The attendees, who were more casual and less favorable to Trooien’s JLT firm, asked about traffic, public space, tax-increment financing and the West Side Flats Master Plan. One questioner commented, “What is being proposed is not like Paris; it’s much more Orlando — a theme park.”

While a few of the attendees’ questions were answered,  WSCO members postponed serious back-and-forth discussion until a promised future date — details for which haven’t been announced.

City planner Lucy Thompson spoke about each of the plans for the area and handed out copies of many of them. (Many city plans can be found here.)

The next meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 15, 21 and 29, and June 4 and 12 at the Wellstone Center .

The Money

Developer Jerry Trooien still fully intends to request $125 million in TIF funds despite the city of St. Paul’s early denials of the money.

TIF, or tax-increment financing, is a statewide financing tool for urban redevelopment projects. The additional property tax revenue  generated from an improvement on a piece of land can then be used for a community benefit (parking ramps, for example, would be among parts of the Bridges project that would be built with TIF money). The city wouldn’t see any of what the increased property tax would be until the time period (20 years proposed in this case) is up.

In the final session of a four-meeting series, developer Jerry Trooien talked extensively about TIF. He said, “If you don’t do the development, if you don’t create the revenue, you don’t get the money.” He repeatedly said that the money would only come out of the land and would not take money out of other areas of the city.

The History

One of the most-talked-about problems with the project is the view. That view is now one of Preservation Alliance’s 10 most endangered places in Minnesota.

Trooien says about the question of view, “Whose view and from where?” The Preservation Alliance points to the Mississippi River vista as seen from Mounds Park in St. Paul. Concerned citizens have been talking about the multiple spires that will poke their way into the skyline.

This is the first time a landscape view has found its way onto the list. The controversy of the project undoubtedly played a role in that decision. “We support development on the West Side if the design is consistent with zoning guidelines,” said Bonnie McDonald, director of Preservation Alliance. “But we’re opposed to the scale of the Bridges and how the design would alter both the cultural and natural landscape.”

The Meetings

The Bridges project has been a great boon to anyone who really enjoys meetings. From the now defunct Tri-Council to the Zoning and Planning Committees to the WSCO annual meeting to the information sessions that just wrapped up and now — and certainly not finally — onto the WSCO community engagement sessions, meeting hawks can get their fix from this project’s process.

WSCO is kicking off the first of six meetings Monday night. The meetings are supposed to help gather more information about the Bridges, the site and the feel of the community. They will cover topics including development plans for the area, environmental considerations, zoning, traffic and economic sustainability. From an hour to an hour and a half is set aside at every meeting for JLT Inc., Trooien’s company, to present. Each meeting will also allow an hour for other presenters, including the city of St. Paul, the Riverfront Development Corp., the DNR and the Met Council. Finally, each meeting will have some time for questions.

The meetings will be held at the Wellstone Center from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 7, 15, 21 and 29 and June 4 and 12.

Their reasons?

The Range DFLers will be most appreciative.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a bargaining chip the next time Tom Bakk and the boys come in?

Also heading up north to check in with employees would be a great reason for a little northern hospitality. And happy employees only minutes from walleye fishing.

And my personal favorite reason for the Department of Revenue to set up the new jobs in Ely?

Sleep better at night.

Worrying about your employees getting mugged on a bus or shot at while walking to work is something no manager should have to have to worry about. Barring doubling the police force in the metropolitan area, sending as many employees as you can to the safe zone of northeast Minnesota is the best thing you can do for your conscience.

Bob Stephenson, head of St. Paul animal control,  told the City Council on Wednesday that since 2001 there have been fewer than 250 dog bites per year. The number of dogs impounded also has dropped in the past four years, dropping below 1,200 a year.

Animal control records going back to 1966 showed that bites were highest in 1971 with a recorded 1,346 bites, five times more than in recent years.

Stephenson estimated that 50 percent of the bite incidents involved licensed pets. “But that’s just an educated guess,” he said.  Council Member Dave Thune suggested that a push to be tougher on licensing.

  Under current practice, animal control officers will issue a warning ticket to purchase a license if they spot unlicensed dogs with their owners. If the owners fail to buy a license, they receive a citation. Owners of impounded, unlicensed pets are charged an extra $50 and are required to purchase a license when their pets are claimed.

The report compared bites by all dogs against bites by pit bulls in the first trimesters of 2007 and 2006. The report also broke the data down by ward. In the 2006 period, pit bulls were responsible for 10 of the 35 bites. In the same period this year, pit bulls caused 15 of the 37 bites. While some victims of dog bites have called for a ban on pit bulls, Minnesota law doesn’t allow bans on specific breeds of dogs.

Find out about licensing your pooch in St. Paul.

Rick Hill, who works with the project’s retail space, said he expects six or seven restaurants and a total of 75 retail shops to eventually fill the space about half will be national chains.  The project will include 400,000 square feet of retail space. Hill and Trooien both talked about the project filling a gap and bringing in money, denying that it would cause trouble for downtown businesses, office spaces or hotels. Trooien said, “This is the first time in the 150 years in the city that you’ll have a real retail project.”

Paul Wisherman with Westin Hotels spoke extensively about the proposed hotel and denied that it would take business away from the Crowne Plaza and Radisson Hotels in downtown. He also said that JLT Inc, Trooien’s company, would subsidize the hotel and it would not be asking the city of St. Paul for subsidies on the hotel. JLT Inc. does still intend to request TIF funds, despite a letter from the St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development saying the project would not qualify.

Trooien also talked about the Mississippi River: “Get in a helicopter and fly around the Twin Cities. This is the only place in the Twin Cities to get people to the river.”  He focused on the project’s plan for extensive parking as a key to getting people to the river. “Very few people from the neighborhood will ride their bike to the water,” said Trooien. “Most people have to get to the site by driving a car.” The current plan calls for 2,000 parking stalls to serve retail businesses on the site.

The final information session will be Wednesday from 6 pm until 9 pm at the Wellstone Center.

“St. Paul is the only city that has school board elections during odd years,” said St. Paul IRV proponent Kathleen Murphy. If this practice could be changed back to even years, then there would not be a conflict with IRV in municipal elections. Resolutions have been introduced in the Minnesota House and Senate to allow school board elections to use IRV in voting, but neither bill is expected to pass this year. If IRV were introduced for St. Paul, it would currently just apply to the City Council and mayoral races. Thus, there would need to be two different types of voting because school board elections are held on the same years as municipal elections.

One strong argument for IRV is a more civil discourse and a broader candidate field, Murphy said. “A lot of the time the thing that I hear is that voters are disgusted with having to choose between two candidates,” she said. This problem stands out because there is low primary participation. With low primary turnout most of the people who vote in the general election only have the choice of the two winners of the primary. This lack of choice for most people who vote in general elections is cited as a reason to use IRV.

Although IRV opponents complain that the new system would be more expensive, Murphy said the expense could be mitigated because Ramsey County is expected to purchase new voting machines in 2011 and those machines could be bought with IRV capability.  While there would be an additional cost for voter education, she said, it could be offset by the elimination of the primary, especially if the school district elections were moved.

“What is the cost of better government, better representation, higher voter turnout, and shouldn’t we be taking this into account as well when asking about the price tag?” said Murphy.

IRV would could remove the need for a primary because the it would allow the winner of the general election to be elected with a majority, not just a plurality. Removing  the primary would be a small cost savings.

At this time, there is not expected to be any primary races for the St. Paul City Council elections because all of the wards have only one or two candidates. Several candidates are currently running unopposed since the DFL endorsements. In the nonpartisan city races there is no party designation on the ballot so only two candidates go on to the general election regardless of party distinction.

A Better Ballot Campaign information report for the St. Paul City Council.
Questions that were raised at the St. Paul City Council.
For more information on how IRV works click here.

Still, developer Jerry Trooien started the meeting he organized with this blunt statement: “This is not an open democratic forum.” Instead, he described the gathering with about 50 attendees as an “informational forum.” For the next 2 1/2 hours, Bridges project staff spoke about geography, topography, flood plains, water tables, gradation, plan overlays and storm water retention. 

What Trooien and the staff didn’t talk about was the Bridges project. For a forum run by the Bridges developer, called by the Bridges developer and paid for by the Bridges developer, there was almost no talk of the project itself.

“Tonight was to establish some parameters,” said Roland Aberg, the Bridges master planner and main speaker.

Trooien promised that JLT would discuss “more exciting things” at the next meeting.

The meeting ended with a question-and-answer period that was supposed to take only written questions because other meetings have been contentious. Since “everyone has been very civilized and cooperative,” Trooien said, “we can scrap the written question idea.” But he did ask that questions focus on topics addressed that night. Only one question, seeking clarification of a technical term, came from the audience.

Much of the meeting focused on the West Side Flats Master Plan. All of the speakers were careful to point out that this plan does not actually cover the area where the Bridges is to be located and neither does the District del Sol small area plan.

Trooien said a lot more information is available now about the West Side Flats Master Plan than when the plan was created in 2002 . “Six years ago, all of us, me included, had one notion about what that housing and retail would look like,” Trooien said. “Historically, no one should have seen this as a major retail space.”

The next meeting will be Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Wellstone Center.

Trooien has created a series of four meetings from 6 until 9 pm at the Wellstone Center.  The meetings will be held on April 23rd, April 26, April 30, and May 2. Trooien said in an e-mail, “In recent discussions with several board members of WSCO it is apparent that everyone wants to see these forums begin.

The project was proposed and put in front of the West Side Citizens’ Organization board, which shot down the plan. It then went before the Zoning Board for rezoning, but before it could go before the St. Paul City Council, member Jerry Trooien withdrew and councilman Dave Thune wrote a letter proposing creation of the Tri-Council, a group of neighborhood councils affected by the project, which now is defunct.TIF funding that had been requested was denied by St. Paul’s PED Director Cecil Bedor.
The Tri-Council took up the issue with initial difficulty, which only got worse until the process was called off by Thune. After the cancellation of the Tri-Council WSCO and Trooien each created an independent series of meetings about the project. The first meeting was a JLT meeting with no fireworks or excitement, at all. (read about the  third JLT meeting.) The JLT meetings wrapped up and lead right into the new WSCO process.
The view of the river has also been designated a endangered historic site by the Preservation Alliance.

Here’s a look at the players:

Jerry Trooien: Trooien is developer of the project and owns a large portion of the land. He is founder of JLT Inc.

Dave Thune: Ward 2 Council Member, Thune has tried to mediate troubles between Trooien and community members with strong opposition and  limited success. He is currently running for re-election unopposed.

Tri-District Council/Tri-Council: The body was set up set up by Dave Thune to consist of members from the WSCO, Capitol River Council (Downtown), and Fort Road/West Seventh district councils to review the Bridges. Thune disbanded the group after several very contentious meetings.

WSCO: The West Side Citizens’ Organization, the planning council district in which the Bridges project is located. WSCO underwent a shift during its 2006 annual meeting, where an unprecedented number of participants, including volunteers from outside the neighborhood, came out and swung the board from strong opposition to the project to a very favorable group.

Don Luna: New WSCO board chair and chair of the Tri-Council until it was disbanded.

Diane Gerth: West Seventh resident and appointee by the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation to the now-defunct Tri-District Council.

Bob Spaulding: Downtown resident and appointee by the CRC to the now-defunct Tri-District Council. Current member of the Planning Council.

Additional stories:
Sen, Sandy Pappas says the law won’t change so Bridges can get TIF money.
Planning councils write letter to Trooien.
WSCO annual meeting had large number of attendees and candidates.
The rift over the Bridges even became a matter of family strife.
The National Park Service came out against the project.
The new WSCO board tried to find footing.

Minnesota troops and families were fed and linked up across the world.

Read MoreSt. Paul Fire Chief Doug Holton has been named Milwaukee’s new chief. This move comes after a no-confidence vote from the firefighters union.

Ramsey County Board commissioners gave themselves a 25 percent raise after a study comparing salaries of officials in other counties.

A junior high school in Eagan and a senior high school in Willmar were closed this week along with eight buildings on the University of Minnesota campus after a bomb threat.