The Wirth House was the official residence of the Mpls Park Superintendent as a condition of the employment contract until a few years ago. David Fisher, the super before Mary Merrill Anderson, actually stopped living in the home near the end of his tenure, in part due to the deterioration in several upstairs rooms; holes in ceilings, rotting windows and so on.
The Board spent a year or two (circa 1994?) looking at options and soliciting proposals for leasing the building that would generate revenue to help with the maintenance during lean budget years. In the end they did nothing. A year or two later the budget opened up, they repaired the major problems, gave it a facelift and put the Park and Rec Group in at a nominal rent. Although not all of the space is useful as office space, the rent is definitley below market. I think the MN Park and Rec group is the professional association for park boards, maybe even a lobbying arm. I'm not sure but I don't recall that there was any open process to bid for the lease. The East Harriet neighborhood recently invested some NRP money in the historic renovation with an understanding that there would be public access to at least the living room and downstairs areas. Given the historic designation and the great work that the boosters and Wirth's grandson have done, it would be a shame if the board now refused to make an accomodation that would allow the public to share the space. Niel Ritchie East Harriet Farmstead __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
