The project cost may not go up the full $2.9 million because there is
a good-sized contingency fund already contained in the official project
budget. Note that the announcement to the Community Advisory Council
in October, 2000 of the extra $60 million said that $16,830,661 would go
for deduct add-backs and $6,420,339 for contingencies.
She talks about how complicated the storyline is. I have reviewed the
minutes of the Community Advisory Council, as posted on the met council
web site, back to June, 1999. Cost containment discussions were going
on at that time. The September, 1999 minutes show that the proposal to
elevate the Lake Street station would add $8-9 million and would come
from the contingency fund. The January, 2000 minutes show that the station
would be elevated and the money would now come from highway funds.
The February, 2000 minutes have a detailed list of the proposals to reduce
costs that had been accepted for further consideration by other project
teams. The closest thing to what happened to the Lake Street stop is S-3,
"Use mechanically stabilized earth in place of concrete for above-grade
retaining walls. This will be given further study."
At the April, 2000 meeting, the design sketches didn't show an earth
supported bridge.
At the November, 2000 meeting the issue of a land bridge to the lrt for
the mid-town greenway was discussed. No mention of Lake Street being
earth-supported.
There were a large number of opportunities to inform this committee about
the change. Never happened.
It's hard not to be sarcastic about such issues when I attended a meeting
of the Riverview Corridor "Community Working Group" to look at the
proposed busway. One member of the commmittee asked how much of the
operating costs would be paid by passenger fares. The response was that
MCTO passenger fares cover only about 33% of operating costs. He then
asked how much of the capital costs were paid by passenger fares. Instead
of giving the honest answer that if fares could only cover 1/3 of the
operating costs, there could be nothing to apply against the capital costs,
the staff answer was that this is a very complicated issue and couldn't
be answered.
Call me a ranter if you want, just be sure to call the wasters of our
public funds what they are.
Bruce Gaarder
Highland Park Saint Paul
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sheila Delaney wrote, in part:
> The cost goes up by $2.9 million.
>
> You know, there is a lot of sarcasm on this list and very little
> appreciation for the good that does get done in our City/County/Region.
>
> I am the first to say that we all have to hold our Representatives
> accountable at all points. Clearly in this case, there were MANY
> TERRIBLE MISTAKES made and this certainly angers me as both a
> neighborhood organization director and an active resident of Minneapolis
> (10th Ward). I also know that City Council Members are taking these
> mistakes very seriously and will work to make sure that they don't
> happen again- especially if we all insist on it and support the work
> needed to make these good intentions mean something.
>
> Please know that I am NOT defending any agency involved in this issue. I
> do however want to say that the more I learn about this issue the more
> complicated the storyline about who's to blame and who's not to blame
> becomes. I am tired of seeing off the cuff assumptions posted on this
> list without background information. It is easier to be a mpls issues
> ranter than to really learn about what is going on.
>
> The question of whether or not the Community was able to "weigh in" on
> this issue before the HPO decide to allow the change from a pier
> structure to a WALL is not the question to ask.
>
> This is what is hardest to understand about this situation. How people
> could have sat in a room and decided that building this WALL that would
> in effect ruin any possibility of connection and redevelopment in the
> Hiawatha and Lake area and would actual have created a canyon primed
> for crime and litter etc JUST TO SAVE $800,000? This is the question we
> should really be asking.
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