Star Tribune: The Park Board Has Lost Its Way
NetLets, March 4, 2005 »Doug Grow's Feb. 20 column about the original Fuji Ja building is evidence of the troubles that have been plaguing the Park and Recreation Board for a number of years. While I agree with Grow that the manner in which the building was acquired from the Weston family was unnecessarily rude and untimely, I disagree even more strongly with the decision to sell the piece to a developer.
I worked in that building for two years when I was a district supervisor in the recreation department. Each day coming to work was a joy, to be at my desk while watching the herons along the riverbanks and the mist rising from St. Anthony Falls, to walk down into the lower levels where the foundations of the mill were preserved and feel the sense of history and the mystery of time, all of this was a gift. Years earlier I had sat on pillows and dined in the graciousness of that enchanting restaurant. I believe that one of the most beautiful views and recreation experiences in the city is right where my desk was, and I believed then as now that that spot should be belong to the public.
The Park Board has lost its way. It's about to sell one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the city for unneeded housing, real estate that belongs to you and me, real estate that Reiko Weston developed to focus our attention on the greatest water resource in the country, the river, and the reason we have a city here at all, the falls of St. Anthony. That this perfect vantage point would be sold is unthinkable. It belongs to us, the citizens of Minneapolis and the metropolitan area, and the board should not be allowed to release it for someone's private gain. Doing so is contrary to the history and purpose of the Park and Recreation Board for the past 122 years. Even tiny little pieces of park land by freeways have never been sold (although in the early '70s a tiny piece by the highway was traded to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a much larger and better piece of land to help make a bigger park in a much needed location).
Open space is precious in a city. You don't sell public land. Especially not land within 75 feet of a magnificent natural and historical resource.
As precinct caucuses and endorsing conventions approach, I hope many people will take time to look at this property, imagine the view from those boarded-up second-story windows, remember what Reiko Weston's vision was when she built that restaurant and speak out against the sale of this little gem that is so tied to our cultural legacy. Let the candidates know how you feel. The board's action in taking the land may have been misguided. But we can honor Reiko Weston now by showing that we value the experience she created for us, and plan to maintain it always.«
Susan Lane, Minneapolis.