U Given One More Week On Light Rail
All Aboard?

From the Pioneer Press

At the indirect urging of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Central Corridor decision makers this afternoon offered the University of Minnesota one more week to get on board.

The U has been holding out for a different route through campus than any of the local governments involved want, and a vote had been scheduled for today.

Last night, University President Robert Bruininks called Gov. Tim Pawlenty and was "very concerned" about the vote, said Met Council Chair Peter Bell. Pawlenty Chief of Staff Matt Kramer called Bell, a Pawlenty appointee, and requested the week delay.

Bell, a former University regent, urged other leaders on the advisory panel — including St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and commissioners from Hennepin and Ramsey counties — to grant the request "out of deference to the university."

They all agreed.

The delay came as members of the panel were on the brink of forcing a vote to run trains on Washington Avenue. Today, the university made what was expected to be its final case for its preferred route, a detour along the northern edge of campus through Dinkytown.

The U's presentation persuaded no one, especially since its own study concluded the Dinkytown route would fail a key federal benchmark.

After the meeting, University Vice President Kathleen O'Brien said the University appreciates being given the extra time so Bruininks, senior officials and regents can digest the findings of the fresh study. Right now the University needs to take a step back and say, 'What are the benefits and risks involved?'" she said.

Ah, and the University has not been thinking about this until now?

VP O'Brien has been intimately involved with this process - she's a voting member of the panel - and she didn't see this coming?

Unbelievable...