There has been some discussion the past few days about allowing De La Salle High School to erect a football field on Nicollet Island. I don't like the idea. First, we're discussing a transaction that turns public land over to a private entity. The actors, the Minneapolis Park Board and De La Salle, are acting to limit access to property that currently belongs to every resident of Minneapolis. On my way home tonight, I can swing through that property with the expectation that a security guard will not bust my chops. I can show up at a meeting to argue over whether we're going to plant trees or wild flowers. There are no guarantees that this will remain true if we plunk a stadium there. Some folks will argue whether high school bleachers that seat 600 is a stadium. Not me. It's a stadium.
The other thing that bothers me is that this private entity is clearly in violation of the wishes of the community. The neighborhood association there is not happy with this situation. I don't blame them. Parking will be an issue. Every morning during the school year the school's parking lot fills up with cars. Add a visiting team to the mix, and people are going to have to park on the streets. I also saw the plans in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The plan calls for the closing of a street, and I believe that includes a bridge. Someone on the DFL Senate District 59 list serve (I don't want to link with out permission, but credit is given) pointed out that when a train crosses, say the North Star Commuter line nine times per day, traffic on the Island will be shut down.
Push comes to shove, and this decision grinds against me because its the Park Board trumping the local community. Our culture is progressively attempting to put decisions and services and goods into the hands of people on the user end. In the past, we bought food at big box retailers. Today, I order food on line and its delivered to my house. Used to be that all the good food was down town. Today, many of the best restaurants are in communities distant from down town, closer to the home. Our park system was laid out by a true visionary, putting parks in the neighborhoods in contrast to New York and Philadelphia where huge parks centralized out door activity in our urban environments. Politics is starting to go the same way. First it was Jerry Brown and his "800" number. Then it was Howard Dean and his site. We're entering an era where people can make these kinds of decisions about their communities without a Park Board interfering. How is this different from Commissioner Dziedzic, then a Councilman, chastising the Mayor for trying to streamline government? The Commissioner, and several others, are now acting against the wishes of a neighborhood. Its a bit much.
Okay, I'm off the soap box.
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