Open Thread #21
You guys have now posted well over 3,000 comments on this blog. Keep up the good work!
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Since October 2005
Grand Forks Life is the first and biggest blog covering life in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. GrandForksGuy shares local news, rumors, and his own opinions.
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NOTE: The views expressed in original posts on "Grand Forks Life" are merely the views and personal opinions of the owner of this blog. No guarantee is given for the accuracy of content. The views expressed in reader comments are the views of those readers. "GrandForksGuy" and "Grand Forks Life" do not endorse the views of readers.
34 comments:
Am I the only one in town who remembers that this isn't the first time there has been talk of establishing a new medical campus in Grand Forks? Back in 1999, a group of Altru doctors were talking about forming their own healthcare provider called First Choice Medical Complex and Surgical Center. If you're willing to pay the $2.95 price, you can read an old Herald article here. The 60,000 square foot facility was going to cost $8.2 million and be located at the intersection of 47th Avenue South and South 20th Street (across the street from South Middle School).
No, I don't remember that at all. Must have not been reading the paper at that point, and there weren't blogs to keep up with :-)
I wonder how serious it got and why they gave up on it. The whole Aurora thing started with the psychiatric guys, right around the time that Altru dropped that whole program, right? There have always been medical alternatives here, the current situation is mostly interesting because of the concentration of services in one place.
Altru needs competition. I have been letdown several times by Altru, a new place would be very interesting to me.
When Altru took over the UND Family Practice Center, all of our regular visits and assorted billables there nearly doubled. I would gladly welcome competition to Altru, but only under the condition that it would improve care as well as push for lower prices. Far too often will you see competition come in and the pool of talent and service becomes diluted, rather than improvement or superiority rise to the top.
Once again, because Blogger hates me,
~ Jeni
Any viable ideas as to where things could be implemented for north end living to improve? I'm not only talking eating establishments (lord knows this blog is crowded with talk of eating establishments), but also general retail, specialized retail, clothing, etc.
Yes, it may be a short drive to the south end of town, but what about the concept of a community or neighborhood shopping area? Perhaps I don't want to chug more gas than necessary to go get some adequate clothing maybe a lamp because mine just died.
Does anyone have any idea what has caused all of the movement of retail locations to head south?
(BTW, it seems you're required to make the new Google account to use blogger now. *sigh*)
Does anyone have any idea what has caused all of the movement of retail locations to head south?
It's the classic "slippery slope" -- once development (particularly higher end homes) settled on the area south of Demers, retail necessarily followed. Then, with commercial development growing on the south side, there's more impetus for residential growth in that direction.
Growth to the north is hindered significantly by the industrial zone along Gateway Drive, as well as the rather "run down" appearance of Highway 2. To the west, you again run into an industrial area, plus, if memory serves, there's some drainage/soils issues out there.
I took my in-laws on a tour of the city on Saturday, and I was struck by how the city, north of the University, and not counting the Ralph area, has stagnated and, in some places, become really blighted. Hopefully, the Ralph and associated development on that property will help to reverse that trend, though without a grocery in the northwest corner of the city, residential growth will remain an issue.
I want to comment on the article I saw in today's paper about busing children to school in Grand Forks.
The woman in the article says the city bus isn't a safe option for her daughter, nor does the bus go directly to Red River High School. I doubt she's ever given our city's public transportation system a try.
There's a big misconception that city buses are filled with scary people who can't afford to or are unable to drive themselves. As a regular rider of the city bus, I can tell you that's not the case.
The drivers are friendly and accommodating and many riders are people who choose not to drive.
Riders range from white collar professionals working on their laptops during their daily commute, to parents taking their kids for a fun ride around town, to the elderly and disabled, to students of all ages. It's not a dangerous place to be.
Also, two city bus routes do in fact go directly in front of Red River, and another route drops off students right in front of Central.
Since gas prices have spiked, I've seen an increase in riders. Even standing room only on occasion. I encourage even more people to give our public transportation system a try before knocking it.
Kudos to the GFPD for their monitoring of sex offenders in Grand Forks. The story is in today's Herald. I love to see this.
Can you believe the ACLU has an issue with their policies? It boggles the mind. What is the ACLU's message? We support the the sex offenders liberties to have more access to our children?
I am concerned about the welfare of children but the sex offender program may not be the best option. There is a big difference between a predator of children or a violent rapist and some 19 year old who gets in trouble for mooning or even two unmarried adults co-habitating (both of which are "sex crimes" which may warrant registration--although the latter has finally been repealled). The punishment should fit the crime. "Sex offenders" is not a one-size fits all title.
I don't think I would call the northside Grand Forks neighborhoods blighted, but work should be done to prevent what could easily become blighted neighborhoods. One would be to give homeowners incentives to put investments into their properties--kind of what Fargo has been doing with the Roosevelt neighborhood. Generally though, I think Grand Forks has done a very good job investing in all parts of the city. For example, I can't think of any major street in the city that needs substantial roadwork. Gateway, 42nd, Washington, 32nd, Columbia really have no pot holes whatsoever. That is rare. I've lived in places including Sioux City, IA, Albany, NY, and Yonkers, NY and almost every major urban street is crumbling--this really prevents investments in these areas.
Anon, I grew up near Albany, NY and I agree with your statement. Worst road conditions anywhere I've lived.
I don't think I would call the northside Grand Forks neighborhoods blighted
I wouldn't necessarily, either. I was refering to Gateway Drive, which has pockets of ugliness all along it. Some businesses keep up a good front, others just let it go.
There is a massive pothole in the slow lane of eastbound 32nd ave right in front of the C'Mon Inn. I forget about it every day. My car hates me right now.
I'd like to see some lines painted soon. Sometimes I feel like I'm in that Seinfeld episode with "luxury lanes."
Have you never driven on N. 42nd Street between University Ave and Gatwway Drive? Potholes everywhere.
Dear Tellmann family,
Open a Red Pepper in Fargo so we don't ever have to come to Grand Forks again.
Sincerely yours,
Everyone in Fargo.
Few comments?
I was one of those kids who was forced to take the city bus. Yes, there were scarey people on there, but it forced me to deal with them and forced me to deal with that was reality. Mommas not gonna be at my side everytime I'm in a bind.
Second, I take back that I am happy Altru has competition. Auruora is a FOR PROFIT agency. I worked for a for profit company, and it can get BAD. Its all about money, never about people. We can give altru credit, they DO TRY to please MOST people. They are going to screw alot of people, just wait, and see. Also, I know someone who had to go into their urgent care, he had a broken bone. They told him there was an ATM at the Valley Dairy nearby and he had to pay up front or they could not render him services. He then just drove the extra few miles to Altru instead.
Watch. We will be begging for Altru and asking for forgiveness soon I just know it.
Dear ND Highway Department;
Please build a bypass around Fargo so that we don't have to slow down to 55MPH on I29 and I94 to accommodate people in Fargo who can't drive.
Sincerely yours,
Everyone in Grand Forks, Bismarck and Wahpeton
"Please build a bypass around Fargo so that we don't have to slow down to 55MPH on I29 and I94 to accommodate people in Fargo who can't drive."
That would also prevent some people who would otherwise pass through Fargo's big retail areas from spending their dollars there...people coming to Grand Forks from Bismarck or the Twin Cities could forget about Fargo...more dollars for Grand Forks...hey, this has possibilities!
All kidding aside, I would rather see the highway department spend their money building a couple of new bridges in GF or maybe a southside bypass. Fargo-Moorhead already has a high-speed route (I-94) to get across the river...GF-EGF needs one too!
Regarding Altru/Aurora...
"I worked for a for profit company, and it can get BAD. Its all about money, never about people."
It's a bit broad to say that every for-profit organization is "all about money, never about people."
"Watch. We will be begging for Altru and asking for forgiveness soon I just know it."
Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't see that happening.
Dear ND Highway Department,
I was just kidding.
Sincerely yours,
Everyone in Grand Forks, Bismarck and Wahpeton.
PS. Please rename our city.
Sincerely yours,
Wahpeton.
Fargo-Moorhead already has a high-speed route (I-94) to get across the river...GF-EGF needs one too!
I'm not sure that I get your logic here. High speed routes are intended to get people through a city, not into it. If there's a south end bypass (like on Merrifield Road,) it will just have people who are driving from, say, Bemidji to Fargo miss the city altogether. But there isn't enough traffic that follows that route (beyond beet trucks) to make it a 65MPH road.
With that in mind, the most sensible high speed route would be Highway 2, and converting that from its current state to a limited access highway would be a nightmare. In addition, there's not enough east/west development here to merit such a change, although that sort of road would probably encourage more spread out growth.
For the time being, I don't imagine any fast roads through town beyond I-29.
You know, I normally don't like to criticize people, but last night's WDAZ report on upcoming road construction imparted little, if any, information. There was a confirmation of work at Columbia and 24th (about time!) but I couldn't make sense out of anything else she said.
And whoever thought that a close up of the hands of the EGF planner (or whoever he was,) during his interview should probably go back to film school. Fellini, you're not.
I am just curious, has anyone out there had to deal with Altru's Community Care? You know, the area of Altru that serves the people with no insurance. I have yet to hear anything positive about them "serving" the community. I would love to hear some of the more positives, should there be any. Anyone?
"You know, I normally don't like to criticize people, but last night's WDAZ report on upcoming road construction imparted little, if any, information. There was a confirmation of work at Columbia and 24th (about time!) but I couldn't make sense out of anything else she said."
I agree 100%, dale. WDAZ is good at sometimes wasting time during their newscasts, but that had to have been the biggest waste of time in quite a while. The reconstruction of Columbia/24th isn't exactly breaking news and, as far as the rest of the report, it was uninformative and pretty unintelligable.
The reconstruction of Columbia/24th isn't exactly breaking news and, as far as the rest of the report, it was uninformative and pretty unintelligable.
Chalk up another one to WDAZ. What's with them lately anyway? They are producing such awful reports, full of misinformation or non-information...is their program director new? Do they even have one anymore?
Tuey has infiltrated their ranks, disguised as various women and is sabotaging their product, working TV in the day, Paper at night. Hmmmm.. let's see, which WDAZ reporter have we NEVER seen at the same time as Tuey?
It is rather depressing that this blog can get 3,000 comments from a small group of people when my own forum for UND students can't get more than a few every week or so...and these are the same students who will spam up Facebook like there is no tomorrow :(
Don't mind me, I'm sick.
Isn't dakotaroar.com mainly full of your posts.
aren't you the one that called the police that were forced to use a taser on someone M__f__ers?
I've laid off posting so much. I figured that if no one else was going to post anything worth talking about, I might as well try to stimulate someone to respond. Hence a bunch of posts. Hence trying to rile people into a response. What do you care how much I post?--If it bothers you so much, post something yourself.
I haven't looked into whatever happened with the tasering case recently, but I did (and still do) think that the university security guards in that case used force that was far in excess of what was required. The language I used was probably not very rational, but it did express how I felt after watching that video.
What can I say? I'm overly dramatic at times.
Anyone know where I can get into contact with the people that are supposed to be building another theater in town? Because Carmike has seriously began to suck as of late...
They have been raising their prices every few weeks, they didn't show 300 until the Sunday after it was released, and they are now NOT picking up Grindhouse, it appears, even though it's the #4 movie in the country. But they'll proudly show Firehouse Dog (#10, and an all-round crappy movie).
Bob and Janice Moore of Fosston, Minnesota, according to the Herald. I'm sure you can find a phone number somewhere. They also apparently own theatres in Blackduck, MN and Crookston ND.
https://secure.forumcomm.com/grandforks/articles/index.cfm?page=purchase&id=29396&CFID=21042767&CFTOKEN=42858033&jsessionid=88307eb291603624e743
Matthew, perhaps your site doesn't get a lot of traffic because on first glance it's kind of ambiguous as to which school it's about - UND or NSDU. I know that's what I felt the first time I checked it out. Heck, the domain is ndbison.com, which began the confusion for me. If I were you, I'd do something to make it crystal clear and therefore more aesthetically accessible to UND students.
Otherwise, I like the site. :)
Thanks for the input! Yes, it's hosted at servers at ndbison.com, but it will be moving to campusdakota.com at some point soon. I'll try in the near future to put a blurb at the top with "UND" in big letters or something. I've been unable to use domain masking to keep dakotaroar.com in the url because it has messed up logins in the past. Actually, when the ndbison.com guy and I get our act together, we're going to be combining our forums to get a broader membership of ND students, but the unique Dakota Roar boards will be limited to those members who are actually at UND.
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