Minneapolis, MN

It seems our ‘great’ city is caught in a legal pickle of sorts. Minneapolis instituted a red light camera ticketing program about two years ago without approval from the state legislature. Basically there was not a law on the books for the city to be able to perform this little action.

The bigger problem is that the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that this violated state law. Where this becomes a large issue is the money and the individuals license points.

The city raised $2.8 million in fines for these tickets - some 4200 of them at $142 a pop! The city will clear the points for these tickets off your license, but will not (currently) return the collected fines. This failure to return the fines is pending in a lawsuit in front of the district court at this time.

Just in case you at least want those points cleared, you’ll need to fill out this form and submit it for that to happen. How convenient.

Jerks.

Photo credit, Joslyn Layne

Via: thenewspaper.com - Minneapolis, Minnesota Refuses to Refund Illegal Red Light Camera Tickets

Minneapolis Stop Light Camera, Minneapolis Stop Light Tickets

One wonders what’s happening here.  CenterPoint Energy is reporting a significant increase in unpaid gas bills.  Some 20,000 customers have had their gas service discontinued, though about 40% have agreed to a payment arrangement where the service is then reconnected.

It’s a big enough issue that CenterPoint now has commercials on broadcast radio urging customers in arrears to call and make a payment arrangement rather than have their service disrupted.  Mike Meyers (no not the SNL funnyman) at the Star Tribune has a full article on the matter.

Via: StarTribune.com - Unpaid bills for natural gas are up sharply

CenterPoint Energy, Unpaid Bills, Natural Gas

That storm early this morning?  Was it pretty nasty around your place?  Not surprising, since the heavy rain, hail, and winds took out power for about 56,000 Xcel Energy customers.

With approximately 32,000 customers on the west metro and another 24,000 estimated in the east metro, the storm had a pretty big affect on the entire metro area.  Outside the cities, there was baseball sized hail to the north in Aitkin County and flash flooding in the southeast portion of the state.

Via: Fox Twin Cities - 56,000 Without Power in Metro

A week after sever flooding in S.E. Minnesota washed out a bridge, Amtrak has resumed service between La Crosse and Minneapolis.  The flooding washed out a bridge near Minnesota City which was used by the Amtrak passenger service.  Traffic was rerouted over BNSF rails that run through La Crosse.  Normal traffic was resumed on Sunday on it’s normal route, track that is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway.

Via: TwinCities.com - Amtrak resumes service between Twin Cities and La Crosse, Wis.

Amtrak, BNSF

According to an article at NewsInferno.com, the NTSB indicated that investigators are researching a de-icing chemical used on the I35W bridge.  Since sever icing has been common on the bridge, an automated de-icing system was installed to spray the chemical on the bridge to reduce the icing affects.

This, however, is just one of many questions raised by the NTSB during it’s investigation and may not have anything to do with the collapse.  The chemical, called “C7″ is known to react with Zinc and galvanized steel, and in 2005 the manufacturer, Cryotech, issued a warning about the Zinc reaction.

There are other suggestions as to the collapse as well.  One includes the pigeon waste that accumulates on the bridge.  It will be interesting to find out the cause(s) for the collapse.  Yes, I personally believe it will be a combination of many things that ended up causing the collapse.  Whether it was preventable or not will be indicated by the final NTSB report when it comes out.

Photo credit: Ilumenari

Via: NewsInferno.com - Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Investigators Eye De-Icing Chemical

I35W Bridge Collapse, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, NTSB, Bridge Investigation

Today divers retrieved the body of 45 year old Greg Jolstad, a road construction worker, and the 13th victim of the August 1st I35W bridge collapse (read more here).  This concludes the recovery operation of this tragedy and opens the full investigation portion.  From this point on, it’s all about identifying the exact problems and causes of this bridge’s failure.

In another article, President Bush has approved an emergency declaration that will release more federal assistance to complete the bridge recovery and investigation.  Since Minneapolis is hot on replacing the bridge by the end of 2008, officials, investigators and workers will have to hustle to get it all done.

News sources:

• Inquirer.net : Last body recovered from Minneapolis bridge collapse
• News10 (ABC): Bush OKs More Funds for Minneapolis Bridge Relief

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, I35W Bridge Collapse

A three-person panel assembled to asses the proposed site and associated costs published it’s findings on Monday.  At $23.8 million, that is slightly more than $10 million that the county (Hennepin) had approved for land acquisition.  The panel found that the property was worth $22.4 million and an additional $1.4 million was due the current owners for temporary easements and other fees.

Scheduled to open in time for the 2010 baseball season, the project timetable probably won’t be interrupted.  While both the county and the current property owners have the right to appeal the decision, previous news releases indicated that there is up to $90 million available for land acquisition and infrastructure construction.

Here’s one taxpayer that is hoping that the costs stay in line with projections.  I won’t be holding my breath.

Minnesota Twins Homepage

Via: MLB.com - Panel says ballpark land worth $23.8M

MLB, Twins Ballpark, Minneapolis Ballpark, Minnesota Twins, Baseball

 A recent Federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was awarded to Dakota County.  This money is to be used to build a rapid-transit bus corridor on Cedar Avenue.

Stretching 16 miles from the Mall of America in Bloomington, running south to Highway 70 in Lakeville, the 77/Cedar corridor will be dedicated to bus traffic.  The $11.1 million Federal money will help ease the traffic in one of the fastest growing areas in Minnesota.

The grant specifies that the monies must be committed by September 30th, 2009.  While that makes for an aggressive schedule, county officials believe sticking to a bus corridor keeps the plan on track, where light rail would take much longer to plan for.

Via: TwinCities.com - Dakota County Cedar Avenue / Cedar transit plan gets grant

Dakota County, Cedar Avenue Transit Plan, Traffic Gridlock

Just in case you missed it elsewhere, the stretch of I94 from highway 280 to I35W is closed this weekend.  MnDOT is adding an additional lane in both directions to help ease some of the I35W re-route traffic.

Both directions will be open by 5am on Monday 8/20/2007 before traffic begins to build for rush hour.

Suggested alternates for I94 traffic are either I694 around the north side of the metro, or I494 to the south.

Via: KSTP.com - I-94 through Mpls. closed this weekend

Traffic Re-Route, I94, MnDOT 

Jeremy Hernandez was one of the adults on that school bus that many of us saw on the I35W bridge collapse.  We all wondered if the kids were alright, did they get to safety.  Yes they did, and it is directly because of the actions of this 20 year old community center gym coordinator.  I hope you’ll go and read the article that Scott Seroka has posted at the KARE11 site.

There will be many people who helped, reacted instead of run, and looked out for others before themselves.  Jeremy Hernandez is one of these people. 

Photo credit: KARE11

VIA: KARE11 - Young man credited with saving dozens of kids

I35 Bridge, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

On August 1st, 2007 the bridge carrying I35W traffic across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis failed, carrying a number of cars and their occupants into the river.  By now you have probably heard or seen about this on the local and national news.

I35 is split into two in the southern portion of the Twin Cities metro area, with an east (35E) leg running through St. Paul and west (35W) leg running through Minneapolis.  I35W is one of the busiest roadways in the Minneapolis area, carrying hundreds of thousands of cars daily.

As I write this Thursday morning, the confirmed dead has been reduced to 4 - though officials to acknowledge there are some 20 or more cars still in the wreckage.  Recovery efforts are underway, unfortunately moving multi-ton sections of bridge from the river takes a lot of time and coordination between rescue workers and the equipment to get it done.

More details to follow.

Finally, the Park at Mall of America will have a new theme and direction to offer to the public.  While the original Knotts Camp Snoopy was a favorite to many young mall goers, the current Park at MOA is not as exciting.

Now the Mall of America along with Nickelodeon are announcing plans for Nickelodeon Universe.  Nickelodeon will be reworking the park, the largest indoor amusement park in America, to include new rides, new ticketing systems, healthier food & snack options, and of course Nickelodeon characters and branding.

Via: United Press International - Nickelodeon to be center of mall universe

Nickelodeon Universe, Knotts Camp Snoopy, Park at MOA

The Twin Cities may become a bigger political player in 2008 than it normally is.  With the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minneapolis is also pursuing a political convention as well, in the Green party.

The bid will be presented at the national Green Party meeting in Reading, PA.  A case will be made for Minneapolis’ environmental programs that fit the vision of the Green Party.  In addition to Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago will also be attempting to bring the Green Party to their cities for 2008.

Previous attempts to win the Greens over to Minneapolis have brought much attention to local politics as well, with three Greens winning City Council seats in past elections.  Current mayor R.T. Rybak also supports going for the Greens bid, as it would bring more exposure and business to Minneapolis.  If the bid is won, the convention would be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center with the Millennium Hotel hosting the headquarters.

Via: Star Tribune - Minneapolis in the race for Green convention

Politics, GOP, Green Party, Political Convention

Minneapolis Public Schools are looking for feedback from parents that on improving the school system.  The school board has mailed out a survey to all parents looking to find ideas and perceptions on what works in the classroom.

This survey is an opportunity to tell the schools your ideas and point of view.  The school is open for suggestions and new ideas to solve problems or questions that they have for classroom work.  If you have any opinion of how the school can better serve your children, then this is one of many opportunities that you should take advantage of.

Via: StarTribune.com - Editorial: Minneapolis schools want to hear from you