May I remind people that if I am vehemently (or even mildly) opposed to something it usually goes for naught since I am in the minority on this Board - in more ways than one.
Please remember that I am the one as Chair of Operations and Environment who continually begs to please let's quit building and acquiring more than we can handle - we are barely keeping on top of maintaining what we have. I can even take acquisition of land but building complexes and more buildings doesn't seem the right answer in these austere times. The other phenomena is that when we are told something will cost a certain amount it ends up going over budget and once the first vote happens to go over budget, the stone gathers more and more moss. I am really sick of going over budget on projects as this Fort Snelling complex clearly is an example.
So like all of you who get very discouraged, so do I, when the bulldozers seem to keep rumbling right along.
Annie Young
citywide Park Commissioner
At 12:44 PM 10/5/04 -0500, Shawne FitzGerald wrote:
Last week, after Chris Johnson posted the 9/15 Park Board meeting minutes on this list, I raised a question about a Fort Snelling Neiman Complex item - the 201 building. The silence was deafening - no one responded to my inquiry.
Curious, I did some internet searching on this park project - primarily in the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press online archives as well as a general search.
I am horrified by what I have learned. A $6 million capital project has ballooned to over $20 million and it's likely that we will spend millions more! This amount does not included operating expenses, as far as I know - including past expenses for a lawsuit and future expenses like lease payments.
The main goal of this project, per the media reports, was to better serve our park kids, especially soccer players. We had a shortage of soccer fields at the time this project was conceived and our soccer fields, because the turf was shared with baseball/softball and winter hockey rinks, were in poor condition. I ask the MPRB Board to evaluate this and I urge MPRB staff to tell us how well we are doing and future plans, if any.
I'd like to share what I've learned with this list. I am looking forward to speaking with two of our park board commissioners on this topic - I hope other commissioners, park staff, and others in-the-know will also post answers here.
THE FORT SNELLING NEIMAN COMPLEX
Per the MPRB, this facility is:
The 117-acre site, developed by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, is a state-of-the-art sports complex with three softball and two baseball fields, eight soccer fields, an indoor and outdoor tennis facility, youth golf and other sports facilities. All baseball and softball fields have lights and bleachers. The majority of the land for the complex is owned by the State of Minnesota. The Park Board leases all but the 17 acres it owns from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
See http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=439 for more details.
THE FIRST $14 MILLION
In June 1998, local press reported MP&RB plans to spend $6 million to develop athletic fields at the Fort Snelling Upper Bluff Area. As of June 1998, the City of Minneapolis had "approved" $6,000,000 for this project. Articles noted that Commissioners Fine and Dziedzic provided leadership for the Fort Snelling project. David Brauer wrote in City Pages "This year, for the first time in its history, the Park Board has sold bonds--that is, borrowed money, backed by revenues from golf course surcharges, sailboat rentals, and even popcorn and ice cream sold at lakeside concession stands."
By May 2000, the project budget had grown to $12 million. I found no reports in the local media questioning why the budget had doubled in less than four years.
In March 2003, the Minneapolis City Council approved an additional $6,000,000 in Net Debt bonds for the Fort Snelling project and directed the Board of Estimate and Taxation incur indebtedness for $6 million in fixed rate bonds and that the $5,470,000 in variable rate bonds be refunded for a total combined fixed rate issue of $11,470,000. See Minneapolis City Council Official Proceedings Regular Meeting March 23, 2 2001 http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/archive/2001-03-23.pdf
Between the park dedication in June 2001 and September 2001, the project budget increased by another $2 million for a total of $14 million. On September 28, 2001 the City Council passed Resolution 2001R-433 which authorized and additional $2 million for the Ft. Snelling athletic complex. See MPRB. What's New. http://tinyurl.com/4pfjt and http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/archive/2001-09-28.pdf
Next: Where the $14 million was spent
Shawne FitzGerald Powderhorn
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