Annie Young
At 05:05 PM 3/15/04 -0600, Michael Hohmann wrote:
Aahh yes, one of my favorite topics-- MPRB policies. It's been awhile, and I'm overdue. No personal attacks... just a little discussion of the facts...
I second many of Tracy's concerns over milfoil and the beaches on our city lakes. A few years ago, the Linden Hills neighborhood (NRP) even went so far as to invest about $75K to purchase an additional milfoil harvester for the Park Board, in an effort to better maintain city lakes for swimming, boating and fishing purposes.
In recent years, several SW neighborhoods have also stenciled curbs near storm drains to remind neighbors that storm drain runoff goes directly into the lakes; literature has been prepared and dropped door-to-door to educate people, and extra efforts have been made with additional street sweeping to reduce the amount of biodegradables entering the storm drains. The neighborhoods care-- and they put their money on the environmental table; to say nothing of their investments in homes and schools and parks. The neighborhoods are concerned with lake water quality-- fecal coliform levels, oxygen levels, water transparency, etc.,-- and plain 'ol usability for swimming, fishing, canoeing and sailing.
The waters in our city lakes become essentially useless when overrun with milfoil, and the excess weed growth results in foul smells, depletion of dissolved oxygen and fish kills. Dead fish, flies and piles of weeds washed up on shorelines doesn't demonstrate good management practices-- which IS part of the MPRB mission statement. The fish habitat and species mix even change as oxygen levels decline, with larger game fish dying, small fish and bottom-eating varieties proliferating. In recent years, I've 'parked' my canoe on the edge of thick surface milfoil mats to fish the deeper outlying waters off the weed line-- the weeds being so thick as to hold my canoe from drifting, even in windy weather; acting as an anchor of sorts. But, you sure can't cast or fly fish in such waters. And make no mistake, this milfoil is definitely nothing to swim in!
Seems current MPRB priorities are in marinas for power boats, and river excursion boats on the river, rather than maintaining an aquatic environment on city lakes that's conducive to swimmers and canoeists, neighbors and tourists.
Dead fish and flies along the shoreline accompanied by a stench doesn't draw crowds... that's for sure. Of course if there are no crowds, and the water's unfit for swimming, fishing and canoeing, there will be less demand for maintenance as frequent users go elsewhere seeking a better natural environment for recreational purposes. And, how many times will a person get swimmer's itch, or see beaches closed due to coliform contamination, or hear of drownings at beaches without lifeguards before they depart for cleaner suburban lakes and pools? I grew up fishing city lakes, and they have definitely changed over the past few decades. I learned to swim at Thomas Beach on Lake Calhoun while in grade school and I spent many summer days at Main Beach-- in the water, on the dock; and using the high bar, parallel bars and rings beachside, during my high school years. These issues may seem trivial to many, but they are in fact very important. A decline in lakefront property values, or slowed growth in neighborhood property valuations (and accompanying tax revenues) down the road, could be an unintended result from such surface water quality policy decisions, and have ramifications way beyond the borders of SW neighborhoods. After all, it's largely the chain of lakes, surrounding parklands and the aquatic ecosystem that makes SW neighborhoods so attractive. All parts of the neighborhood ecosystem are interconnected; mess with one part, and you mess with them all. Better to make that realization up front!
Michael Hohmann Linden Hills
Annie, pls. forward to all MPRB members. Thx.
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Tracy > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 2:45 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Mpls] Milfoil and Park Board Beach Closures > > > The SW Journal reported that the Park Board is closing several beach > locations this year to save money. According to the story, the Park > Board is hoping to save money by 1) not putting out the buoys and > markers, 2) not hiring/paying life guards, and 3) not harvesting > milfoil in the beach areas. > > One of the beaches slated for closure is nearest to me: the 32nd > Street Beach on Lake Calhoun. As a daily swimmer with two small kids, > my frustration at this announcement is understandable. My neighbors, > too, are pretty upset, given the amount of NRP money our neighborhood > (ECCO) has spent over the past 10 years to improve the beach site with > native plantings, trees, landscaping, the neighboring Tot Lot, new > stairs down to the beach area, etc. More than one neighbor has > grumbled about the cuts to existing park amenities (remember the flak > over porta potties and wading pools last year?) while the Park Board > continues to push for new projects elsewhere (the headquarters, marina, > etc). > > My biggest frustration over all of this is the milfoil. If I > understand their position correctly, the Park Board is not going to > harvest (trim) the milfoil that grows in what is (was) the official > beach area. I'm assuming the harvesting will continue, at least to > some extent, in the rest of Calhoun, Harriet and Isles. I'm wondering > how much money the Park Board will really save... snip
REMINDERS:
1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
