Sent: 20 juillet, 2003 10:08
Subject: [Winona] living wage
....................
A question: who sits on the board of the
Winona Port Authority? If there are complaints about the businesses that
have developed or are proposed in the new industrial park, it is hard to avoid
the observation that these businesses are all permitted by current zoning and
ownership patterns. Did the Port Authority have a vision for what should
happen with that land, and were they making any attempts to bring that vision
about? If Judy Bodway knew Wall-Mart-Mart was interested 10 years ago,
there must have been a lack of concern about the consequences of
Wall-Mart-Mart's arrival. Are there any elected officials that can be
held accountable for the priorities or lack of priorities for the development
of this parcel of land?
What is Winona's vision for the downtown?
.........................
----- Response -----
In hindsight, while we might have believed
that the land fill aspect of the lake dredging project was going to
meet a supposed need for industrial sites, a reading of the "fine print"
should have tipped us off that it was really intended for a new strip mall and
big box shopping center. Maybe that would still have received
voter approval if, in fact, most Winonans actually do wish to
live an automobile oriented, big city suburban lifesyle, but hope
that by being in a smaller town they can avoid the resulting traffic
jams. If the Port Authority has a vision, it doesn't seem to be a very
imaginative one.
The two city councilmen that are on the Port Authority
board ran unopposed in the last couple of elections. At a public
forum before the last election, I asked about what city government should
be doing to revitalize downtown. (To their credit, the unopposed
candidates participated) I didn't take notes, but as I recall, they
didn't think they should be doing much of anything. One of them mentioned that
the public can feel safe, day and night, downtown due to the police
department's efforts (a valid point). More than one of them cited the
dismantling of the Third Street pedestrian mall twenty-some years ago as being
sufficient for getting things happening. I also asked that since zoning for
sex oriented businesses wasn't considered until after the adult book store was
already situated downtown, were there any other issues we should be planning
for. They couldn't think of any.
As for City Hall's vision for downtown, there have been
some statements that it would be nice to move the rail sidings away from
the Wilkie Levee Park, but I'm not aware of anything actually happing yet. In
the meantime, the street through our much promoted Second Street historic
district was rebuilt without boulevard trees or other aesthetic street
features like inlaid brick patterns. And the many of the existing trees and
planters downtown are neglected. (BTW, I noticed that at Mankato and Hwy 61,
right by our new welcome sign, the apple blossom trees need attention, and
instead of mowing weeds in the area, they were sprayed and left standing
dead)
But, downtown's future might be brighter in spite of
Wall-Mart since the city intends to do a revitalization study. The
quarter of a million dollars to be allocated should be enough to buy a
clue.
