Monthly Archives: January 2007

'Dream' vision for remaking old stadium

The Minneapolis Park Board wants a first-class operation on the site of old Parade Stadium.
By Pam Louwagie, Star Tribune

A new sports mecca is rising on the site of Minneapolis’ old Parade Stadium, starting with a $1.2 million artificial turf face-lift this year, and with plans for an electronic scoreboard, grandstand, press box, 1,500 stadium seats and a stadium sound system to go with it. Star Tribune

A JANUARY 2007 PARK WATCH UPDATE

The year 2006 brought some welcome changes to the Park Board. With the departure of Commissioner Marie Hauser, the old five-to-four majority coalition has disappeared–and so have a lot of the old animosities. There is more independent thinking on the Park Board; and Park Board meetings are usually conducted in a more respectful manner.

The new year is also bringing with it some challenges. Leftover from 2006 are three unresolved projects which need closure. All three are worth following.

One unresolved project is the $2.5 million sale of the Fuji-Ya building to Omni Investment Properties whose plans for the too-tall, too-large Wave riverfront condo development are encountering strong public opposition–and rightly so.

A second unresolved project is the failed Naegele skate park at Fort Snelling. This project failed when the Naegele group abandoned the project and left the Park Board with a costly disaster–a vacant building, a $945,000 out-of-pocket settlement, and a variety of other expenses. The 201 Building (as it is known) is currently up for sale and, hopefully, its sale can offset the Park Board’s accrued costs of approximately $3.5 million associated with this unsuccessful project. What is particularly troublesome is that the $945,000 negotiated settlement could have been avoided had the lease required, as it should have, the procurement of a construction bond.

A third unresolved project is the proposed destruction of historic Grove Street for construction of the controversial DeLaSalle High School football stadium on Nicollet Island. This project is now being legally challenged in Hennepin County District Court and in the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

These projects, as well as others, will continue to be monitored by Park Watch.

MPRB Regular Board Meeting

Details for
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Commissisoners Meeting

Commissioners Walt Dziedzic, Bob Fine, Carol Kummer, Mary Merrill Anderson, Tom Nordyke, Scott Vreeland, Annie Young and President Jon Olson

Date: 2/7/2007
Time: 5:00-8:00 p.m.
Type: Regular
Location: MPRB Administrative Offices, Board Room Suite 255
Address: 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis

Agenda

MPRB Legal Fees November, 2004 for DeLaSalle Negotiations

Well before the public knew anything, the Park Board was spending money on legal fees to negotiate and draft resolutions with DeLaSalle on giving the private school land for their stadium plans. Attached is an invoice for some of those legal services rendered in November, 2004.
MPRBRiceBills16Dec04.pdf

Superintendent Jon Gurban's Job Performance Review

In June 2006, the Park Board retained Personnel Decisions International (PDI) to evaluate the current performance of Jon Gurban, and to set goals and objectives (which were previously non-existent) for the remainder of his contract with the Park Board.

Attached is the summary of that review which PDI presented to the Park Board commissioners.
ReviewofGurban.pdf

Commissioner Retreat

Details for
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Commissisoners Meeting

Commissioners Walt Dziedzic, Bob Fine, Carol Kummer, Mary Merrill Anderson, Tracy Nordstrom, Tom Nordyke, Scott Vreeland, Annie Young and President Olson.

Date: 1/20/2007
Time: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Type: Special
Location: Gross Golf Course

Schedule
Start times and agendas are subject to change.

9:00 a.m. Committee of the Whole