The demolition of the old hospital is nearing completion. I took this photo this morning from St. Olaf Ave, facing south across Way Park. There are no walls left.

Once the cleanup of the site is complete, Friends of Way Park (is there a web site?) will likely ramp up to begin working on the site to bring it back to a park.

One issue to be resolved is what will become of this section of 1st Street which will bisect the expanded park, east/west. This is a photo of the street facing east.

1st Street dead-ends to the east at St. Dominic's and to the west at St. Olaf. Should the street be made into parkland, too? Or should it remain a street?

I took photos of tonight's dress rehearsal for "Rock 'n Roll Revival VI: Back in the USA '05" which opens this weekend at the Northfield Middle School Auditorium.

A limited number of seats are available and will go on sale Wednesday morning at the Northfield High School Media Center.

See the 200+ photos in the Rock 'n Roll Revival 2005 photo album.

All photos are posted in three sizes: thumbnail, 640 pixels wide, and full-sized originals, suitable for prints. Just right click on the full-size photos and select "save target/image as..." to download it to your PC. Then use your own photo editing software to retouch, fix red-eye, etc.

Tiny's reopened this morning after a remodel, and it opened smoke free. Known by many as Tiny's Smoke-Shop, the local shop/pool room/eatery will still sell smokes but the air will now be smoke-free.

Carleton College is reportedly in the final stages of negotiating to buy the old Northfield Middle School from the Northfield School Board. They plan to use it for the college's art department instead of constructing a new building. ArtSpace will evidently withdraw from the project.

What are the pros and cons of this development?

Join the ISSUES discussion list. There are over 90 area citizens currently on the list.

Anyone can view the web-based archives of the ISSUES discussion list, too.

Registration requires a working email address along with a first and last name.

The list is moderated, meaning, we review all comments before allowing them to be posted to the list. See the guidelines for participation.

Mendota Homes began tearing down the Exhaust Pros and Kump Lumber buildings on Tuesday. I took this photo on Wed. morning.

See the Feb 16 Nfld News (subscription required): City agrees on preliminary redevelopment

Enebak Construction Company moved their equipment into place yesterday to start work on the Bridgewater Farms housing development at Cty Rd. 1. and Farrel Ave.

Dundas planning commissioner and blogger Bruce Morlan's house is visible in the background. Blogger Kathleen Doran-Norton's house is just to the north on Farrel. See their recent posts here and here about the development.

See yesterday's Nfld News (subscription required): Dundas council approves Bridgewater Farms EAW.

In the non-Northfield media this week: Gary Dahl, Ray Cox, Scott Neal, me.

Just five weeks after the fire that destroyed their sheep barns and over half their sheep, the Reads and staff of Shepherd's Way Farms look to the future with optimism. Looking at the disaster as an opportunity is the mantra of the times at the farm. Support and volunteer work have helped Shepherd's Way to make much progress towards recovery, but much recovery remains.

Bridgewater Farms is the name give the new development on the hill south of Northfield. This fast moving project has been contentious in both Bridgewater and in Dundas, leading to a joint Planning Commission that has been working the issues associated with the project. Preliminary plats are now online at my blog.

The Center for Sustainable Living's Community Composting Project not only is growing (over 50 households now!), but has focused additional efforts in fundraising to assist victims of last December's Pacific Tsunami.

Patrick Farwig, coordinator for the CSL Composting project noted, "After the tsunami we decided that we would take all of our January donations and pass them along to help with the victims. We told our participants this, and they gave us 2-3 times what they normally do."

All totalled, the Community Composting Project has raised over $500, that it will combine with an additional $500 raised by the Village School to The Concerned for Working Children, an organization which provides schooling to working children . Students and teachers from the Village School met with representatives from this organization this past Fall on a trip to India and Thailand.

According to Patrick, "the donations should be a big deal for them, since they are a relatively small organization."

To join the CSL's Community Composting Project, youj can visit the CSL's Website and fill out their Web Form.

The StarTrib ran a
front-page story (requires free registration and login) about public officials who blog. Leading the list was Northfield's own Chief Gary Smith. Also prominently listed were
Rep. Ray Cox and our own
Griff Wigley.

The Northfield Public Library Board met on Tuesday. There was the introduction of a new member and much discussion of a future bonding referendum for the expansion/move of the library.

More information after the jump.

I took these photos at 4 pm this afternoon.

The City intends to plow/remove snow from downtown streets tonight, as evidenced by the signs at every downtown intersection.

Considerable melting took place today, as evidenced by the photo of the curb near 4th & Division.

If you had Heidi Hamilton's job, Director of Public Works for the City of Northfield, would you make the decision to do the downtown snow removal routine?

Update Feb 15, 9:43 am: City Public Works Director Heidi Hamilton emailed her explanation. I've attached it here as a comment.

A class of real trouble-makers. This was my second weblog class for civic leader... limited to bloggers who are currently in office (elected or appointed), and those blogging for their gov't or non-profit jobs.

The weblog headline "newsfeeds" of all the civic bloggers (citizens and leaders) in the area appear in the right-side nav bar of this page, automatically updated.

See all their blogs with recent headlines, as well as the blogs of other area citizens, in the extended entry below.

73 people have taken the poll on 89.3 The Current as of 9 PM. The poll is now closed. The results:

Read the dozens of comments...