Archive for the ‘Lakeville’

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Elko/New Market Residents Happy by Luck

Published May 13th, 2013 in Burnsville, Lakeville, Savage, South Metro | 2 Comments »

According to this article in the Star Tribune, the first ever resident survey in Elko/New Market shows that residents are extremely happy with their city when compared to other similarly sized exurbs. However, the reason for their happiness seems to relate more to the fact that residents outside the city, located in the larger county, are footing the bill for much of what Elko/New Market needs.

From the article:

Despite a bare-bones police operation, with many hours covered by sheriff’s deputies, the city’s rating for police patrols is in the top 10 percent in the metro as a whole and the top 5 percent among exurbs, city officials say.

[...]

It’s part of Scott County, meaning it can take advantage of an aggressive program of sharing costly equipment and technology with the county and the three big suburbs to its north — things like excavators, which can cost a fortune yet be rarely used.

Listen, being fiscally conservative is a great thing and no one is complaining about a city which takes it seriously. However, while sharing less critical resources such as excavators makes sense and having access to the County’s services are part of paying taxes there, it seems almost wrong to rely on limited Sheriff resources while other cities have to fund their own large police departments to ensure proper coverage and then tout it as a great thing.

Elko/New Market has learned from many of the mistakes of its neighbors and is taking the proper approach to growth by waiting for actual need rather than confusing ‘need’ with ‘projection’. Still, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it and to brag about using the services of the county paid for by other much larger groups while claiming fiscal conservatism will likely rub some the wrong way.

What do you think about this one? Is Elko/New Market somewhere you’d like to live? Do you think they’re taking it a little too far when they are able to piggyback off the success of other local large suburbs by sharing resources and having to fund little of their own? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What Makes You Attached to the MSP Metro?

Published May 9th, 2013 in Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Farmington, Hastings, Lakeville, Metro, Minneapolis, Rosemount, Savage, South Metro, St Paul | 20 Comments »

According to this MinnPost article which discusses what makes people attached to a particular city. The article discusses with Katherine Loflin, a placemaking expert and lead consultant for a Gallup and Knight Foundation study on what drives attachment to a city. While the results of this study are interesting, most people may disagree with the findings.

From the article:

If people can find jobs and reasonable places to live, they’ll be attached enough. Worrying about quality of life, amenities, public spirit and all that squishy stuff seems a bit trivial in an economy that still recovering from one of the worst recessions ever.

But Loflin makes a business case for love of a place. These days, those people most likely to drive the growth of a city, namely young people between the ages of 25 and 34, have reprioritized. Quality of life registers high on their list of necessities. Corporations are finding that increasingly they have to sell talented recruits on the place where they would be relocating as well as the job.

As a hiring manager working in a field which is showing rapid growth and high competition during the turned down economy, I have been fighting to both recruit and retain people for my teams. While my experience is limited and certainly not as wide as the number of people looked at by this study, my experience in no way mirrors what Loflin has said. Talented recruits just out of school or with less than 10 years experience have just as much desire for high salary, regardless of their current location in our outside Minnesota, as anyone else I have talked to recently. You can sell them all you like on the greatness of the MSP metro but they know two things: money talks and it’s freakishly frigid here. When recent grad students are requesting six figure salaries without more than a few months of relevant real-world experience and getting offers from elsewhere with it, I can give you a 99.999% guarantee that this study is bunk.

What do you think about this one? Would you pass over a much higher income elsewhere just so you could stay where the people are? Are you surprised that recently minted masters-level students without much relevant experience are receiving such high offers when you hear in the news that this group is so hard pressed for cash lately? What attaches you to the MSP metro? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Should All Lights Be Right Turn on Red?

Published April 12th, 2013 in Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Farmington, Hastings, Lakeville, Rosemount, Savage, South Metro | 21 Comments »


A couple of red traffic lights against a blue sky originally uploaded by Horia Varlan

According to a recent SunThisweek Letter to the Editor from a Burnsville resident, the lack of a modern traffic signal coupled with a sign forbidding right turns on red has created a situation where lengthy delays for no good reason are frequent. One has to wonder whether most, if not all, traffic signals should be upgraded and have right turn restrictions eliminated.

From the Letter to the Editor:

Isn’t it time to rethink the no-right-turn sign at the foot of the southbound exit of I-35E as it controls traffic entering County Road 42?

[...]

Currently, I estimate that one out of every five drivers disregards the no-right-turn sign and I can completely understand their frustration after waiting, in some instances, as long as a minute and a half, while no westbound cars are even visible at this intersection.

How many times are you sitting at a light about to turn right and realize you’re forbidden to do so by the tiny little sign that mocks you as no traffic approaches? This is often the case at many lights in the state, especially those that ignore or simply do not support detection of cars at an intersection with no cross traffic. It’s not only frustrating but increasingly irrelevant now that we have the ability and, in many cases, the built-in support for smart signals which simply are not doing their jobs. For once I agree with a Letter to the Editor writer entirely. This, and most other SOTR signals, need to be reevaluated for right turns on red and have the smart technology installed or utilized as intended.

What do you think about this one? Do you agree that forbidden right turns on red is generally useless? How often do you see people ignore the tiny signs suggesting they do otherwise? Do you think more often than not signals should be detecting cross traffic presence and changing the light to alleviate stacked traffic in the other direction? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Man Steals Ammo, Hits Employee With Car

Published April 10th, 2013 in Lakeville, Police Calls, South Metro | 13 Comments »

According to this Dakota County Criminal Complaint, one Mills Fleet Farm thief is lucky Fleet Farm employees are not armed after he stole $200+ worth of ammunition and tried several times to run down a Fleet Farm employee with his car as he exited the parking lot.

From the complaint:

On April 4, 2013, Lakeville police responded to the Mills Fleet Farm on a report of a theft in progress. Upon arrival officers spoke to loss prevention employee, S.A., who stated that he observed the suspect, later identified as Trent Joel Foley, remove the tag from a $14.00 box of ammunition and put it on a $219 box of ammunition. Foley then went up to the checkout and paid $14.00 for the $219 box of ammunition. Foley then walked out of the store.

Once outside of the store, S.A. approached Foley and identified himself as loss prevention and told Foley that he needed to talk to him about a problem with the merchandise he just purchased. Foley told S.A. that he had done nothing wrong and continued to walk away. Foley got into his vehicle and refused to talk to S.A. S.A. continued to ask Foley to stop, but Foley drove into S.A. and hit him in the knee area. S.A. backed away and Foley drove into him a second time. S.A. said that he tried to move away again but Foley once again hit him a third time. After the third hit, Foley left the parking lot.

Supposedly the reason ammunition is flying off the shelves in the United States is because people need to protect themselves from the criminal element in this country as well as the evil government that rules us. One really does have to wonder what would have happened if the Fleet Farm employee had been armed with the same ammunition which was stolen by the thief who attempted to run him down.

Are you surprised something like this happened at Fleet Farm? Knowing the shortages of ammunition, the prices because of that shortage, and the media and political hype over the issue, are you at all concerned that these sorts of issues will start to become more commonplace? What would you have done if you were in the shoes of the loss prevention employee? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.

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