I attended the Z&P meeting on Tuesday after reading
Steve Berg's editorial in the Strib suggesting the
committe postpone it's decision.
I had previously attended the full council meeting
when the sale of land to the Guthrie had been approved
and immediately afterward the sale of this parcel had
been approved pending approval of the Planning
Commission. There were some heated exchanges even then
about this deal. I though Lisa McD would have an
aneurysm before my very eyes. Steve Cramer was so
freaked out by her very public reaction he shuffled
her into the outside corridor. Sorry I missed that
one.
Immediately after the meeting I wrote an op-ed piece
and sent it to the Strib and later forwarded it to
this list. The gist of it was that if the Guthrie were
to be a "catalyst for development" on the river, I
hoped it would be for something greater than Ryan's
project.
After Tuesday's meeting and a trip to the Capitol on
Wednesday for Senate hearings on racial profiling I
took a walk down by the proposed project. There were
several points made in committee that I needed to
verify and also solidify my thoughts.
Rick Collins from Ryan had stated that this land was
not being accurately portrayed. To a degree I would
agree with him. This is not necessarily prime property
with a view. There is a Minnegasco propane park
across the street that will not be going anywhere
soon. I checked with Pete Thelen who works there to
find out if it could ever be relocated. Unlikely as
this is a connection to all the gas mains in this
sector and to move it would be quite costly. Then
again we're trying to muscle Excel and Qwest.
Across the river from this spot is a University power
plant with three large stacks that looked the best
when an artist years ago installed long thin red
inflatable "balloons" that mirrored plumes of exhaust
until some idiot shot one with a gun and deflated it.
Next to the Ryan parcel is a sort of three legged
wicket protecting a high power electricity line that
comes across the river from the NSP plant. It ain't
much to look at.
Adjoining Ryan's proposed property are two unexciting
warehouses as Mr. Collins had pointed out as well.
All these references, though not as detailed as mine,
Ryan used as justification for erecting their
building. I could almost buy that argument if their
proposed structur were not so butt ugly and surrounded
by a sea of surface parking.
When Mr. Collins showed me a drawing on Tuesday after
first asking "Who are you?" when I asked if I could
look at the plans(something that always pisses me off
and immediately makes me think of arrogant Mpls cops),
he made clear to me that the drawing did not show any
landscaping details. Well, unless they install a four
story berm to shield the building from view it still
won't fly.
In Z&P I made the point that I thought "the animals
had already left the barnyard on this one". I wasn't
sure my inept metaphor took root. What I meant was
that we were confronted with this problem right now
because of the lack of foresight shown by members of
the council, with the exception of Lisa Goodman, back
when American Red Cross wanted to locate in the same
area.
She was concerned about the great amount of surface
parking and the subdivision of the entire parcel which
would make this site less marketable in the future.
She was also concerned that a non-profit and
therefore, a non property taxpaying organization would
be sited on what some see as a primo location. It was
decisions made then that brought us to an impasse.
I have some sympathy for Steve Cramer on this because
he feels as though he is trying to sell a piece of
land and put it on the tax rolls while keeping a
Minneapolis business in town. I don't know if Mr.
Cramer was around for the American Red Cross decision
but certainly someone from MCDA must have been. That
would have been the time to address the parking
issues. There are, or would be, three or four
businesses in close proximity that could be coaxed to
build a ramp among themselves and provide more land
for development. That might even have been
justification for a modest TIF investment.
This whole issue magnifies previous deficiencies in
coordination of agencies, etc and the parochial and
political concerns of the mayor and council that are
in the forefront during an election year.
The Mayor does not want to come out front and support
the project so she meets in the corridor outside the
committee chambers with Ryan/Padilla Speer reps., Lisa
McD is demagoguing the issue when she apparently was
not backing Lisa Goodman when American Red Cross was
happening and God only knows what Jim Niland is doing.
I cannot help but wonder where he stood when ARC was
buying land and building. I can't even begin to fathom
Joan Campbell's part except that I'm sure she was most
concerned with dollars coming into the city's purse so
she could spend more as Chairperson of Ways and Means.
Talk about exhiliration!
As I stepped away from the microphone on Tuesday,
having made my inarticulate argument calling for a
greater vision than the next forty years. Lisa McD
pointed out to me that American Red Cross took place
before the new zoning code.
That is a lame defense coming from the person who had
the greatest responsibility for the new zoning code
and had to be familiar with every arcane provision
coming down the pike, and someone who is a spiritual
godmother on the council to Lisa Goodman who is so
rightly maniacally obsessive about surface parking.
In closing: As much as I would favor more taxes being
collected to unburden individuals who are really
getting creamed as a result of the mixed blessing of
rising property values, and as much as I would want to
keep a valued employer in town, this is a dog project.
Everybody has blown it on this one from the Mayor to
the Council, save Lisa G., to Ryan, to planning, to
MCDA.
I say we have more than enough of our share of ugly
developments and stupid projects that waste one of
three primary elements. Land!
Ruff, ruff.
Tim Connolly
Ward 7
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