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 article by James Shiffer appeared on the Star Tribune website July 22, 2009. A more detailed history of the 201 Building fiasco was posted on Park Watch on October 14, 2008.

PARK BOARD COMPLETES SALE OF THE 201 BUILDING

Posted by Arlene Fried on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 9:01pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

On September 25, 2008, the Star Tribune published an article about the Minneapolis Park Board's 201 Building, but the article did not elaborate on the circumstances that were responsible for the problems that caused it to be an eight-year white elephant. Here's the story as documented by Park Watch.

Posted by Arlene Fried on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:52pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more | 1 attachment

This particular taxpayer is not happy:

Regarding the Jan. 17 article "Skateboard project falls flat": Have Minneapolis parks commissioners collectively lost their minds? In the real world there would be consequences for losing $900,000 on the job. The entire board should be fired! I'm sure the public will accept any resignations with pleasure.

Posted by News junky on Sun, 02/05/2006 - 2:05am. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

Robert Naegele III's state-of-the-art facility wasn't built; instead, the Park Board got sued. Star Tribune reporter Rochelle Olson writes in a story published January 17:

Posted by News junky on Wed, 01/18/2006 - 1:39pm. | Permalink | 1 comment | Read more

On Wednesday, December 7, the Park Board voted to approve the negotiated settlement of a $1.8 million lawsuit filed against the Park Board by contractors who did work at the 201 Building at Ft. Snelling. The settlement requires the Park Board pay $900,000 to the plaintiffs. The lawsuit arose out of work performed but not paid for in a failed attempt to build a skatepark at Ft. Snelling.

Posted by webmaster on Wed, 12/28/2005 - 1:30pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

In an October 28 Star Tribune Commentary, Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., writes about how the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is considering privatizing, selling off and even giving away precious Minneapolis public park property:

Posted by webmaster on Fri, 10/28/2005 - 11:01pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

The Fourth Judicial District Court trial for the $1.8 million lawsuit by McCrossan et al versus the Park Board et al has been postponed / rescheduled. It is currently on the docket to be heard by Judge Isabel Gomez in February of 2006.

Posted by webmaster on Fri, 10/28/2005 - 12:58pm. | Permalink | Login to post comments | Read more

201 building

« A group of contractors is suing the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to recover $1.8 million in unpaid work they did on a proposed indoor/outdoor skateboard park at Ft. Snelling, a private facility on Park Board land. A settlement could come soon.

Posted by News junky on Wed, 08/17/2005 - 3:21pm. | 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