Though I understand why an earlier city council voted to close Nicollet at Lake St. I still think it was a bad idea. The tax increment (TI) district was bleeding dollars out of the city's general fund and this was a last ditch effort to stop the flow.
Earl Netwal writes: It was one of the first three tax increment districts authorized in Minnesota... RL: Mr. Netwal is correct. Concurrent with the development of the Nicollet/Lake TI district was the TI housing development at Nicollet and 12th St. "Old Timers" tell me that at the time many people thought the housing downtown would surely fail and that the grand economic development plans at Lake St. would be the big TIF success story. Matthew Philip asks: Why can't it be removed? RL: It can and will. It seems like folks have been trying, unsuccessfully, to reopen Nicollet since it was closed. It is complicated by three layers of property control (ownership and long land leases). Because there active, profitable businesses on the site it is more difficult and expensive to use eminent domain. The easiest and cheapest way to achieve this is to bring K-Mart to the table as a partner in redevelopment; something they have not been interested in so far. CM Niziolek and I are both passionately committed to reopening the street. The council will soon adopt the Lake Street Design Objectives - the policy document that identifies the reopening of Nicollet as approved plan for the city. We are seeking appropriations from state and federal transportation funding streams. We have assembled and internal working team and have successfully sought allies in this. We will continue to involve the communities affected. The commitment I am making as I campaign is that I want to see the street reopened during my next term. This echoes the commitment I made during my first campaign to see the Sears building occupied during my first term (coming December 2005). Gary Dombouy writes: In 2003, Councilmember Lilligren (then representing the 8th Ward) and Councilmember Niziolek (representing the 10th Ward) were instrumental... RL: The last attempt to reopen the street failed because it approached what is essentially an infrastructure project (road opening plus new bridge) as a redevelopment opportunity. Please let us remember that all three council members representing the intersection of Lake and Nicollet agreed to terminate the prematurely granted exclusive development rights agreement. We all three stood shoulder to shoulder on this. Peace, Robert Lilligren Council Member Ward 8 Candidate Ward 6 Phillips West (3 blocks from Lake and Nicollet) www.voterobert.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
