… in the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes that the most charitable description of what’s been going on at the clubby University of Minnesota medical school would be “bizarre.”
Friday, October 23, 2009
Exactly how long is the UMore Park craziness going to continue?
In October 2008, only a year ago, a remarkable document appeared. This happened at a time when the financial collapse of the state as well as continual erosion of funding to the University was evident to anyone.“I don’t think anybody should put a dime into the University of Minnesota unless we use the money well, we invest it well and that we’re efficient in how we use resources.” Robert Bruininks (Daily - 9/26/08)
[And now much has been spent on this fiasco already?]
"Bruininks said he didn't know of a university in the United States that was doing something [MoreU Park aka Muscoplat's Folly] as 'courageous and innovative.'"
[How about unintelligent and sneaky?]
"Regent David Metzen said he thought the future of the project is the most important decision to face the University in the last 15 years." (Daily - 6/13/08)
[And if that is the case maybe we should have a little more openness and transparency about what, exactly, is going on? How much money has been spent already, on what, and where did it come from?]
Compact, Complete and Connected Community
The locations of schools, recreation and civic facilities, places of worship, retail, transit stops, commercial, mixed-use, and dense development were carefully designed to be within walking distance of places of employment and residences (see plan, page 6).
Small neighborhood commercial centers are also located to provide a gathering place for those living within walking distance. The spacing of transit stops particularly shaped the locations of the dense centers.
The Concept Master Plan calls for a series of bus rapid transit (BRT) lines to connect the UMore Park property with other suburban destinations in the southeastern portion of the Twin Cities region. The plan calls for two transit stations for BRT along the northern edge of the UMore Park property, and its route would divert to the south of the Dakota County Technical College campus to accommodate student traffic from the campus as well as nearby high schools and civic facilities in the community.
A proposed light rail line, running from the eastern neighborhood center of the UMore Park property through the western neighborhood center and west toward Minnesota Highway 3, would eventually connect the community with the proposed Robert Street corridor light rail line and a comprehensive mass transit system serving the Twin Cities region. The consultant team recommends three transit stations along the line, to be developed over time.
Consultants are acknowledged in this amazing document:
Design Workshop, Inc.
Aspen, Colorado 81611
Land Planning and Design
Kurt Culbertson, Principal-in-Charge
Anna Gagne, Project Manager
Stephen Faber, Project Designer
Jennifer Pickett, Graphic Designer
Judy Navarro, Graphic Designer
Britt Palmberg, Editor
Sara Tie, Landscape Designer
Pablo Silveira, GIS Specialist
Brandon Hardison, Landscape Designer
Izzi Gailey, Executive Assistant
Adrian Rocha, Designer
Peter Adams, Economics
Annie Sutherland-Watts, Project Assistant
Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Mark Koegler, President
Jeff McMenimen, Director of Design
Bryan Harjes, Landscape Architect
Rusty Fifield, Public Finance Specialist
Anna Claussen, Project Designer
Robert Charles Lesser & Co.
Real Estate Advisors
Adam Ducker, Managing Director
Jon Trementozzi, Senior Associate
Jonathan Bartlett, Vice President
Bethesda, MD 20814
Urban Design Associates (UDA)
Pittsburgh, PA
Community Design
Rob Robinson, Chairman
Joe Nickol, Project Manager
RLK Incorporated
Joe Samuel, Senior Professional Engineer
Minnetonka, MN 55343
Short, Elliot and Hendrickson (SEH)
Mark Benson, Transportation Planner
Dave McKenzie, Railroad Specialist
Haifeng Xiao, Transportation Modeling
St. Paul, MN 55110
Applied Ecological Services (AES)
Kim Chapman, Principal Ecologist
Doug Mensing, Senior Ecologist
Prior Lake, MN 55372
Avant Energy
Derick Dahlen, President
Molly Andvik, Project Manager and Senior Analyst
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Broadband Group
Tom Reiman, President
Las Vegas, NV 89144-4584
Some questions:
1. Who, exactly, paid for this fiasco and how much did it cost?
2. We have been sold gravel mining as a task for an LLC. The money from this speculative venture is to go into a quasi endowment. What does this have to do with the above project?
3. Why is the University, on the UMore Park site, soliciting contributions to this project?
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