Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

NDDC Vice President Joe Grundhoefer, of J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein, speaks with Bill Bassett, Interim City Administrator, after this morning’s Downtown Forum. Could they be discussing Stop Signs at 7th Street, the Repeal of Section 1306 or the Expansion of Sidewalk Dining?

Bill Bassett delighted the audience at the NDDC’s November Forum. The guy can cynically joust with Dixon Bond in critiquing potential mechanisms of regional cooperation and then in the next breath cheerfully go toe-to-toe with Kiffi Summa on the comparative philosophies of policy discussions at the council level. Wow…

He refreshingly opened his comments with the statement that “a little skepticism about all things governmental is probably good”. He went on to say that there is a natural tension between elected officials who advocate for the wishes of the citizens and the bureaucrats (his word, not mine) that are focused on limiting the use of resources. He views his role as working to accomplish the council’s goals while respecting the availability of resources.

Bill praised organizations like the NDDC which he said “enrich life in the community”. He cited the long history of volunteerism in America and the important contributions which it has made to our country. He said that in his 40 something years in public service, he had learned that “you can’t replicate the genius of the citizens”.

Okay, I’ll admit it, in my shameless efforts to promote downtown, art and social gatherings, I came up with a title that I thought might catch your attention.

On Thursday night, November 10th there will be a reception called Bead Days - Studio Nights. I’m sure that you can sense the innuendo in that title.

The reception will be held at Art on Water, located on the West Bank of downtown. You can find it on the NDDC’s Art Map. The event will run from 5 pm to 8 pm.

And these artists are of a sex, that would be female, and, at the very least, they’re burning with inspiration. Listen to this list of Hot Babes: Judy Saye-Willis, Leanne Stremcha, Jennifer Wolcott, Lori Schmidt, Cathy Collison, Elizabeth Schott, and Sue Hammes-Knopf.

It doesn’t stop there, the event includes, and I’m quoting here, “chARTonnay, wine, women, chocolates”. I think it was Will Rogers who said, “Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker”. These Art Tarts are bringing both!

Oh yeah, there’s some art too. Art’s kinda romantic…maybe Will might modify his line to something like “Art is a start, candy is dandy but liquor is quicker”.

So check out the Torrid (results of the inspiration of these artists of the female) Sex Downtown next Friday night.

A recent trip to Duluth (more on why later) turned up additional examples of the what I’ve called the Bohnhoff style of sculptural (or three-dimensional) signage.

Here’s a salon with an interesting name and an eye-catching sign and a store that obviously sells handbags and features a sign that stands out against the industrial siding.

I’m still fond of the signs that hang perpendicular to the building but these latest examples have helped me to see that signs running parallel to the building can be effective too.

Suzannah Ciernia, a member of both the 1997 and 2005 Northfield Citizen Task Forces on Highway 3 wrote me an e-mail recently that I thought brought up some excellent points. With her permission, I’ve reprinted it here in the NDDC Blog.

Hi Ross,

While serving on the Ad Hoc Committee, I recall the traffic counts we looked at for the Third Street crossing of TH3 were surprisingly high and were close to the minimum required for a light. I remember hearing someone reference that the school buses on their way to Longfellow chose that crossing point in the morning in order to be on the right side of the street in front of the school. Dale Finger was on our committee and probably knows the intersection better than anybody.

Another compelling reason is the river crossing. There are only 3 bridges that cross east-west traffic over the river. Enhancing the use of the old “entry” into town would take the strain off of 2nd and 5th Street bridges. Good transportation plans encourage having alternate routes in place to more evenly distribute traffic flow.

2nd Street bridge is a workhorse, chosen by the majority of west side residents coming into downtown. It’s traffic load will only increase as the development goes in.

5th street bridge carries traffic coming from the south and west, and is already carrying a heavy load. The adjacent TH3 intersection is the only westward route for southside residents heading to 35W. This bottleneck is further exacerbated by the train schedule (which is predicted to increase) and now by Walgreen’s entrance/exit traffic, which further strains stacking capacity. (The entire area west of the 5th Street-TH3 intersection is poorly designed for traffic flow and safety and should be re-designed, but I digress)

A light at 3rd Street would give drivers another choice, and lighten the load at 2nd and 5th Street bridges. It would also enhance traffic calming, keep speeds legal, foster the feel of a city street, and could accommodate a beautiful safer pedestrian crossing location.

I spent two years meeting every month with MNDoT, 12 other citizens, and city staff, and we studied every inch of the .6 mile stretch of TH3. Two years!! Our conclusions were developed after much dialogue and were based on a hard-won consensus. This was no small feat. Our top priority was safety and for this reason, we all strongly advocated for a light at 3rd Street. (We also strongly advocated NO right turn lane at 2nd Street, however MNDoT pushed it through).

In every single public meeting, survey, interview, and there were many, people stressed safety over everything else. I can’t think of any more compelling reason to install a light there.

Never doubt…

Suzannah Ciernia

The NDDC Executive Committee held its twice monthly meeting today. From left to right are Brett Reese, Rebound Enterprises, Dan Bergeson, Carleton College, Renee Huckle, Northfield News, Joe Grundhoefer, J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein, and Dave Shumway, 1st National Bank.

The group meets relatively frequently in order to respond to new challenges and take advantage of emerging opportunities. Due to the busy schedules of all the members the meeting was moved from its usual 7:30 am start time to 11:30 am.

Dan Bergeson thought that it would be a good idea to move the meeting out of the office and into the community. Brett Reese supported the suggestion saying, “It’s lunch time; let’s eat”.