I too attended the meeting last night Becky. I left because I heard the same information Tuesday night at the Whittier Alliance Transportation and Land Use Committee. I went to hear what Sherman Associates was reporting.
I believed the Whittier Alliance had taken votes on this issue and that these presentations were repetitive. I was very confused as to why the Transportation and Land Use Committee was entertaining this issue again when the vote had already been taken two months ago. However, what I discovered is that the Transportation and Land Use Committee took votes on two motions regarding this area. The committee is in full support of re-opening Nicollet Avenue and in turning 1st Av. into a two way between 28th and the mall. A second motion opposes the off-ramps at Lake and 35W and the widening of Lake Street. The motion did go on to the Whittier Alliance Board, however, they decided to postpone the vote for one month. The following month the board again took no action. There was no motion to table according to the minutes. They simply stated the board decided not to vote on it. Not sure what' s up with that.
It appears to me that the Phillips Partnership, MnDot, the county and the city public works department are working very hard to tie the re-opening of Nicollet and other traffic management issues directly to the off-ramps at 35W and the widening of Lake Street. In fact, it is now being sold as one big package. And you are right, not once in their presentations did they inform anyone that one of the options is to say NO! In fact, the presentation last night gave the inference that this was a done deal and they are moving ahead with the current project. The time-line included beginning construction dates etc. However, there was no date for when this group might go back to the legislature to talk about getting the project funded. The last time I checked, the price tag was about $150 million.
In listening to Loren Bruggeman from Sherman and Associates, it appears that they are now on board with the widening of Lake Street. They reported at the meeting that there had been some land swap. The Nicollet Lake development project was given additional land on the North end of the project in exchange for the 20 feet they would be losing on the Lake Street side.
Becky, since you are one of the officers of the Whittier Alliance Board, perhaps you can share with us why the Whittier Alliance has not taken any action on the Trans. & Land Use Committee motion at the board level for two consecutive board meetings?
Not that what the Whittier Alliance decides really matters. The neighborhood has been ignored before. What else is new? This has opened all kinds of new questions for me now. If the off-ramp project and the bigger, badder Lake street has been tied with an ambilical cord to the re-opening of Nicollet at Lake and the traffic calming measures on 1st Av., will those two projects be scrapped if the ramps and street widening don't happen? Perhaps one of our councilmembers can provide us with some information on this.
I do not believe these projects should be tied to one another. I do believe they can be done independly of one another. I just wonder if the politics has now put them together in an effort to strengthen the off-ramp and lane widening projects. Anyone out there who knows what's going on?
Opposing the off-ramp and street widening project is starting to feel like a David and Goliath thing.
Barb Lickness/Whittier
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
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