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Category Archives: Economic development
Land development code issues
LIve-blogging the Planning Commission tonight; it’s a special meeting for the sole purpose of discussing an issue arising from the “new” land development code adopted in 2011. 7:37 pm. Richard Schulte is describing the process for the meeting which is … Continue reading
Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Land use, Policy problems
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Forum on energy savings with Al Franken
On Friday, my Council colleague Erica Zweifel and I (along with a St Olaf student who’s been helping with local commercial PACE program development – more about this below) went up to the St. Paul (Falcon Heights, actually) campus of … Continue reading
Posted in CIP, Council agendas, Economic development
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More about bicycling
More stuff about bicycling: “The best streets to cycle down are illegal to build in the majority of North America’s suburbs, because they’re too narrow, too pedestrian-oriented, too enclosed. Even the ones that are very pedestrian-oriented often restrict cyclists to … Continue reading
Economic development fads and fashions
The history of local economic development is a story of academic fads, says Mario Polese, professor at the Centre Urbanisation Culture Société at Montreal’s Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. On one hand, this article gives me a little more … Continue reading
Posted in Economic development
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Smart growth, smart towns and smart spending
As I noted in in a previous post, I think the 2008 “smart growth” Comprehensive Plan is fiscally smart, too. The economic sustainability aspect of our development pattern is also why I’m a big fan of Strong Towns. The Strong … Continue reading
Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Land use
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Curbside Chat, continued with case studies
The Curbside Chat whizzed through a few examples of how some typical projects work. Consider a typical road maintenance project in a relatively low density subdivision: $354,000 = total cost of repaving the street 79 years = time to recoup … Continue reading
Posted in Economic development, Land use, Policy problems
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Fixing the problem
Here is the message from the Curbside Chat yesterday: The current development pattern cannot be maintained without big tax increases or big cuts in service. The dilemma of tax increases and/or service cuts should sound pretty familiar to Minnesotans. The … Continue reading
Posted in Economic development, Land use, Taxes
3 Comments
Live blogging a “Curbside Chat”
I’m in Richfield at the Woodlake Lanture Center (there are a couple of stuffed ducks on the wall in front of me) listening to Chuck Marohn and Jon Commers of Strong Towns starting their Curbside Chat A rapid fire-presentation about … Continue reading
Posted in Economic development, Land use, Policy problems, Taxes
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The next chapter on economic development
Although it took far too long to get to this point, the Council finally made a decision on Tuesday, July 5, on whether to continue to have an Economic Development Authority. By a 4-3 vote (Rossing, Vohs, Pownell, Nakasian voted … Continue reading
Posted in Council agendas, Economic development, Policy problems
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