Minneapolis Park Watch

HEADS-UP FOR THE OCTOBER 20, 2010 PARK BOARD MEETING

5:00 P.M. REGULAR BOARD MEETING. Committee meetings to follow. The meetings will be held in the boardroom at Park Board headquarters, 2117 West River Road, just north of Broadway Pizza.

5:30 P.M. OPEN TIME. Speakers need to sign up before 3:00 p.m. the day of the meeting.

This meeting is the last meeting that David Fisher will be attending as Superintendent. His four month stint as interim superintendent ends on October 31. We are grateful that he accepted the invitation to come to Minneapolis to fill this position.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Mon, 10/18/2010 - 3:37am. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

The following story by Jake Weyer was published in the September 6, 2010 issue of the Southwest Journal:

HARRIET CONCESSION CONTRACT NEARS APPROVAL

The board will decide this month whether to approve local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle

Posted by Arlene Fried on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:17pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

The following article by Nick Halter appeared in the July 26, 2010 Southwest Journal:

VENDORS LINE UP FOR LAKE HARRIET CONCESSIONS CONTRACT

Eleven businesses submitted proposals to take over concessions at Lake Harriet beginning in 2011.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 3:53pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

The following article by Cristof Traudes was published in the February 8, 2010 issue of the Southwest Journal:

HARRIET CONCESSIONS REPORT IN; NO ACTIONS, HEARING UNTIL LATER

The citizens’ committee tasked with making recommendations on the future of concessions at Lake Harriet has officially disbanded after completing and presenting its report to the Park Board.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 7:50pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Lake Harriet CAC Recommendations Presented To Commissioners

Matt Perry, chair of the Lake Harriet Citizens' Advisory Committee (CAC), formally presented the CAC's Final Report and Recommendations on Lake Harriet Concessions at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's Planning Committee meeting on January 20, 2010. The report itself was received and filed by the Board on December 16, 2009. The January 20 presentation completes the charge given the CAC and concludes its work.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Sat, 01/30/2010 - 8:10pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

What presumably will be the final meeting of the committee looking into the future of concessions at Lake Harriet has been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 30.

The citizens' advisory committee, formed in the spring, has met six times before. Members currently are in the process of writing a report that it will take to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, tentatively on Dec. 16.

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The following article by Cristof Traudes was published in the November 23, 2009 issue of the Southwest Journal:

FINAL MEETING FOR COMMITTEE INVESTIGATING HARRIET CONCESSIONS SET FOR NOV. 30

What presumably will be the final meeting of the committee looking into the future of concessions at Lake Harriet has been scheduled for Nov. 30.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Fri, 11/27/2009 - 6:11pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

UNOFFICIAL CONCESSIONS RECOMMENDATION: REVAMP, DON'T BUILD

The following article by Cristof Traudes appeared in the October 19, 2009, issue of the Southwest Journal:

UNOFFICIAL CONCESSIONS RECOMMENDATION: REVAMP, DON'T BUILD

Posted by Arlene Fried on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 12:51pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

The following article by Nicole Tommerdahl appeared in the February 13th, 2009 issue of the Star Tribune.

LAKE HARRIET MAY GET NEW ATTRACTION: SEAFOOD PLACE

Posted by Arlene Fried on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 12:16am. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

At the January 21, 2009, Park Board meeting, the Administration and Finance Committee approved and then sent to Bob Fine's Planning Committee two agenda items that--if implemented--would dramatically alter the character and ambiance of Lake Harriet's popular north shore.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 1:06am. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Both MPRB Superintendent Jon Gurban and General Manager Don Siggelkow have for sometime been out of compliance with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) by failing to respond to numerous requests for public information from members of the public. And now they are out of compliance with the $440,000 exclusive 5-year contract that the Park Board signed with Coke in 2003.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 10:19pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

By Scott Russell , as originally published at the Twin Cities Daily Planet July 27, 2008

Several for-profit concessionaries and caterers operating on Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board property have had a leg up on the competition because they have not had to pay property taxes.

That’s changing. Tax bills are going out to Mintahoe Hospitality Group (which has its corporate headquarters at the Nicollet Island Pavilion); Twin City Catering (which has its headquarters in the Park Board’s riverfront headquarters building); Schwick, Inc., which runs the Lake Harriet refectory, and others, county tax records say.

Posted by Liz Wielinski on Thu, 07/31/2008 - 1:06pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

"One of the most popular places in the entire metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul is a chain of four lakes about two miles from downtown Minneapolis.

Posted by webmaster on Fri, 09/02/2005 - 10:41pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Story by Scott Russell

» A whimsical craft runs into the Minneapolis Park Board's hard business realities

Posted by News junky on Wed, 06/15/2005 - 11:10pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

It was 3 years ago on March 6, 2002 that angry citizens expressed their outrage in person at the regular Park Board meeting over the Board's proposal to put Dairy Queen franchises in the Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun refectories.

Posted by Chris Johnson on Sat, 03/05/2005 - 12:32am. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

by Elaine Klaassen

Anyone who has been to the South Dakota Badlands and Black Hills realizes that it's one of the most beautiful areas in the country. Anyone who has been there also has noted that it's horribly commercialized, from signs in the roadways to cheap souvenir stands to fees just for driving down the highway. You leave the area with two thoughts: one, this is a special place, and two, it didn't take us long to ruin it.

Posted by News junky on Fri, 02/25/2005 - 12:24pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Our country is at a crossroads.

It seems that over the last 24 years there has been a general movement within many levels of government to shift power away from the people, the public sector, to business, the private sector. Nationally, it started with the Reagan administration and their repeated indictment of government as "Bad" and regulation as "Bad" and business as "Good".

Posted by StevenMN on Fri, 02/18/2005 - 2:46pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Spurred by declining tax dollars and the success of Lake Calhoun's Tin Fish restaurant, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is considering developing a restaurant in Loring Park and at least three other park sites.

Posted by News junky on Tue, 12/28/2004 - 9:07pm. | Permalink | 2 comments | Read more

By Scott Russell

Life is imitating art.

This summer, the Walker Art Center opened a popular miniature golf course as part of the Sculpture Garden -- 10 holes designed by area artists and architects. The course is scheduled to close Monday, Sept. 6 -- but the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board staff may create a permanent Putt-Putt to make some bucks-bucks.

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Tom at Click Me Hard wonders why the MPRB has a hard time freezing water in the winter and selling ice cream in the summer.

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