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.
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