Star Tribune
Rochester to get new $5M swim park
Rochester’s going to keep its pool access at Silver Lake Park thanks to a $5 million proposal that would see the city slightly raise property taxes to pay for a new pool.
The Rochester City Council Monday voiced support for the proposal to build a new eight-lane, 25-meter pool, turn the current pool into a splash pad and build a new bathhouse. The new pool will be up to 4 feet deep; it’s designed with swimming classes in mind.
The project will be paid with a combination of sales tax money from a 2012 referendum and a 0.5% property tax increase to cover borrowed funds. City officials say it will take eight years to pay off the project bonds; the increase is expected go toward park maintenance after that.
“We’re going to get good value for what we’re investing in,” Council member Mark Bransford said.
Parks officials have sought to replace Silver Lake’s pool for years. The splash pad was first part of a 2016 parks system plan, then included in a master plan for Silver Lake Park renovations in 2022. Yet aquatics advocates are concerned shutting down Silver Lake Park’s pool would hamper efforts to hold swim classes.
The pool at Silver Lake is one of only two outdoor pools in Rochester. The new aquatics center at Soldiers Field Memorial Park is set to wrap up construction this spring and open in June.
Council members urged city staff to tweak the project by pursuing grant funding or potentially making the pool bigger, but city staff say swim advocates approved of a smaller pool at Silver Lake Park.
Council member Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick called the smaller pool “grossly inadequate,” arguing kids living on the east side of town won’t have the same kind of access as kids near Soldiers Field.
“I believe that in 10 years, we’re going to be coming back to do this process again,” Kirkpatrick said.
The DFL candidate for a Roseville seat in the Minnesota House is pushing back on allegations from his Republican opponent that he doesn’t live in the district he hopes to represent.
Curtis Johnson is currently a member of the Roseville Area Schools board. He has owned a home in Little Canada since 2017, according to Ramsey County property records.
In May he filed to run for the open seat in House District 40B, saying he lived in an apartment complex less than 3 miles from his Little Canada home. The district includes parts of Roseville and Shoreview and has been represented by DFLer Jamie Becker-Finn, who isn’t seeking re-election, since 2017.
In a statement, Johnson said he and his wife decided to move to Roseville last year, but they’ve struggled to find the right house. In the meantime, he’s been renting “a Roseville apartment as my primary residence while we keep searching for a forever home.”
“My wife and our youngest child still live in the house because we didn’t want to disrupt our child’s life by moving the rest of the family into my apartment and then moving them again after we found a house in Roseville,” Johnson’s statement said.
Wikstrom released an ad Oct. 15 that accused Johnson of lying about his residency, but he has not committed to making a legal challenge. A residency challenge would be decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
“My confidence level is high that we have a solid case he is not a resident of the district,” Wikstrom said in an interview. He noted that Johnson’s vehicle is often at the Little Canada home and a portable storage container appeared out front days after his political ad went online.
An unlicensed driver is now charged on accusations that he was speeding and under the influence of alcohol when he set off a chain-reaction pileup on an interstate exit ramp in Minneapolis, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Talon Covie-Cardell Walker, 29, of St. Paul, was charged late Thursday afternoon in Hennepin County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the seven-vehicle pileup about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday after exiting from eastbound Interstate 94 toward Lyndale Avenue.
Walker remains held without bail ahead of a court appearance Friday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
A search warrant affidavit was filed in court by the State Patrol that cleared the way for Walker’s blood to be collected to measure his degree of intoxication. Results are pending. The affidavit said Walker was “pushing 100 mph when taking the ramp, [and] it appears no braking took place before the crash.”
Walker was driving without a valid license, according to the state Department of Public Safety. In late 2019, his license was suspended, then it was revoked in spring 2021, the agency said.
Court records in Minnesota show Walker has traffic convictions for careless driving and operating a motorcycle without a license. State records also show convictions for illegal weapons possession, disorderly conduct, a minor drug offense and twice for violating a court no-contact order.
Walker’s passenger, 20-year-old Taniyah Randle-Smith, was taken by ambulance to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol. A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition.
Killed in the crash was Natalie Gubbay, a 26-year-old SUV driver from Minneapolis, whose vehicle was struck by Walker’s. Her passenger, Molly Elizabeth Brenton, 28, of Virginia, Minn., was taken to HCMC with noncritical injuries.
A juvenile has died while in detention at the Red Wing correctional facility in southeastern Minnesota.
Officials with the Minnesota Department of Corrections said staff on Saturday found an inmate who was unresponsive. Authorities attempted life-saving measures, which were unsuccessful. Paramedics arrived and the resident was pronounced dead at the scene, said spokeswoman Shannon Loehrke.
An investigation is underway to determine how the inmate died, she added.
No information about the identify of the deceased was released.
The Red Wing facility has a capacity of 88 inmates.
