2007-03-02 Friday NewsThe Friday News
November 2, 2007
NO PARKING
This week on November 1st the City’s Parking Ban went into effect. No Parking is allowed on
the streets from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. The ban remains in effect until March 31st.
HEIGHTS HIGHLITES
The fall edition of the City’s newsletter went to the printers this week and it should be out in
about 2 weeks.
HALLOWEEN
This Wednesday evening the Annual Halloween Bonfire was again held at Mendota Plaza. It
was almost held the night before when a “crazy” lady using charcoal lighter fluid started the
bonfire a day early. Fortunately for us the Mendota Plaza janitor say her before the fire got
going too much to put out. (She was fighting the terrorists?). This is one of the City’s favorite
events. It is always very well attended. Thanks to the Fire Department, who always sponsor the
event. This year they handed out 1200 hot dogs and cups of pop. It was windy that day so there
was some concern, but the wind slowed enough and the event went on an hour longer than
normal, because daylights savings time was still in effect.
CRITICAL AREA STUDY
Last spring, the State Legislature directed the DNR to evaluate the effectiveness of the
Mississippi River’s 30-year old designation of a state critical area and make recommendations
about how to protect the natural and scenic qualities of the river corridor.
Friends of the Mississippi River are coordinating the stakeholder input process for the DNR. On
Wednesday, Sue attended a stakeholder meeting with other local, state and federal government
staff and elected officials. Meeting have also been held with developers and interested citizens.
The attached list of potential management options made for a lively discussion. Note that one of
the options is to eliminate the cities and townships area designation. While all of the cities in the
critical area were required to adopt ordinances in the early 1980’s, only six have updated their
ordinances: Mendota Heights, Lilydale, Dayton, Ravenna, Grey Cloud Island and Niminger.
Input from the stakeholder meetings will be presented at a meeting on Wednesday, November 7,
6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at Neighborhood House, Room 212 (179 Robie St. E., St. Paul).
NEW PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGY
This week City staff received instruction from NDC4 staff on how to use the new projector in the
City Council Chambers. With this new presentation technology City staff and visiting presenters
will now be able to bring their information digitally on a disc and project onto the large pull
down screen. For example this technology will also allow City Staff to go on line and project
aerial photos of properties that are being discussed.
NOVEMBER DATES TO REMEMBER
City Council Meeting November 6
Park & Rec Commission Mtg November 13
ARC Mtg November 14
NOC Mtg November 14
DCC Board of Directors Mtg November 15
City Council Meeting November 20
Planning Commission Mtg November 27
Respectfully submitted,
James Danielson
City Administrator
Attachments: Just the Facts, Pipeline, City Council Agenda, South-West Review Article “Local
cable station wins national award and Information on Mississippi River Critical Area Study
Stakeholder Meeting.