[Mpls] Re: PPS Report

[WizardMarks]

Jeff Carlson wrote:
To date, the two most compelling visions for Lake
Street have not come from the PAC process or the City
Council, but rather the Lake Street Midtown Greenway
Corridor Framework Plan drafted in 1999 and the
recently released Project for Public Spaces
(PPS)report, commissioned by the McKnight foundation.
WM: In your opinion, which opinion held no sway with the majority of 
this large PAC.

Even so, the traffic planners from Hennepin County
kept this information from the PAC, just as they kept
the PPS report a secret.
WM: There was absolutely no attempt on anyone's part to keep any 
information from anyone. To say so is to lie outright. However, this is 
a PAC of adults who can be expected to do their own research.

Instead, they continued to
insist that Lake Street fit into the same mold and
comply with the so-called "State Aide Standards". 
These standards dictate that streets with traffic
volumes above 15,000 cars per day must have 4 lanes,
that lanes must be 11' wide 

WM: 11' is a state standard. To deviate from this standard, the county 
must ask for and be granted a variance. They did. Variance granted to 
the tune of with 2" or 4", exactly what was to be expected. They told 
the same thing to Sharon Sayles Belton some 12 years ago when the city 
had charge of Lake St. The state is adamant on this issue.

the county has forced the PAC to accept the
old outdated standards.  

WM: The county, in the persons of Jim Grube, Gail Dorfman, and Peter 
McLaughlin has not forced one thing on me as a member of the PAC and, 
unless you are saying that they took your out in the alley and persuaded 
you to something as yet unstated, they have forced nothing on you, either.

  The county considered Lake Street in isolation using
vague predictions of traffic growth over twenty years.
WM: I didn't think their figures were vague nor is Lake St. considered 
"in isolation." How could it be when it intersects with every major 
south Mpls. street.

Not surprisingly, these recommendations have been
surpressed by the county and by Smith Parker.  They
don't want us to know that a world-renowned urban
planning firm, hired by a respected local
philanthropist, contradicts their plans for Lake
Street.
WM: These recommendations have not been suppressed by anyone. What you 
seem to be  saying is that if, in each of those packed with chores 
meetings, Smith Parker and Grube did not mention these studies/reports, 
that is not suppression. Yes, if one wanted to do a thorough search, one 
could find sixty-elevendy other world-wide planners hired by that many 
philanthropists who will disagree with this county engineering office 
and this set of engineers, architects, and etc. So what? This is not 
college. This is a PAC process designed to work with these engineers and 
this county for this specific street.

 They put their own reputations above the
democratic principle of free-flowing ideas. 

WM: Always wrap yourself in the flag. Then if your argument won't fly, 
you can accuse your opponents of being "un-American." Humbug!

This process, like the 35W Access Project, was begun in 1994. Everyone 
and his cousin was invited to be a part of the process to shape South 
Mpls. Those of us who were paying attention were there. Where were you?
This past year is the d�nouement of a long process. To come in, when 
were are this close to being finished with the public portion, and to 
declare that the whole thing should start over specifically to include 
your ideas and exclude the ones on the drawings is the height of arrogance.
No one, but no one, was excluded, but 9 years into a 10 year process is 
no time to decide to start over. We will all have to live with these 
choices. In forty years (beginning in 05 when this portion of the road 
is finished), you can start organizing the process that will then look 
at Lake St.  Have fun.

WizardMarks, Central 

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