Hennepin County is in the preliminary stages of divesting the Ramar Building, a large office building located at the intersection of Franklin and 1st Avenue. The Park Board should consider working out a deal with Hennepin County to move their headquarters to this great building!
The building is large (a full city block), has plenty of parking, and is set up for government use. The location makes sense for the Park Board--it is centrally located and very close to several great parks (Fair Oaks Park, Stevens Square, etc.). Its also a very nice building (I believe the Soo Line Railroad used to have its headquarter at Ramar). Headquartering the Park Board at the Ramar Building would also show a firm public commitment to Franklin Avenue. This part of Franklin has so much potential but needs a shot in the arm. Padilla Speer recently left Franklin for the river front, the MCDA failed to put together a deal to keep Franklin Bank on Franklin Ave (corner of Franklin and Nicollet), and the Turtle Bread proposal for the same corner has lost momentum. Now the County is leaving. Fortunately, Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman has been working hard to make sure the building is re-used to its full potential, and in a way that benefits the neighborhood. In fact, Commissioner Dorfman has arranged for County staff to meet with neighbors to begin to discuss the future of the Ramar Building. The meeting is on Monday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Whittier Schoot at 26th and Grand (call the Whittier Alliance at 871-7756 for more info). It would be great for the Park Board to send a representative to learn more about the Ramar Building. We would love to have you in the neighborhood! Dave Harstad Whittier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.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
