Just a sidebar comment regarding the Bridge:
Speaking of Taj Mahal's (of which the county usually gets the dubious
distinction when building things):
That bridge is the shortest suspension bridge in America, the plaques on
the bridge are pure somethhing (somebody told me gold once- but I don't
believe that).
And guess who was Chair of the Board when they did that project...
you got it! our friend, John Derus.
A little tidbit of info,
Annie Young
East Phillips
At 01:32 PM 10/30/05 -0600, Chris Johnson wrote:
wmmarks wrote:
If Nicollet Island is a public, regional park, then there are real
questions about DLS, the houses, Nicollet Island Inn, the railroad tracks
still in use, and whatever is in the old creamery on the downstream end
of the island. Frankly, with all that, a major bridge six lanes wide and
parking lots and roads, there's very darn little park in that park.
Several park boards and other public entities, have never guarded
Nicollet Island as park space. It's a joke to pretend that the island is
a park.
I would feel much better about the park reformers if I had heard them
point out how little park there truly is on Nicollet Island and what a
shame it is that an historic regional park is treated so shabbily.
WizardMarks, Central
Wizard,
I'm sorry you haven't heard that, and you are right that that is the
case. We often got lost in the minutiae of defending a specific instance,
assuming that everyone else knows the bigger picture. But it's just a
lack of your hearing and our saying, not a lack of belief.
Here's my feelings on the Island:
First, I think you need to visit the island and walk all the way around
it. Ask Chris Steller to give you a tour; I think it would be eye
opening. Parts of the island are more park-like than you seem to imply.
On the other hand:
Yes, the 6-lane Hennepin Avenue bridge is too large for the regional park
it is crossing. At the time it was built, it probably seemed like a good
idea. The vast majority of the time, traffic does not need those 6
lanes. It is yet another symptom of our automobile-centric culture. As
driving becomes more expensive, and public transportation becomes better,
the 6 lanes on on that bridge will become more and more
superfluous. However, bridges like that are expensive, so we will have to
live with it for 50 to 100 years. If I could snap my fingers and make it
4 lanes, I'd do it.
Look at an aerial photograph of the island: the biggest blots on it being
a park are the bridge and DeLaSalle High School and its associated
facilities and parking lots. DeLaSalle has not always been that
large. They expanded their building as recently as 2000. From the looks
of their success, their enrollment will continue to grow. Where are they
going to find the space for those additional students, classrooms, cars, buses?
The Park Board is also guilty of screwing up the regional-park
characteristics. They paved over half an acre of prairie in the last
decade with a new parking lot for the convenience of Mintahoe -- to which
the Park Board has leased the Picnic Pavilion, and which Mintahoe is
busily expanding the footprint of.
The houses on the north end actually have the least detrimental impact to
the park -- and it all depends on one's definition of park, as well. Many
people would call a collection of historic buildings in a historic setting
a "park" of sorts. I can name several such parks in locations other than
Minnesota. But even if houses don't fit with a conventional sense of a
park, they are small compared to the bridge, the parking lots and DeLaSalle.
So the question really ought to be: should Nicollet Island really be a
regional park, or should it be something else? Currently, at least by lip
service, it is the former. But as Wizard Marks pointed out, in the main
it does not get treated, respected and maintained as the regional park it is.
Were it up to me, Mintahoe would be gone. I would go back to eating
picnics in the Pavilion. I would go back to attending summer concerts in
the amphitheater. The bridge would be 4 lanes, and actually be 2 bridges
connecting to Bridge Street. And DeLaSalle would move completely off the
island to a location where it could have all the room it needed for a
growing student population, and an athletic facility that included a
running track and tennis courts, in addition to the football/soccer
stadium they want so disparately. Unfortunately, we've already lost much
of the history on the island, especially from the most historic period
(from which its historic designation derives) of the late 1800s. People
would use the park for the historic park that it is and could
be. Nicollet Island is nearly as unique and historically important as St.
Anthony Falls. It ought to be treated that way.
Or should the regional park designation just go away? Maybe it should go
back to private ownership. The home owners can buy their lots, DeLaSalle
can expand further, the Nicollet Island Inn can buy its lot, Mintahoe can
buy the many acres it is leasing, and a developer could buy the
amphitheater and put a nice 10-story condo in that location. The land is
worth millions; the Park Board, the MCDA/CPED/City and the Met Council
could all reap large profits. I'm 1,000% opposed to that idea, but if
that's what people really want, it seems more practical than faking that
it's a regional park while treating it like bargaining-chip real estate as
the Park Board has.
Chris Johnson
Fulton
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