Citizens

A reception was held at the State Capitol yesterday afternoon to close out the Sesquicentennial and thank everyone involved. (I blogged a photo album of the event here.) The program included the official sealing of the Sesquicentennial Time Capsule.

Our legislators, Sen. Kevin Dahle and Rep. David Bly, signed a Sesqui banner (I missed the deed) which will evidently be placed in the time capsule, to be opened in 50 years for the State’s bicentennial.

  
Left: their signatures on the banner (see the yellow arrows)
Center: the faux sealing
Right: the time capsule

Regarding the TVA coal ash slide on December 23 — this report wandered into my inbox today, and for inquiring minds, here’s the:

Kingston Fossil Plant Annual Ash Pond Dike Stability Inspection 2008

You’ll see some problematic areas highlighted in yellow.  Check this out!

This is the kind of thing that Nancy Prehn gets worried about, living atop a 7 billion cubic foot gas storage dome… things that go boom in the night!  Yes, you guessed it, there’s natural gas drilling just down the road…

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO (and dig the cute “Mr. Sparky” ad)

——————————–

Search For Cause of Well Explosion

Norma Fiorentino of Dimock Township looks over the big hole left on her property after an explosion in her well.

By Norm Jones

A mysterious explosion has left a woman from Susquehanna County without water and state officials scratching their heads.

Norma Fiorentino said her place near Dimock is bone dry thanks to an explosion in her well on New Year’s Day.  The woman believes drilling for natural gas in the area could be part of the problem.

Officials from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection performed tests at the Fiorentino home on Monday, but it will take some time for them to get results back.

“DEP did take a sample of the water,” said an anxious Fiorentino.  “They’re going to get back to me in a couple of days on the water, whether I can drink it or not.  They think there might be gas in the water.”

Officials from Cabot Oil and Gas said they have never seen a natural gas operation thousands of feet away cause an explosion on a water well.  Workers from the company investigated the explosion but said they didn’t find any sign of natural gas. The same goes for area fire officials who also conducted tests on the Fiorentino property.

Norma Fiorentino said she isn’t satisfied with the negative test results.

“(You) just don’t have an explosion like that for nothing,” she said.  “I just want to know what caused it, and is it safe to stay here.”

I surprised Mayor Mary Rossing in her store Present Perfect this morning with my video camera. I mostly asked her questions that had to do with Monday night’s City Council meeting, which you can read a bit about here. We touched upon her changes in meeting procedure, her tactics on facilitating meetings and her outlook on information exchange in Northfield and on the financial health of the city’s businesses.

Mayor Mary Rossing’s First Day from Bonnie Obremski on Vimeo.

(stolen from the STrib, the expression says it all)

Get over yourself, abNorm, you LOST!

I think the Sex Pistols (what’s left of ‘em) are writing Carleton Security Services’ campus warning signs now:

God Save the Camry!

Aw shucks! We didn’t get back there quick enough to try their sandwiches. I just can’t eat that fast. The food was so good, the prices, good, the atmosphere, really good!

I think this closing goes back to my long understanding that people like to hide behind something while they are eating -maybe it’s in our genes-and the lights should be low so everything and everybody looks their best even if they had a bad night’s sleep-sheer vanity.

Lou’s was maybe too open and fresh and clean and exposing for all but the exhibitionists amongst us. I don’t really know if any of this is still true, but it used to be true in some places. Copper Bleu in Apple Valley and maybe even Monte’s in Fairbault, I think had similar problems.

I for one, loved that modern open, airy feeling. Basically, I am a shy, older person, and not as fresh looking as I was in my youth, I tend to keep a low profile, but when I go out, and put on a little color and freshen up my hairdo and don my best clothes, I like to be in a cheery place, able to check out what others are wearing and doing a little bit, and letting them see what it looks like to be me. I love to try and look at the plates of food as they go flying by being delivered to booths and tables beyond. Hmm, that looks good, wonder what it is?

That’s the fun of it, isnt’ it? So, I’ll take a reality check, and, uh, hold the harsh judgements, please. Thank you.

Now that the holidays are behind us, Mary of My Northern Garden is marking the new year and looking ahead to the 2009 growing season with a reflection on Garden Resolutions. The Green Grower blog at the Daily Green offers a good perspective on what's important as you get ready for spring gardening with a post on Seven Habits of Great Gardeners (hint: they pretty much boil down to "feed the soil, not the plants"). The seed catalogs are trickling in -- in fact, if you're on a lot of lists, they may be flooding in.

January is the gardener's time to dream and plan and make lists: new varieties to try, new garden beds to prepare, new garden layouts for those mindful of the benefits of rotating crops to different areas of the garden. Soon it will be time to order seeds and to start seedlings for some crops indoors.

For people who are cutting back on their discretionary spending, a fairly modest investment in seeds and some basic gardening supplies can translate into both a satisfying pastime and fresh, edible results that can save on your grocery bills from spring into fall and beyond.

If you don't have your own garden space, or need more, the Greenvale Park Community Garden is offering full and half plots on a first-come first-served basis for 2009. The cost of a full plot is only $25, and water is provided. Applications will be accepted beginning February 2 and can be downloaded from the website or picked up at Greenvale Park Elementary School, the Community Services Office, Northfield Public Library, or the Community Action Center.

Happy gardening in 2009!

There's a cage in there somewhere.

It’s not too late for New Year’s resolutions, so I have been pondering what I could do better in the garden next year. It’s a long list — believe me — and I won’t go through them all. But, here are a few resolutions that I’m making that other gardeners might want to consider, too.

• This year I will deadhead more. Picking off spent blooms not only instantly cleans up the look of the garden, it encourages more blooms and nips diseases in the bud.
• This year I will stake (not cage) my tomatoes. By late July, my vegetable patch looks like a jungle, and most of the tomatoes are falling over, sprawling, or bending their cages like the Tower of Pisa. A deeply planted stake and some old nylons would keep the tomatoes upright and more productive. Also, it’s OK to prune excess foliage on tomatoes — and if you stake them, it is recommended.
• This year I will not plant warm-season vegetables too early. The urge to get tomatoes, peppers and other warm-season crops in the ground is overwhelming, but self-control will result in healthier and happier plants. Minnesota’s last frost day is May 15 and many gardeners will not plant tomatoes before June 1.
• This is not so much a resolution as a plan: I will garden in the morning. Because I’m self-employed, my schedule is flexible. But in the past, I’ve always worked early in the day and gardened in the afternoon and evening. The problem with that is it’s easy to put it off or be interrupted with other activities.  It’s also hotter. So, this year, I’ll try to get outside for an hour or so before heading to the office.
• Finally — and this will not be hard to keep — I will dig up more grass for flower, herb, or vegetable plantings.

What are your garden resolutions?

      

 
Mayor Mary Rossing put on a happy face from outgoing Mayor Lee Lansing at the start of last night’s Northfield City Council meeting.

See the album of 8 photos or this slideshow:

Citizens packed last night’s Northfield City Council meeting last night for the Way Park public hearing.  A dozen addressed the Council at open mic.

I’ve closed comments here. Continue the discussion in this message thread attached to a previous blog post.

See the album of 17 photos or this slideshow:

Winter term classes started at Carleton yesterday morning. I'm teaching Latin 101 five days a week this term. As usual on the first day of class, I was a little manic and the students were a little subdued. I'm hoping that, as is usually the case, we will reach a kind of equilibrium before too long. The class is fast-paced. In the first day, we covered the alphabet, pronunciation, grammatical terminology, the first and second conjugations (present, imperfect, and future), and the irregular verb to be. Fortunately, I have an excellent teaching assistant, Jenny, who can be counted on to correct my occasional mistakes and to laugh at appropriate times.

A partial list of the girls’ activities at dinner tonight:

• Praising the entree, sweet-potato chili
• Saying “please” and “thank you” (both did this, but it’s new for Vivi)
• Singing “Silent Night” and parts of “Most Wonderful Time” and “Frosty the Snowman”
• Debating whether it would be okay for Vivi to have “tree raisins” for dessert (it was not)
• Pretending that Jesus was with us for dinner
• Accidentally burping, and genuinely exclaiming, “Koos ME!” (Vivi only)
• Discussing breakfast options
• Counting the number of days (2) until the next day at nursery school
• Making barnyard-animal sounds, including alpaca and llama
• Analyzing the fact that it’s already “niddime” outside when we eat, and wondering when it will again be light at dinnertime
• Pretending to go to sleep (Vivi only)
• Struggling to hold up the right number of fingers (Vivi) for various numbers being called out by her sister
• Entertaining their father, and to a lesser degree, their mother

Len Witt, the person who came up with the concept of Representative Journalism, is visiting Northfield this month. I’m inviting the community to join us at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17 at the Goodbye Blue Monday cafe for an hour of informal discussion. Please email me directly at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com if you think you might come. If we have a large response, I might change the venue of the discussion to a place with more space. Hope to see you there!

Just like last year, we got a holiday greeting card from Morgan Weiland and Cameron Nordholm that included their photo.

Who are they? We have this blurb on our About page:

We’re indebted to former KRLX news director Morgan Weiland and former KRLX station manager Cameron Nordholm for their help in launching the show in early 2006. Both graduated from Carleton in the spring of 2006 and then promptly abandoned Northfield for Washington DC and lives of quiet desperation.

   

I got this email yesterday from a Way Park area citizen, Tom Kotula:

On Monday, Jan 5th, the city council will hear discussions about whether or not to close off first street west to connect the two halves of Way Park. Perhaps this might be a good place to start a discussion concerning that possible decision.

See the agenda item and addenda pdfs for tonight’s council meeting.

See pps 24-26 of today’s Council Agenda packet (PDF) for more details on the public hearing. I’ve converted it to plain text below for convenience.

See the Way Park overview on P. 3 of this Appendix to the Northfield Park System Master Plan.

ITEM: Public Hearing for Closure of 1st Street West at Way Park

ACTION REQUESTED:

The City Council is being asked to hold a public hearing for the closure of 1st Street West at Way Park.

SUMMARY

The City Council is being asked to hold a public hearing for the closure of 1st Street West at Way Park. The 1st Street reconstruction project is dependent on a discussion on this issue. On December 15, 2008 the City Council received the feasibility study for the reconstruction of 1st Street. At this time staff asked for direction on the issue relating to the closure of the street at Way Park to maintain the project timelines. The Council made the motion for staff to move forward with the process required to close the street. The first step in this process is to hold a public hearing. A notice of the public hearing was published in the Northfield News on December 24 and 31, 2008. A notice was also sent to the residents potentially impacted by the project on December 23, 2008. The next step will be for the City Council to act on the closure at the second meeting in January 2009.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Project History

The Way Park Master Plan was approved by the City Council on April 16, 2007. Prior to adoption there was an extensive planning effort by the Parks Board that focused on development of the park for park and recreational purposes. The resulting concept plan includes the closure of 1st Street, with 72-foot diameter cul-de-sacs located at the west and east ends of 1st Street where it intersected Way Park. See Figure L-10. There was an in depth discussion of the use of this design, a hammerhead, from a functionality perspective.

However, there was not discussion on operation and maintenance of the design and how it relates to the overall city budget and staffing levels. The plan was approved contingent on further review of the vacation of the street as required by the charter. On October 20, 2008 the Council ordered the feasibility study for the 1st Street reconstruction project. At this time they also gave staff direction to provide information on seven items related to the project that included three related to closure of the street:

1. Report/Comment from fire/police chief on closure of 1st Street.

2. Cost implications of options

3. Vacation vs. Closure of the street

The feasibility report was presented to the council and received on December 15, 2008. The council also passed motion 2008-0165 with a 4-3 vote to move forward with the process necessary to close First Street.

A motion (M2008-0165) was made by C. Nelson and seconded by C. Pokorney to DIRECT STAFF TO CLOSE THE STREET THROUGH WAY PARK CONSISTENT WITH THE WAY PARK MASTER PLAN WITH POSSIBLE SIZES OF THE CUL DE SACS STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION.

Yes votes by Pownell, Nelson, Denison and Lansing. No votes by Vohs, Pokorney and Davis. Vote is 4-3. Motion carried.

The options for 1st Street through Way Park can be lumped in two categories, a thru street or street closure. The attached table presents information related to each category.

Closure Vs. Vacation

If 1st Street is closed through Way Park, the City could consider vacation of the street Right-of-way. However, the street could be closed without vacation. When a ROW is vacated the land ownership is turned over to the surrounding land owners, in this case the City. To go through the vacation would require the services of a land surveyor, attorney and staff time. Staff does not feel that there is a benefit for ROW vacation that would justify the expenditures. It should also be noted that the vacation procedure will require a public hearing adding an additional procedure to the project process.

Public Input

There was an extensive public process as part of the Way Park Master planning efforts. Throughout that process overall there was neighborhood support for the Master Plan as adopted by the council. A questionnaire was completed at that time related to closure of the street and parking. The full summary is attached.

Below is a summary to the question, “1st Street West should be closed at the east and west property boundaries of Way Park?”

Yes No
1st Street Residents 6 6
2nd Street West and St. Olaf Avenue Residents 23 6

SUBMITTED BY: Katy Gehler-Hess, P.E., City Engineer
Brian Hilgardner, P.E., Design Engineer

ATTACHMENTS:
1. Notice of Public Hearing
2. Figure L-10
3. Table on Issues related to Street Closure
4. Way Park Survey Results Summary

Today’s STrib has an article about Minnesota coal ash piles, prompted by the TVA coal ash disaster in Tennessee.  Seems Minnesota regulators have been sleeping at the switch –  the three ash piles in dikes “classified as dams” in Minnesota are supposed to be inspected every eight years, and there are “no” records of inspections for two out of three.  NONE.  Not good odds. The three sites in Minnesota are at Xcel’s Sherco plant in Becker, MP’s Boswell in Cohasset and Laskin Energy Center in Hoyt Lakes (remember Hoyt Lakes?  Where the Mayor testified “We’re used to mercury here.”  Uh-huh…).

Thanks to the STrib for reporting on this:

Engineers to inspect 3 state dams for waste ash

The STrib’s “yes it CAN happen here, yes it HAS happened here” heads up on Minnesota’s own prior coal ash disaster, spilling all over Highway 61 and into Lake Superior:

The disaster highlights the concerns over disposal of coal ash, which has been a worry in Minnesota because of the risk of groundwater contamination. The Tennessee ash slide also is reminiscent of a July 1993 mishap on Minnesota’s North Shore, in which a rain-soaked coal ash heap crashed down the hillside.
…
Fly ash is known to become unstable when saturated with water. It happened 15 years ago on the North Shore of Lake Superior, when a 27-acre ash heap at a former LTV Steel power plant turned into uncontrollable sludge after heavy rain. About half of the heap crashed down the hillside, covering part of Hwy. 61 near Taconite Harbor and knocking out an electric substation. Some reached the lake, and the land cleanup cost the company $11 million, said Jeff Stollenwerk of the Pollution Control Agency.

Needless to say, Minnesota’s coal ash slide went to court:

Arrowhead Electric Cooperative v. LTV Steel

Here’s the court’s description of what happened:

Between 1957 and June 1982, LTV and Cliffs (collectively LTV) deposited waste ash, generated by LTV’s plant, on an ash heap located uphill from UPA’s facility. The heap consisted of approximately 770,000 cubic yards of waste ash, covering approximately 27 acres. When the contract was agreed to, much of the ash heap was covered with top soil, grass, legumes, and new growth trees.

In March 1991, LTV applied to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for a permit to resume depositing ash on the heap. The MPCA investigated and determined that the deposits could be polluting Lake Superior through rain and other water run-off. The MPCA issued a “no discharge” requirement, ordering LTV to stop the release of water from the ash pile.

LTV had several options for compliance, including placing a clay cover over the ash pile or hauling away the water from the ash pile. Instead, LTV opted to construct a containment and recirculation system, consisting of a large pond on the downhill side of the ash heap to collect surface runoff and leachate water. Water was pumped from the pond to the top tier of the ash heap, sprayed back onto the heap, and dispersed by “evapotranspiration”; i.e., evaporation of water through the vegetation covering the ash pile. This system was approved by the MPCA.

LTV also hauled excess water from a coal stockpile and dumped the water into the pond or directly onto the ash heap. The level of water in the ash heap was increased by above normal rainfall in July 1993. On July 28, 1993, the ash heap became saturated and liquified (a rare phenomenon called “static liquefaction”). A large part of the ash heap collapsed, and a mixture of ash and water flowed downhill, causing damage to UPA’s facilities.

For damages resulting from the ash slide, UPA recovered $509,345.38 from its casualty insurer, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Hartford brought this subrogation action against LTV on theories of negligence, trespass, nuisance, and strict liability. LTV denied liability and affirmatively alleged that an act of God (the above-normal July rainfall) caused the ash heap’s collapse.

The result in the case?  Mixed:

The insurer of an electrical cooperative brought this subrogation action against mining companies to recover payments for property damage caused by the collapse and liquification of a large ash heap. The district court ruled that an exculpatory clause in a contract with the electrical co-op exonerated the mining companies from strict liability but was unenforceable because it violated public policy. We affirm the construction of the exculpatory clause but reverse the determination that the exculpatory clause violated public policy. We also affirm the inapplicability of the act of God defense, and we remand for further proceedings to determine whether the mining companies are liable for willfully causing the damage.

The Friday Memo, written by interim Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.

Although it’s directed to the mayor and city council, it’s helpful for citizens to see what’s going, too. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page.

See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.

And see the one for Dec 24, too.

NOTE! There’s a City Council work meeting tonight. See the Agenda.

I snuck out of the house this morning to do some intervals on the Arb trails. Last night’s sleet had, predictably, turned the barely-skiable snow into rock-hard ice. The brilliant sunshine made up for the terrible conditions.

Freezing drizzle, instead of several inches of predicted snow, coated vehicles and roads in southern Minnesota yesterday. I saw a car being driven this afternoon with only the driver's side of the windshield scraped clear of ice and all passenger-side windows still coated. Not a smart thing to do.



Despite the frigid cold that followed the warm spell (pouring in from the north with gusty winds overnight that woke me at 3:30 as I tried to figure out what was banging against the house), the ice and the light sprinkling of snow that covered it melted rapidly on our dark, south-facing roof and water trickled steadily down icicles that had formed on this ill-fitting gutter and downspout. The resulting puddles at the top of the driveway froze solid, creating slicks of ice that would have been smooth enough to skate on, were we the size of squirrels and so inclined.