to condemn behaviors they disapprove of, whether or not...
kiffi summa: David: it does not profit a discussion to take comments to the evaluation point outside of the context within which they were written. I fully resent your remark: “your views seem highly intolerant”… I have...
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.
Bright Spencer: To see this makes me so happy! Best of luck to you!
Peter Seebach (Seebs): For what it’s worth, I’m pretty happy with the whole process so far, although we found exciting new things out about the land development code, such as “the rules for calculating how tall a building is for...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Not a hot tub, a swimming pool. One of those backyard pools you can get at k-mart, and the greenhouse is so we can use it a couple months earlier in spring and later in fall.
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...
Patty Gallivan: MOST Northfield volunteers are waiting for someone who DARES boost a program with evidence of effectiveness to come forward with leadership to actually make a difference with students in our Northfield schools. Make sure to let us...
million for Mill Towns Trail’s Northfield segment">34 comments 
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Mill Towns Trail, Riverside trail extension 
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