Holistic Traffic Calming for Stanley/84th Street/9 Mile Creek Parkway area

This item was sent my Councilmember Elkins

Item 5.3A on Monday evening's City Council Agenda is the approval for City Staff, with assistance from SRF consulting, to move forward to develop a "Holistic Traffic Calming Plan" covering the area bounded by France Ave on the east, Normandale Blvd on the west, 84th street on the north and 90th St/Poplar Bridge Rd on the south.

Staff and SRF will be using the same basic approach that SRF followed with Edina City Staff to develop holistic plan covering northeast Edina recently. Like the target area in Bloomington, the problem in this area of Edina is that it has been faster to travel between Hwy 100/50th Street and Exclesior Blvd/France Ave on the local residential streets within the neighborhood than it is to drive around the neighborhood using the arterial streets that ring the neighborhood. To solve the problem, the Edina project team developed a plan that makes it easier and faster to use the arterial streets around the perimeter of the neighborhood (especially France Ave) instead of the local streets. They accomplished this by a combination of features that make roads like France flow more smoothly (such as added left hand turn lanes) and features that slow down traffic within the neighborhoods (such as traffic calming devices). (You'll receive a second e-mail shortly to will point you to a copy of a PowerPoint presentation describing the Edina plan that was recently presented at the University of Minnesota's annual Transportation Research Conference.)

Everything will be on the table as part of this plan, including a "Road Diet for 84th Street". This is the one and only opportunity that this neighborhood will have to participate in the development of a comprehensive traffic calming plan that addresses the longstanding problems on Stanley, Nine Mile Creek Parkway and 84th Street without making things worse for everyone else who lives in this study area. It's going to be extremely important that everyone who lives in this area participate in the process, which will include a number of public meetings and open houses. Monday's City Council meeting will be the first official step in this process and you should come to show support if you can (this will probably come up between 7:30 and 8:00 PM).

Regards,
Steve Elkins
Bloomington, MN City Council, District 3

Shoreview Green Community Self-Guided Tour, August 4 - 5

You can read about best management practices for water quality, but on Saturday and Sunday, August 4 & 5th from noon to 5:30 PM each day you can tour 11 real examples in Shoreview and Lake Owasso yards.

The free, self-guided Shoreview Green Community TOUR map is available at the
Shoreview Clean Water booth near the Lake Johanna Fire Station at Victoria and 694
at Slice of Shoreview July 27 - 29th and on the City of Shoreview's website: http://www.ci.shoreview.mn.us/WhatsNew/WhatsNew.html Sponsors include city of
Shoreview Environmental Quality Committee, Rice Creek Watershed District, Grass Lake Water Management Org., and the Sierra Club Northstar Chapter. Call 651-483-9867 with any questions.


Did you know that in 2006 Bloomington business and residents used 4.8 Billion Gallons of water on average, up from 4.5 Billion in 2005. That works out to 13.1 Million Gallons Per Day.

Bloomington wells provided 76% and the remaining 24% had to be purchased from the City of Minneapolis.

Minneapolis has goal of 12% carbon dioxide reduction by 2012

Minneapolis awards five more grants to help fight climate change

Minneapolis has awarded five grants of up to $10,000 each to help local neighborhoods and organizations fund creative ways to engage residents to fight global warming. The Climate Change Innovation grants are being awarded one month after the City awarded twenty smaller grants of up to $1,000 to neighborhood groups, churches, non-profit organizations and parks to support their efforts to curb climate change.

The 2007 grant awardees are Seward/Longfellow Neighborhoods, Linden Hills Power and Light, Alliance for Sustainability, Lyndale Neighborhood, and the Bakken Museum. Award winners will use the grant funds to creatively energize Minneapolis groups, residents, and businesses to take action. Each grant is a learning opportunity, because both the grant awardees and the City will benefit by learning how different approaches work to engage the community to combat global climate change.

To learn more about how award winners will use the Climate Change Innovation funds, visit http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sustainability/ClimateChangeRFP.asp .

July 24, 2007


This is part of the City’s Sustainability Initiative to reduce the City’s carbon dioxide footprint 12% by 2012 with the realization that we all can and must play a part in reducing climate change.

Free "Water Smart" Landscaping Classes

Learn about:



- landscaping methods that help you reduce the amount of water used outside.



- conserving and using rainwater more effectively in your yard and garden.



- preventing pollution of our lakes, ponds, and wetlands from stormwater run-off.



- creating habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife.



Learn innovative landscaping practices (from easy to advanced) that will help you reduce water use, enjoy your yard more fully, and benefit our environment. You can receive specific advice for your own yard. Ask questions. Get clear answers. Receive lots of free information to take home and apply in your landscaping. You can also use these water-smart practices for your church's landscaping, townhome association grounds, business and many other great locations.



Class Dates, Times & Locations:



July 25th (Wed.) - 6-7:30pm - Penn Library (8800 Penn Avenue, Bloomington)

Aug. 5th (Sun.) - 1-2:30pm - Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge (3815 American Boulevard East, Bloomington)

Aug. 5th (Sun.) - 6-7:30pm - Bush Lake - Izaak Walton Chapter Lodge (7515 Izaak Walton Road, Bloomington)

Aug. 14th (Tue.) - 6-7:30pm - Penn Library (8800 Penn Avenue, Bloomington)

Sept. 5th (Wed.) - 6-7:30pm - Penn Library (8800 Penn Avenue, Bloomington)



The classes are FREE and open to the public, although space is limited. Attendees will be able to register to win water-smart landscaping tools. To register for the class, send an email to Gregg at bushlake@bushlakeikes.org, or call 612-618-8616.

Has Bloomington (MN) Lost It's Way??

Pictures at Harrison Park entrance accross from city hall on 18 July 2007 about 7PM.
Do you want to be riding a bicycle, or one of your children and have them run INTO the grate like this? They are all over Bloomington. Instead our city council has been working with developers to put up more building along I 494 and thus create more traffic, more pollution and gridlock. Not to mention a lot of that traffic diverts to our city streets. Just hope you are not riding a bicycle during the rush hour and hit one of these inadequate grates. Someone is not tending to the peoples business.

Hazordous Biking in Bloomington, MN

While biking across Bloomington, MN today, on 90th Street, to attend the rally for the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge I noticed many sewer grates with bars running parallel to the curb. Some had perpendicular braces and some of those were broken. Yet if any skinny bike tire were to go into one of those I am sure a biker would have an accident and even be thrown into a vehicle.

I did find a couple of Bloomington City Council members and made them aware and provided some of the ones that I made note of on the way over. But it was by no means an inclusive list.

Then coming back on 86th Street many more were noticed. Conclusion is they are all over Bloomington. I would assume Bloomington would have liability knowing they have they issue.

Some of the ones noticed but certainly not all:

1805 W. 90th Street- south side
James and 90th Street
Emerson and 90th Street
Columbus and 86th Street
86th Street at Beard
84th Street at Kell

Now if the city claims they do not have money to replace them it could probably find additional funds by not hiring outside consultants to provide information on more buildings along Interstate 494. Since this is no longer a highway anyway it merely becomes a parking lot to provide more pollution.

So let the city start work today on building a better biking system throughout the city so a person does not feel they will get killed using the city streets. If the city says it is part of their Strategic Plan for 2030 that is not a satisfactory answer either. This is not a tomorrow problem but a today problem that appears to be prevalent throughout the city and provides a hazard to any bicyclist who try not to pollute and get from point a to b.

Please all homeowners and residents look at your sewer grates and report them to the city if they are a hazard.

Too much stuff

"Most people work 40-plus hours a week at jobs they don't like to buy things they don't need"

NYT 6/24/07

Stop buying things made in China and also things with plastic packaging. Tell stores you do not want those plastic bags and bring your own.