Green Giant

So they're painting the Alerus Center a dark green color...among others changes underway and still coming to the city-owned events center.  Thoughts?  You think you'll like the new look?

Anyone have a spare billion dollars?

Is it petty of me to be taking some level of umbrage with a select few down in Fargo calling for a diversion to protect that metropolitan area from flooding? (Fargo Forum article) ("Flood Protection Coalition for the FM-Community")

Perhaps diversions can offer advantages over dikes and floodwalls. In fact, I remember that in the wake of the 1997 flood I thought a diversion sounded like the best method of protecting Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Then I started to realize that the cost was simply going to be far too high and a less costly system could offer a similar level of protection.

Don't get me wrong. The flood protection system that the Grand Cities eventually did construct was expensive. In fact, I sometimes think about the wonderful gift that has been given to us in this system. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to protect us and the money came from not only here at home but from each and every taxpayer in this country. We should be very grateful.

Having said how expensive the system that is now in place turned out to be, we actually did go with the less expensive method. A diversion would have cost not millions but likely billions. So what we have in place is the "cheap" option. Does it give us a "cheap" level of protection? Hardily. Even when the floodwaters rise perilously high as they did this spring, the mood is so different in Grand Forks than it used to be. The system has been tested and it clearly works. In my opinion, quality of protection is not a real issue here. Both diversions and dikes can offer a high level of protection.

Sure diversions limit the need to buyout homes within city limits. Sure dikes can obstruct the view of the river from within the city. Grand Forks suffered dearly in 1997...far more than any other Red River Valley city has seen since. If the residents of Grand Forks had to make sacrifices to protect their city in the wake of utter destruction, why should residents of Fargo not be asked to make similar sacrifices?

Pretending that dikes and floodwalls are inherently ugly things is wrong. Sure they can be unattractive if they aren't done right. The Fargo diversion group's website states that "The dikes, floodwall and such things are unsightly." Really? Have Mr. Schafer, Mr. Burgum, Mr. Offutt, or Mr. Scheel ever visited the Grand Forks Greenway system? Is a giant park bordering the river unsightly? If they did visit, they would find a massive system of well-maintained parks and trails that sees plenty of use and has actually focused attention towards the river instead of detracting from it. In fact, the Red River corridor in Grand Forks went from being something that outside of the downtown area was virtually hidden in backyards to being a public place that anyone in Grand Forks can enjoy.

So if the dikes and floodwalls in Grand Forks provide a more than adequate level of protection while at the same time creating an attractive and massive system of public parks, why would a similar system in Fargo be something to frown upon? Grand Forks went through a horrific disaster and responded by building an expensive but reasonably priced flood control system that protects the city and enhances quality of life for many. Fargo had a very close call and now a group of men with powerful and wealthy names want to respond by spending massive amounts of money to build a system that would offer essentially the same level of protection found in Grand Forks but that would also "protect the view" for a select few.

It may be childish of me, but it basically boils down to this: if it's good enough for Grand Forks, why isn't it good enough for Fargo?

"State of the City" or "About that Monorail..."

On Monday, Mayor Michael Brown will deliver his most recent installment of the annual "State of the City" address.  Read Tu-Uyen Tran's Herald article here.

Brown usually uses the speech to brag about several accomplishments of the past year and to introduce a couple of new proposals.  I'm very interested to hear more about two of the proposals that Tran hints at in his article.

Both projects seem to involve the Alerus Center and its surroundings.  One proposal is to develop 42nd Street into a "Destination Corridor."  Nothing too new here, but I will be interested to see if Brown has any specific ideas that haven't been brought up before.  This is something that the Alerus Center's new director Steven Hyman is pushing for.  I'll be excited to see what Brown and Hyman can dream up over time.

The other proposal is a "transportation-related project" that would apparently link the Alerus Center to the Ralph Engelstad Arena.  WHAT?  ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THAT MONORAIL?  That would be uber-cool!

Maybe that whole "New Horizons" plan didn't vanish into thin air like I thought it had...

UPDATE - 2/23/2009 - 5:00 PM
In the words of Tu-Uyen, it IS a monorail.  Read the actual 2009 State of the City address here.

Where those new railyards could go

So, if we did have millions of dollars just sitting somewhere...or maybe if we were God...where would we reroute those railroad tracks and just where would we put those new railyards? I'm thinking rerouting the lines north of town would be the most logical. Below is a little map I put together showing two possible routes that I came up with. The colored lines are the tracks and the squares show potential sites for the railyards. What do you think?

More on that railyard redevelopment...

 A few months ago, I introduced my idea (pipedream?) of redeveloping the BNSF railyards in the center of Grand Forks. I really do see this as sort of Grand Forks' manifest destiny.  If we could somehow reroute the railroad outside of the present city limits, we would have a vast swath of land located directly between UND and the downtown area.  Think of just how Grand Forks could be transformed if we could develop a new mixed-use neighborhood right in the heart if the city.

Incredibly ambitious?  For sure.  A project of such a scale that much larger cities would cringe at the costs and work involved?  Probably.  Impossible?  Never.  The nation's economy may have soured and the local economy - a bright spot in the country - may not be what it was a year or two ago, but times will eventually change.  Why not start planning now for an ambitious future that could be on our doorstep.  For that matter, I'm not entirely sure that the current economic conditions would be entirely prohibitive for a project like this.  Money will soon be flowing out of Washington for projects not so different than this.  Could this current stimulus bill or a future outlay of federal funds play a role in a railyard redevelopment project for Grand Forks?  You never know.

After all, a project like I'm talking about would put many people to work for many, many years.  Of course there are almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of such a total redevelopment of the railyards.  Rerouting the rails would probably cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.  Then there would be many properties that would need to be acquired.  Also, an extensive network of streets and utilities would have to be put in place.  Look at the possible street network that I've come up with...

A street system like that (three or four miles in total) would cost a small fortune.  In all, I think my previous "$100 million dollar" talk was a little short-sighted.  We're probably talking several times that.  Of course, not all of this would have to be done in one big swoop of construction.  The railyards would have to be rerouted and the existing rails would have to be removed before new construction could take place, but the street system could be built gradually over time.

Also, we're not talking about one entity hear.  I'm talking about a group of parties including the city, the county, the state, UND, BNSF, the federal government, local developers, banks, private investors, and who knows who else.  In fact, the biggest obstacle probably wouldn't be the cost...I think it would be the years of work it could take to bring all of the parties together and get them to work for the same outcome.

In a future post, I'll show you just how I would divide up all that land.  Let me know what you think about my ideas (and the realities) of how Grand Forks might go about redeveloping the BNSF railyards.

A grand plan for the Alerus

The Alerus Center's new director, Steve Hyman, seems to be a man with a vision. According to Tu-Uyen Tran's great article, Hyman presented a plan today to Alerus Center Commission members. The plan outlines numerous improvements to the Alerus facility over the next 20 years...improvements totaling more than $30 million.

$30 million more for the Alerus Center? What are all those Alerus-naysayers going to say about this? While $30 million may sound like a lot of money, readers should understand that the money would come from a capital improvement fund that has to be spent on improvements to the Alerus Center. This new spending will not require any new taxes...the funding source is already in place.

I, for one, am very excited that the Alerus Center finally seems to have a leader with a plan. Hyman appears to be proactive and has drawn up a plan which, forecasting the future of the center out to 2030, could potentially go beyond Hyman's time at the facility. Too often, a public facility is built and then the investment basically ends then and there. The facility slowly becomes outdated and unusable. This seems to be something that we have experienced many times over the years. The Civic Auditorium was never truly upgraded and it now sits virtually empty and may be destined for the wrecking ball. The GFK terminal has become a dinosaur and has limited Grand Forks' potential in some ways. I'm glad to see that the city's biggest public building project ever now has a leader that seems determined to not let the Alerus Center slip into the irrelevancy that such projects often seem doomed to face.

What do you think about Hyman's plans? What improvements do you want to see at the Alerus Center over the next five years? Twenty years? We only saw a brief glimpse of Hyman's powerpoint on WDAZ today...perhaps someone (Tu-Uyen?) could provide us with that powerpoint so we can see the plans?

Grand Forks' new Christmas decorations

This past holiday season debuted the city of Grand Forks' new Christmas decorations.  Gone are the days of the tattered old "Christmas bell" lights that used to decorate the city's thoroughfares.  The tinsel-wrapped bells with countless burnt-out light bulbs have been replaced with new LED snowflakes in a bluish-white color.  LED lights were also used on trees throughout the city and in the downtown area.

So, now that the holiday season has drawn to a close, I'm interested to hear what people think of the decorations.  The decorations are still up around the city in case you haven't had a chance to see them.  Actually, that was part of the reason to switch over from an exclusively Christmas theme to a more "winterish" (and non-denominational) snowflake theme...they can be kept up throughout the winter months if desired.

It's interesting to note that, while the city's old program used to include decorations along multiple major streets throughout the city, the new program essentially limits streetlight decorations to the downtown area and along Washington Street and DeMers Avenue.  Perhaps the city will look at expanding into other areas in coming years. I do like that the city has decorated multiple trees throughout town.  There are lights on trees along both North and South Washington and in a couple of spots on Columbia Road.

I have to say that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with LED Christmas lights.  I still appreciate the warmth and glow of "old fashioned" lights over the rather cold look of LED lights.  Also, the city appears to have come across some rather weak LED lights.  I was under the impression that LEDs are usually brighter than traditional lighting.  That appears to be the case with the lights used in the snowflake displays on the city streetlights...they look very bright  However, what's wrong with the light strands used downtown?  The lights on the downtown rooflines and on the trees lining Kittson Avenue/the railroad are exceptionally dim.  In fact, I had to actually point out that the city still had lights on the rooflines to a friend...she hadn't even noticed them on first glance.  The LEDs used downtown are so dim that they are hardily even worth the effort of putting up...the city made a bad purchase in my opinion. I'm also not entirely sure what I think about wrapping those LED rope-lights around the streetlight lampposts on Washington and DeMers.  In a way it looks cool and in a way it looks a little amatuerish.  What do you think?

I'm excited to hear what you have to say about the city's new lighting program.  Was it worth it?  What would you change for next year?

(Image - Pinkdream Photography)

If you had $100 million dollars...

In our discussion of how UND might go about expanding its campus in the future, the topic of redeveloping Grand Forks' BNSF railyards came up.  The railroad and railyards cut right through the heart of Grand Forks and occupy a large amount of land located directly between the UND campus and downtown Grand Forks.

Moving the railyards and redeveloping the land might be only a dream...something virtually unattainable...but it is still an idea that really interests me.  If thought about this for years.  I actually see it as sort of a manifest destiny for the city that UND and downtown should grow towards each other and a mixed-use neighborhood should be created between the two areas.  If we could ever accomplish this, we would have one giant, contiguous, commercial/campus/high-density residential area running through the heart of the city.

Below is a map to start the conversation.  The UND campus is outlined in green, downtown is the blue area, the "New Downtown" area that I've previously proposed and that now the city of Grand Forks itself is talking about is shown in orange, and the potential railyard redevelopment area is shown in red.  If you had hundreds of millions of dollars (or whatever sum it would take to magically relocate the railyards somewhere outside of the city, how would you use the old railyard area?  What portion would you devote to future growth for UND?  What types of public facilities would you like to see located in the new development?  What would you want the new developments to look like?  Should such a development be built in the classic grid-style of streets to mimic the older sections of the city?

New GFK Terminal

At tomorrow night's Grand Forks city council meeting, council members will see a presentation about the new passenger terminal being planned for Grand Forks International Airport. According to the presentation, construction will take place from 2009-2011 and the finished structure is estimated to cost around $21 million.

Update -10/13/2008 - 11:48 PM
Here is a description of the new terminal and some more pictures courtesy of the JLG Architects website:

Designed for efficiency, improved circulation, and future expansion, the new Grand Forks International Terminal offers a comfortable traveling environment within a “Wow Factor” showpiece for the State. Located on a new site, the two-level terminal provides two gates capable of boarding aircraft from the Saab SF340A to the Boeing B757-300 through a passenger bridge with access to all planes, including commuter flights. Space outside the facility includes curbside loading, parking for 400 vehicles, car rental facilities, and a new aircraft apron. Materials, including stone, metal panels, concrete masonry units, and glass curtain wall, were selected to fit the landscape, as well as evoke the concepts of flight. In order to avoid a “visual shadow” for the control tower, the front of the Terminal is slightly higher than the back.

The Alerus Center's makeover

We've been hearing about the Alerus Center's plans for renovations the past couple of months now.  Currently, Alerus Center executive director Steve Hyman is asking for an additional $465, 569.83 from the city to fund exterior and interior renovations for this year.  Further renovations are being planned for next year and an additional financial request will be made at a later date to fund those plans. Take a look at the Alerus Center's 2008 plans in the city council packet for the upcoming September 15th city council meeting.

The plans for this year call for for new signage on the exterior of the center.  The "Alerus Center" signs will be moved to more prominent locations and a new "Alerus Center" sign will be added to the building's east side which faces 42nd Street.  Additionally, signage promoting the Alerus as the home of UND football will be added to the building's southwest corner.  Some landscaping will also take place outside.  Interior renovations for this year include new display walls in the center's lobby area.

Is this money well spent?  What other renovations or capital improvement projects would you like to see the Alerus Center undertake in upcoming years?

New downtown projects

The Grand Forks office of Urban Development is working with private developers to get two new projects off the ground in downtown Grand Forks. At the same time, the city is developing a new program to assist future economic development projects such as these. (agenda)

The Marcil Group plans to invest $1.2 million to remodel the St. John's Block.  Their plans include remodeling space for the new Firkin Pub planned for the building and rehabbing nine apartments in the upper floors.

The old YWCA building across the street from Central High may soon be downtown's newest apartment development.  The building's owner, Mr. Steele Sacks, plans to convert the space into 25 new apartment units at a total cost of $2.03 million.

City staff at Urban Development is working with Bremer Bank to develop a "financial instrument" modeled after the Bank of North Dakota's PACE program for economic development.  The new program could assist these two downtown developments and future projects in the city's core.

Clean up the front door!

First impressions are everything. When I go into a new restaurant or store, I immediately formulate opinions based on the overall look of the entryway. That may or may not be fair, but I think we all do it. Well, I think our "front door" needs some major sprucing up.

I feel that the I-29 interchange at 32nd Avenue South is the front door of sorts for our community...even more than the interchange at Gateway Drive. Thousands of people use this interchange everyday and many visitors to our city access our prime business corridor here.

In my opinion, this is a pretty ugly and poorly maintained first impression of our city. Have you driven over that overpass lately? The weeds are totally out of control...I really don't think they've seen the underside of a mower this year. The entire interchange is overgrown with weeds and dotted with trees that are either dead, half-dead, or very ugly because of years of neglect. The areas filled with "bushes" are really just areas filled with weeds. No weeding is ever done here.

Routine mowing, weeding, and the occasional planting of new trees and regular tree maintenance are not hard to do or overly expensive. Why is this area so neglected and why does the neglect appear to be getting worse with each passing year? Who is supposed to maintain this area and others like it? The city? The state? Someone is doing a very poor job.

If we truly want to be a "destination city," one of the most important (and easiest) things we can do is to spruce up our city's major entryways. The 32nd Avenue interchange is just the worst example; there are clearly other entryways that are in need of improvements. When I see these "front doors" to our city, I'm ashamed.

New poll: Greenway use

The new poll question is "How often do you use the Greenway?" and I'll be interested to hear from you guys on this one. Personally, I love practically everything about the Greenway, but I'm not always able to find the time to get out there and enjoy it as much as I would like. How about you? What parts of the Greenway are your favorite? Any room for improvement?

Is Grand Forks ugly?

My answer is a resounding NO. I personally think Grand Forks is easily the most attractive larger city in the state and the region. Sure, there are some "ugly" parts of town...like portions of Gateway Drive. However, I see those areas as exceptions to the rule. Really, even our "ugly" areas aren't so bad when compared with those found in most other cities.

When I think of Grand Forks, I think of a city that for the most part clearly cares about its appearance. One of the first things I think about are the city's tree lined streets. Sure, most cities have large trees in their older neighborhoods. Grand Forks, however, has trees all over town...even the newest areas of the city have trees lining the streets. I think of all of the stately old homes that, for the most part, have been kept up throughout the years and together form a real sense of "place" for the community. I think of the outstanding campus located right in the heart of Grand Forks. I see the grounds of UND as easily the most attractive urbanized area in the state.

Even 32nd Avenue South with its big box stores and large parking lots is an attractive corridor in my eye. The buildings are set back from the street and the parking lots are interspersed with islands of grass and trees. 13th Avenue South in Fargo may have a few more shopping and dining options, but that corridor makes me think of one giant parking lot. Don't get me wrong...I think of Fargo as a very attractive city too. However, I would still rank it as below my own fair city.

There is always room for improvement. Clearly there are many offending properties and area of town and I wish so badly that they would be forced to clean up their act. Seeing a business with foot-tall grass and weeds out in front or garbage littering our city's major streets drives me nuts. However, I still am a bit dumbfounded when someone makes a sweeping comment such as "Grand Forks is an ugly town." It might not be perfect, but "ugly" it ain't!

How do you see Grand Forks? Is it ugly? Is it attractive? What improvements or changes do you think would make the city better looking? How would you rank the city's appearance with other regional cities?

Future of the library

The recent death of longtime Grand Forks Public Library director Dennis Page has once again brought the topic of our local library to the community's attention. The current library building was built in 1972 and has certainly started to show its age. It is cramped and very outdated in many respects.

Fellow blogger Tu-Uyen Tran had a great story about the library's future in the Herald and on his blog last year. According to Tu-Uyen, remodeling the current library would cost about $1-$2 million and a brand new library would be just under $10 million.

Fargo is in the process of building a new main library building. The downtown structure will be two stories and will contain over 54,000 square feet. In my opinion, the current Grand Forks library is actually much nicer than the old Fargo library, but the new Fargo library will be a far cry from the 1972 Grand Forks building.

I know Grand Forks has been accused of copying Fargo (and vice versa), but improving public libraries is something that I'm happy to be accused of copying. I feel that we shouldn't let Fargo beat us in this area. I feel that we must start planning to improve our community's library facilities.

Do you think that the Grand Forks Public Library is in need of some major changes? How often do you currently use the library? Would you be more likely to use the library if it was extensively remodeled and/or expanded? How about building a brand new library? If that option was chosen, where would you like to see a new main library building go? How about branch libraries...are there any areas of Grand Forks that you think could stand to have a branch library?

Poll results: More housing for downtown

Time to close the old poll question "Which Civic Auditorium redevelopment plan do you support?" Most respondents seem to think more housing for the downtown area is a better option than remodeling the old auditorium into retail space. (results)

Which Civic Auditorium redevelopment plan do you support?
Selection		Votes
Tearing it down and replacing it with a mixed-use development	75%	88
Remodeling it into space for HB Light and Sound and other tenants	25%	29
117 votes total

DLG set to disband

I've been informed that the Downtown Leadership Group (or DLG) will be disbanding after this year's Grand Cities ArtFest. According to the group's website, the DLG "is dedicated to development and promotion of downtown Grand Forks and East Grand Forks." Formed in the wake of the flood of 1997 to pump new life into the downtown areas, the DLG has evolved into a group whose focus is almost exclusively to organize the annual ArtFest. According to my source, the North Valley Arts Council (or NOVAC) will oversee the ArtFest in future years.

Draft Holiday Lighting Plan

Gone are the days of those faded, disintegrating red bells popping up on Grand Forks street lights each December. There have been plenty of complaints about the city's Christmas (or, to be PC, Holiday) decorations for some time now and the city is finally drawing up plans to spruce up its act. A draft plan has been devised which could see an entirely new holiday lighting program put into place in the near future.

According to the plan, the city's goals are to highlight Grand Forks' major commercial areas, develop a consistent theme, focus on high-impact high-efficiency displays, and encourage displays by private businesses.

In addition to the existing downtown lighting program, the plan calls for focusing the city's efforts to major commercial corridors including: Columbia Road from 32nd Avenue to Gateway Drive, Demers from the interstate to downtown, Gateway from the river to 55th Street, Washington from 32nd Avenue to Gateway, and 32nd Avenue from the interstate to Washington. The plan also raises the possibility of future expansion into newer commercial areas such as 42nd Street.

As far as developing a consistent theme, the plan calls for a white-light-based theme throughout the city. This would mimic the theme that already exists downtown and would make the decorations able to be used throughout the winter. The plan also mentions that this theme would make some of the decorations able to be used for other holidays or events throughout the year such as the July 4th celebration or ArtFest. Also, I might point out that white lights are very non-denominational.

The draft plan calls for a smaller number of impressive displays throughout the city instead of a more spread out "ho-hum" display. Such displays could include "intensely" lighted clusters of trees. Whatever type of displays are put up, the city plans to use LEDs in all decorations.

Finally, the plans would encourage private businesses to put up their own displays. The plan mentions the possibility of a one-time give away of light sets to businesses to encourage private displays. The city may also hold a lighting contest as another means to encourage businesses to light up.

As someone who loves Christmas and the whole holiday season, I'm excited to see what the city comes up with here. This plans sounds pretty good to me. What do you think?

New poll: Civic Auditorium choices

Time for a new poll question: "Which Civic Auditorium redevelopment plan do you support?"

Poll results: Brown's chances

Time to close the poll question "Would you support Michael Brown for a third term as GF mayor?" (results)

Selection		Votes
Yes	50%	99
No	41%	82
Undecided	9%	17
198 votes total

What do you think of the results?