I have been following many South Metro cities and their failed attempts at creating walkable downtowns to try and drag their residents from the comfort of their cozy homes to the sterile and boring shops that have been created to try and stimulate tax revenue and weight loss. We started with Burnsville, Apple Valley and Lakeville, now Rosemount is getting into the act of building hike/bike infrastructure to help get their residents in shape while heading to their empty downtown stores.

First we had Burnsville and their stupid Heart of the City development project which has spawned the “I hate nearly everything Mayor Kautz does” campaign of Jerry Willenburg. The original goals of that project have failed numerous times including being inexpensive to the taxpayers, bringing some sort of worth to the city, and making Mayor Kautz a hero loved by everyone in Burnsville and the rest of the country. Then came along the failed Founders Circle project in Apple Valley which has created what appears to be the remnants of nuclear holocaust right there at the corner of Galaxie and 153rd. We also have Lakeville’s multitude of “downtown” projects which create nothing even close to a sense of community for its residents.

Now we have Rosemount, which should have taken a close look at the failures which surround them and thought twice about diving into a project which has had absolutely no success anywhere nearby. Instead they went a step further and took buildings over by eminent domain and then lead the press as well as local officials around on a tour of the area to check and see how their walkable downtown would progress in line with their plan to make Rosemount residents less fat.

I’m fucking tired of this bullshit idea that we should have bike trails, sidewalks and other hokey nonsense to create a warm and cuddly environment to entice people to walk. Listen up city administrations, people aren’t going to give up their cars to walk downtown just because there are cutesy little trails leading them right to their favorite restaurant dishing up trans fats, 1000+ calorie entrees, and gobs of alcohol. People are going to exercise because they want to do it not because the city unnecessarily evicted tenants and razed buildings to rebuild tax friendly, empty storefronts which makes even more room available for big box stores and other retail establishments. While Rosemount is a lot different than Apple Valley when it comes to vacated land, I find that there’s nothing more disturbing than walking around our “walkable downtown” and noticing that the area is economically depressed as all hell. Yay for tumbleweeds, street signs on vacant streets, and ‘For Lease’ signs.

Rosemount still has the option of ignoring the Met Council’s funding and allowing people to make their own exercise decisions. I really suggest that they learn from the numerous mistakes of the other South Metro suburbs in their failed attempts at creating walkable downtowns and come up with some other idea instead.

What is it with the South Metro? Why can’t cities have their own identities? Is the desire to get rid of fat people that big of a priority? If so, I suggest that Rosemount requires that all restaurants offer the option of running on treadmills instead of booth or table seating. These treadmills would be set to burn the exact number of calories they are about to ingest rather than building bigger and better trails so that people have the option of walking there and back — which the majority will not end up doing anyway.

Anyone else up for my treadmill idea or at the very least asking that Rosemount not fall prey to the same mistakes that Burnsville, Lakeville, and Apple Valley have made recently?

The Rosemount Historical Society’s Gerald Mattson was as happy as a pig in shit when developers tearing down buildings in Rosemount found yet another old outhouse pit filled to the brim with items that were so valuable that people 100+ years ago decided to throw into piles of their own crap.

While reading the article I couldn’t help but think of The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault. There is *nothing* more exciting than hyping the fact that you’re digging stuff up only to find old bottles, carriage springs, and an old shoe. The fact that they were happy to have the ability to dig down even further into the rabbit hole and come up with some crock shards was just fucking awesome.

Personally, I’d prefer it if they weren’t able to do this excavation because it would mean that buildings weren’t being taken over by force to revitalize the downtown. As if we need another strip of expensive pieces of property which will be filled with businesses such as another Cost Cutters, a nail salon, and a Chinese restaurant or three. Maybe, if Rosemount is lucky, they will be able to get some chain restaurant to move in after two or three local mom and pop shops fail because they can’t afford the astronomical rent and lack of business!

Let’s all give the Rosemount Historical Society a big round of applause for daring to go where no man has gone before and happily digging through other people’s shit to ensure that the truth is obtained and all doubts about the activities that occurred on a piece of property 100 years ago are erased!

According to this article over at the MNSun, SKB Environmental is seeking a permit to allow expansion of their Rosemount landfill (adjacent to the Pine Bend Refinery).

While there has been support for SKB’s expansion from Dakota County Chamber of Commerce and Dakota County Technical College for the great public services that they provide, one resident in particular remembers that when the facility was opened it would close much sooner and with less waste and less acreage covered. Unfortunately, several times over the years, the landfill has received permission to increase capacity and operation time:

The site was built in 1992 under different ownership to hold 2.5 million cubic yards of waste. When SKB purchased the property in 2000, its capacity had been increased to 6 million cubic yards. In 2003, SKB got approval to begin accepting construction and demolition debris to expand capacity to 15 million cubic yards.

Now SKB is asking that they be permitted to increase capacity to 27 million cubic yards over 151 acres. The problem is that in order to do this they will have to fill in a half acre wetland and a third of an acre of another wet land that is 9.5 acres in total size. In addition they will have to move power lines, an oil pipeline and numerous trees which will need to be replanted elsewhere. The height of the landfill was already increased under a 2000 proposal and their estimated height would have an impact on such beautiful natural areas such as Dakota County’s gorgeous Spring Lake Park Reserve. EKB’s response to that? “It would improve at least the view from Rich Valley Golf Club on 145th Street East by blocking the view of stacks from the nearby refinery.” Let me tell you which view I’m more concerned about…

While the property has been zoned for this specific purpose, do you think that they should be given yet another variance that may impact the natural beauty of Spring Lake Park Reserve and the surrounding area or should they be limited to what they have now?