My curiousity was piqued by Zack Metoyer's depiction of environmental conditions at Heritage Park so I decided to take a look for myself.
Unfortunately someone nicked the rear wheel from my bicycle so for the time being I'm on foot. Since I was heading up Near North I stopped first at the Farmer's Market to see if my old boss was there. The few times I had been there this Spring he was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed a polish sauage for added sustenance before heading out from the Farmer's Market. I can stil smell the mustard on my hands. I recalled seeing items on Ways and Means agendas over the past year or so relating to additional monies being budgeted for environmental work by Braun Intertec in Heritage Park. I wondered to myself just how much was spent on testing and soil remediation and if that was within Budget on this project? Did the developers discover early on the presence of unhealthy conditions and try to finesse it through inspection? I am no environmental engineer. I find myself wishing I had been on the tour with Zach the previous day. It was difficult looking for evidence when I arrived in Heritage Park, The one thing I noticed right away are the numerous cracked sidewalks. This is a treeless plane in most places so it's not as though roots have done the damage. Either there is something going on sub-surface or the Gunderson Brothers are the worst concrete guys I have ever seen? I don't encounter any visible ooze coming up through the ground but I do find one of the playground areas where there are a couple holes dug revealing a black oily looking substance just inches below the surface. If what I have discovered in a cursory investigation is any indication I would guess they have some serious problems with enviromental contamination in Heritage Park. It would not be that great a surprise to anyone with a basic knowledge of geology and an inspection of the properties upstream from the project. Beside the scrap yard the city has used the Basset Creek watershed for a dumping ground for years. Throw in a couple trucking concerns, the train spur that runs along the creek and who knows what else you have a pretty potent mishmash. I wasn't there long enough to get a headache but it doesn't surprise me that people living at Heritage Park are experiencing medical effects like headaches and diarrhea and perhaps worse. Having satisfied myself as much as possible today I headed out for the Wedge to buy my rice milk and water crackers before heading home. I would hope some enterprising reporter who monitors this list would follow up on this story. Tim Connolly Downtown __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
