Star Tribune
Minneapolis Park Board considers scaling back North Commons project
An ambitious $49 million plan to transform north Minneapolis’ flagship neighborhood park into a regional youth sports destination may be out of reach, Park Board commissioners have learned.
The North Commons Park makeover has been counting on $12 million in state bonding funds, and the Park Board ranked the project as its top legislative priority this session. But so far lawmakers are not supporting additional funding for the Minneapolis park system.
The reconstruction project calls for a new recreation center, a fieldhouse with four gyms and a large water park. Since the Park Board launched the project in 2019, it has rounded up $12 million from state, federal and local sources, along with a potential $10 million in private donations from the Minneapolis Parks Foundation.
Staffers now are seeking guidance from the board on three possible directions: a modest renovation and expansion of the existing 1970s-era recreation center for $22 million, to be completed by early 2025; unearthing more public funding for a larger renovation and expansion of park facilities, for $35 million; or delaying the project indefinitely until $30 million to $35 million in additional public funding can be found for the original $49 million vision.
The first option would result in the largest recreation center in the Minneapolis park system, but provide only two new gyms and a small water park — falling short of community hopes and Park Superintendent Al Bangoura’s 2020 promise to create a rec center that would rival suburban facilities and could host regional tournaments.
The second option would include three new gyms and a medium-sized water park, but could jeopardize $5.1 million in state bonding that the Park Board has already received and $3 million in COVID-19 relief funds that came with spending deadlines.
If the Park Board decides to delay the project to obtain at least $30 million in additional public funding, it would likely have to return the public funding it already has with no guarantees that it would reach the goals of the project or even complete it. But community and private donors might be more likely to rally around the bigger vision.
Park Board members debated which way to go at their meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Becka Thompson, who represents the North Side district that includes North Commons, said state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion advised her Tuesday to “build something with the money you already have.” He could not be reached for comment.
“It is my opinion that the neighborhood deserves to see us finish what we started,” Thompson said, arguing for the first option, the $22 million project. “I know that staff still want something grand and I know that many neighbors do also. But this project increasingly shows itself to be Zeno’s paradox — if each step is halfway there, ultimately we never arrive.”
Other commissioners urged staffers to keep seeking bonding this session and to apply for other sources of public funding in the future.
“Maybe there’s been a little hype around other things since our project started,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Shaffer, referring to the $97 million aquatic and sports center being built by Minneapolis nonprofit V3 not far from North Commons Park at Plymouth and Lyndale avenues. “I don’t think we should give up on it, but at the same time, be really strategic about how we use our funds.”
Board President Meg Forney suggested finding ways to start using some of the public money the board already has for the project to avoid losing it entirely, while pursuing all remaining possibilities to construct a larger building. “Closing the doors at this point in time, I couldn’t support it,” she said.
Design project manager Dan Elias said staffers could try to create preferred concepts based on different project budgets that could be adjusted depending on whatever additional public and private funding might be found.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
Much of the wood waste in the metro area is sent to a processing site near Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul, where it is stored before being burned to produce energy at the St. Paul Cogeneration plant downtown.
Cogeneration provides power to about half of downtown and was originally built to manage elm-tree waste in response to Dutch elm disease. The plant burns approximately 240,000 tons of wood each year, according to Michael Auger, senior vice president of District Energy in St. Paul.
Jim Calkins, a certified landscape horticulturalist who has been involved in discussions about the problem, said he thinks using wood for energy is the most logical solution.
“The issue is, we don’t have enough facilities to be able to handle that, at least in the Twin Cities,” Calkins said. “So there has to be dollars to support transportation to get the wood to those places, or in some cases, to upgrade some of those facilities such that they are able to burn wood.”
Plans are in place to convert Koda Energy in Shakopee to burn ash wood, which could potentially handle around 40,000 tons of wood waste, but that would take around two years to establish, according to Klapperich.
In some areas of the state, cities have resorted to burning excess wood waste because they felt they had no other option. Open burning wood releases a lot of carbon into the air, Klapperich said.
Weary from the rat race nature of practicing commercial law, Danielle Miller had long dreamed of starting a new professional life as a bookstore owner. When the Lincoln, Neb., resident saw a space at St. Paul’s Union Depot, she moved to make her dream a reality. She and her husband now call the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood home.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Miller in her sun-drenched store, Story Line Books, to talk about what spurred her to leave the law behind and lose herself in shelves of books. This interview was edited for length.
Q: So, you’ve opened a bookstore, in Lowertown. Are you a little crazy?
A: That’s been the reaction. There’s been a lot of “Really? Lowertown?” There’s been a lot of that. It’s a little unnerving.
Q: Why decide to just up and move to St. Paul?
A: We travel a lot; we travel all over the world. And we go to bookstores. We were here visiting [my husband’s] parents in Woodbury, and we drove down Randolph because we like to eat at Due Focacceria. And we saw this building that had “For Sale” on it. It was a 900-square-foot retail spot on the bottom and an apartment above. And I was like, that is the European bookstore dream, right? I looked it up online, but it got scooped up. A week later, I was looking again and this [Union Depot space] was the first post.
I was immediately in love. The next time we were up here, we made arrangements to come and see it. And I told my husband, “You should probably get a job in St Paul.”
Q: Back up a few steps. Why this compulsion to open a bookstore when you were a working attorney?
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