Clark Webster, longtime volunteer with Save the Northfield Depot, stopped by my corner office at the GBM this morning to let me know that the City Council voted last night to sell a chunk of its land on the Q-Block to the group (amount? to be determined). It also voted to cover up to $11,000 in legal and environmental assessment fees.
The Save the Northfield Depot group doesn’t use a blog, Twitter, or Facebook so we don’t have any official details. Hopefully, A) one or more of Northfield’s media empires will have a story posted soon; and B) the Depot group will figure out that have a living, breathing social media presence is critical to raising public awareness and raising money.
Above: two panoramic views of the Q-Block: Left, from 2nd St, looking SE; right, from Hwy 3, looking west
Above: two views of the approximate future location for the old train depot (below).
Update noon: Some other visuals related to the depot and the Q Block, taken from Pages 1-35 of Part 2 of the council packet for last night’s meeting.
After looking at page 1 of Part 2 of the council packet for last night’s meeting, I’ve changed the dollar figure from $14K to $11K in the blog post.
I’ve added some other visuals related to the depot and the Q Block to the blog post above, taken from Pages 1-35 of Part 2 of the council packet for last night’s meeting.
Nfld News: Depot restoration project gets green light
Just to let you know Save the Northfield Depot does have a Facebook page. We even have a Twitter page! And a way to give electronically, and we are setting up a blog and set it up so we can have the blog seen on the webpage, twitter, and Facebook and GiveMN. We have broken in to the social media scene! Lynn
Great to hear, Lynn. Can you give us the links to Twitter and Facebook in the meantime while we wait for your Northfield Depot web site to be updated?
Nfld News: Northfield Roundtable hopes to encourage what could be
There’s some news about the Northfield Depot. But thus far, you wouldn’t know it by following the Northfield Depot on Twitter or checking their website… only Facebook. But you wouldn’t know that they’re using Twitter or Facebook by visiting their website.
Hey Lynn, consider that a big friendly NUDGE!
Nfld News: Land sale puts depot restoration into fundraising phase
And just like I wrote last August, you wouldn’t know about the Depot news by following the Northfield Depot on Twitter or checking their website, nor by checking their Facebook page.
Hopefully this will change, now that they need to raise money.
Today’s Strib: Northfield tries to save its 1888 train depot
Northfield’s last standing railroad depot, built in 1888, has apparently escaped demolition again and may wind up as part of a visitor’s center and bus transit hub in the former railroad town.
At last night’s Council meeting, the Council voted 6-1 to select the Q-block site for the Northfield transit hub. Mayor Mary Rossing was the no vote.
Why is this significant for the Depot? See last week’s depot blog post:
Compatibility of Transit Hub and Save the Northfield Depot Project
I’ve published a new “Local Issues” post on Northfield.org on the transit hub issue. The post gathers news stories, documents, and websites related to the issue, and give a timeline of the issue going back to the Rice County transit study of 2001.