There are two Event Center presentations for the public next week:
Monday @ the Main Library 6 to 7pm
Thursday @ Oakview Library  6 to 7pm
There is more doubt about the EC than I have ever heard to date out on the street (after last week’s debacle….)Â People really need to show up at these public sessions and start asking some TOUGH questions!!
Also, for any one interested in the Railroad Relocation Plan, Mayor Huether and Joshua Peterson (Project Manager) will be at Saturday’s Listening and Learning session.
Overlook Cafe at the Falls  9:00 to 10:30 this Saturday
Any one who oppposes a rail siding south of 57th Street or a second bridge over the Falls needs to show up Saturday and also, Monday, October 3rd. There will be a RR update at the 4:00 Informational and public input at 7:00.
The EC meetings are supposed to be INFORMATIONAL meetings… something tells me the presenters won’t be too keen on allowing any public debate. More likely they’ll be interested in ramming propaganda down our throats.
Regarding the RR relocation – I don’t have a huge problem with any of the proposed routings, other than the second falls bridge, but part of me is starting to wonder how smart it is to be systematically reducing the amount of rail present near the city center. First Phillips to the Falls, now this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to remove blighted properties in and around the Falls and Downtown; I just think more and more that the future of this town and this country relies on our ability to re-industrialize into a place that actually MAKES things, rather than a society that just consumes them and charges 30% interest on the money that we borrow to do it. New factories will probably be more important than new office buildings in a few decades.
Or maybe I’m just a Malthusian psycho. I don’t know.
Something needs to be done. I have never seen so much rail traffic DT before. It has to be at an all time high.
Just to be clear – the RR relocation won’t reduce rail traffic downtown, it will just move the switching operations to out near Great Bear. In fact, RAW rail traffic could increase, since just about every train that is shunted at the yard will have to travel back through downtown to head either south to Canton, west to Ellis, or north to Crooks or Dell Rapids. Only trains continuing east would not go back through downtown (but would probably pass through it on their way out to the switching yard).
Removing switching operations from downtown isn’t so bad in and of itself. However, I do worry about some abandoned rail lines (like west to Mitchell or southwest to Tea / Lennox) whose rights-of-way are being dismantled. Sure, we may not need those lines right now, but I’m of the opinion that rail is only going to become more vital as the economy reaches a New Normal.
Somebody wanted me to ask you, and now I am wondering, what city department do you work in?
I don’t work for the city. Just an interested citizen.
I agree with Tom that HEAVY rail will become ever more improtant for moving freight, or long-distance travel. But light rail is the way to go for commuter, or possibly even short distance light frieght transport. In fact, underground light rail (also known as a subway system) will eventually be the way to get people around and in/out of DT vs. a surface light rail (climatic considerations are very important) let alone a danged FREIGHT train.
I agree. If I were a city planner, I would start securing rights-of-way for future transit lines NOW. The lines themselves are probably decades away, but it’s nearly impossible to assemble paths for them once the area has developed heavily around it. Just ask Minneapolis as they are planning their new Southwest line.
I think more rail service would be a good thing.
Still the cheapest way to transport goods.
San Fran has one of the best public transit, subway systems in the country. And it costs $1.
You can usually get to Black Sheep pretty easy from downtown by jumping on that one that runs out to Ellis and back, with the rocks in it.
I’m sure you do.