Open Thread #36
I'm sure it will be another busy week so I better start a fresh open thread.
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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.
67 comments:
Wasn't there some interest a while back of putting a casino in Grand Forks? Is that dead? Looking at the undeveloped land along 42nd south of DeMers, that land would be prime for such a venture. It would be near shopping on 32nd Ave and easy access off the interstate at either DeMers or 32nd. I'm not advocating it, just wondering.
They were going to put one in Canadinn or close to it....local bars and non-profits had a fit...
The Ojibway tribe wanted to build one. Some were afraid it would hurt the charitable gambling places, like the bingo place. Which was ironic because the smoking band killed it.
I hope it's dead in the water. Of all the things Grand Forks needs, a big casino isn't one of them.
Anyone have the recipe for Bonzer's chili???
Also, J. Dugan was looking great on Friday. Wow. She could runway model.
"Also, J. Dugan was looking great on Friday. Wow. She could runway model."
Big fan, huh?
Wasn't there some interest a while back of putting a casino in Grand Forks? Is that dead? Looking at the undeveloped land along 42nd south of DeMers, that land would be prime for such a venture.
The Turtle Mountain Ojibwa casino would have been built on land across from Kings Walk (or may even futher down Columbia). There were too many legal hurdles (like a state-wide vote), transferring property to an Indian reserve land, etc.
"Also, J. Dugan was looking great on Friday. Wow. She could runway model."
I agree! And she does a good job on the news.
Anyone wants to take bets on when residents of the new brownstones are going to start complaining that downtown is too loud?
I'll take the city council meeting following the third weekend after UND is back in session ... so Sept. 10.
First weekend, they'll be like OK that's loud ... I'll go down the hall to talk to Mayor Neighbor.
Second week with Labor Day will be much quieter, then said residents will assume their residential talk did good.
But one weekend later will be the breaking point and the Herald will have some front-page material.
Or not. Just a thought.
"But one weekend later will be the breaking point and the Herald will have some front-page material."
Or there may be a pie eating contest on the front page instead. Or a story about a big family...Whoops, that's already been done.
Do you really think the mayor is going to live there? He bought the condo to claim it has is primary dwelling for the renaisance credits. Reduced property taxes for 5 years and an exemption from state income taxes for five years. The state income tax exemption if for up to $10,000, even with ND's low income tax, I'm sure with his doctor job, his wife's job, mayor job, etc. he will easily be able to pay the mortgage and taxes with his state income tax exemption. Five years later, sell the place, make a profit without ever having to invest any money. Wish I could of done that.
Gomez, I'll take Sept. 23 weekend as the breaking point, and into serious discussions (I'm trying to figure the Potato Bowl - Homecoming spread). Expect riots if the city tries to handle it like they did with Springfest (which used to be a very nice festival until the city tried to prevent it from happening and the couch burning general defecating began)
Don't forget the upcoming action to stop the pesky train whistles.
Smiling here at the nitpicking...thinking how life is pretty good in the ol' Red River Valley.
ec99? Gotta admit I loved the article about the big family. Found myself wishing I had the parenting techniques (not to mention the huge, unselfish hearts) of those two adults. It was a good story, and appropriate as front page material, I thought. So darned refreshing to read something positive in the paper, rather than the negativism that shows up so much in the media as well as in this blog.
Pretty fortunate, all of us, to live in a place where our biggest gripe is sitting too long at a red light, deciding which chain restaurant allows us to add to our already-ample (speaking for myself) girth, or whether train whistles interrupt the serenity of a summer day.
(How about that woman in the Herald today, complaining of difficulty parking at the downtown bus depot? For gosh sakes, with the huge parking ramp right next door? *s* We like to complain...)
" It was a good story, and appropriate as front page material, I thought."
Yes, I guess we've all become accustomed to the local tripe Jacobs considers front-page news.
C'mon, EC; it is a LOCAL paper, after all.
And it gets more than a little tiresome, reading about the Bush syndicate and Moe Gibbs. (That's news?)
I get plenty of national news on television. I wish the Herald had more local stories and less of the canned articles-especially in the Sunday Herald. Maybe that makes me a light reader but hey-I subscribe to the Herald for area news.
I agree with Charlie. If having to wait at a stoplight or walk a few feet to park are sources of stress for some residents, I'd say we have a pretty decent place to live. I can get anywhere I want to go in town in 10 minutes and park free. I may be in the minority but I don't want GF/EGF to get much bigger. I live here because I like it the way it is.
There's a trend among city dailies toward more local, less national/nternational news. They realize they can't compete with TV and Internet for immediacy, but realize that local media are the only way locals can find out who won the amateur softball tournament or quilting bee. So, unfortunately we're likely to see a lot more, rather than less, of that crap.
I second that anonymous, I like the size of GF. I'm glad to see a reinvestment in downtown, and I always feel a little bit cautious when these large companies come in and build such large buildings as did Furniture Row. I don't know that Columbia Mall will ever rebound, and we've seen what both South Forks Plaza and Riverwalk Center have become. Some day all of these communities who imbrace this new strip mall development like we are seeing in South GF may look like half ghost town, and half run down strip malls. But who knows maybe the old development will be re-used and turned into something great, and the larger companies (ie. Old Navy, Kohls, Gordmans, etc.) will make enough money to justify continued maintenance and renovations. At least let's hope...
Are you serious about your comments on Jessica Dugan? My god she sounds like she's in a high school tv production class. I've heard high schoolers present the news better than she does. I can't stand her. The whole WDAZ station needs to grow up and look and sound more professional. To me it looks like the best of the worst high school production class.
I'm encouraged by University area development though and that will keep things growing strong north of DeMers and downtown. There'll always be a reason for businesses to want to locate close to student body, and general population likes the energy that college students bring.
I shudder to think what a collapse of the Canadian dollar would do to the south end and the CanadInn.
Too much too quickly in terms of GF's commercial growth?
Barnes and Noble is building a big store ATTACHED to the mall in Minot. That mall thrives, but then again, it has a Target, Scheels, Old Navy, and movie theater. I wish some of these new companies would want to be part of the Columbia Mall.
Not only is B&N building a store in Dakota Square, but I believe they are also building a B&N Textbook store on the Minot State campus. At least, that's what my mom said when she bought a Minot State shirt on clearance last Christmas in fear that she's going to have to pay ridiculous prices for MSU gear once B&N takes over their bookstore.
How is it that WDAZ has turned into a meat market? I thought it was a news station...Can we keep the comments to the content...not the people on the news?
Cassie Walder is hot..oops,sorry!
The whole WDAZ station needs to grow up and look and sound more professional. To me it looks like the best of the worst high school production class.
Give me a break.
Terry 30+ years
Pat 20+
Milo 11+
Cassie Around 5 or so
We should consider ourselves lucky that these people stay around to provide a pretty decent news product. I've lived in other small cities where the anchors switch out every year to 18 months. Maybe its because they can't find jobs in bigger towns, but they are better than what you get in most towns the size of GF.
Perhaps the station should use their reporters less on air. These are the green people who sometimes have a hard time getting through their scripts when they appear during a newscast.
"Maybe its because they can't find jobs in bigger towns, but they are better than what you get in most towns the size of GF."
I think just the opposite is true. Because we receive news product dedicated, for the most part, to the Fargo audience, Forum doesn't bother to invest in graphics, technology, studios and staff that a town this size could reasonably expect. It's embarrassing.
It's embarrassing.
I think to call WDAZ's product "embarassing" goes quite a bit overboard. Yes, the station should be better funded in the technology department, but I'll stand by my comments earlier that the long-time staff is pretty solid and we're pretty lucky. WDAZ more than holds its own against its better-funded competition in Fargo.
Have you watched any of them lately? Yes, KVLY looks great (they spend a lot on tech), but the sharing of staff with KX has really watered down both products. That dual weekend newscast is a joke.
Those two station combined have one person in Grand Forks (the always entertaining Neil Carlson). Fox doesn't have anyone up here and tends to show up only for the big stories.
I'll take WDAZ and its staff of 5 or 6 reporters, news anchors and a sports department any day. Without them, we'd get covered like Valley City, Jamestown or Wahpeton. The news crews would only show up for murders and floods!
WDAZ: get rid of the large projection TV on the set of the newscast....this is not the 90's.
It amazes me...all the "experts" in this blog. Sorta makes one wonder why WDAZ hasn't picked them up, doesn't it?
Uffda. C'mon folks...
Jessica Dugan is the only reporter that isn't afraid to get dirty. She sticks around to visit when all the others are bored and have left. I don't care if she isn't the greatest during the production as she is more apt to do a local story than any other reporter besides Duane Sanden and he pretty much sticks to his holiday & county fair niches.
I like WDAZ, they did a good story, reporting, and video on a young 2 year old girl that was bitten by a large black lab dog in Devils Lake a couple years ago, I was the organizer of the benefit account, since she had over 200 stitches in her face and had to have rabies shots, for the dog also had rabies. They spent several hours with us at the Devils Lake Walmart and ran the segment several times in Grand Forks market. But I have seen production errors on air, no video, wrong sports scores, upside photos, dead air, black screen, etc. greenglass4.
I wish we could get either a real Barnes and Noble or a real college bookstore. Not this half-assed stuff that isn't open when the students need it to be.
Yeah, J. Dugan does local stories all right. She beats police and rescue squads to get her damn video too! It isn't pleasant for the people she is taping. You have to make sure and call all of your family before they find it out on the television.
It isn't just J. Dugan, but all of the media. They have gotten so out of hand.
Charlie,
I'll stick by "embarrassment". I don't have to be "picked up" by a station to know what good broadcasting is or in this case, isn't.
If WDAZ spent some money on production and technology, I think it would go a long way in looking/sounding/appearing like they are doing the news in 2007, not 1977.
Terry D is really a treat to have on the news.
The coverage/video of sporting events looks like it was filmed with a bad 8mm camera.
You know?
As I'm typing this, I've got Bay News 9 on the TV in the kitchen, and even in a metro area the size of Tampa/St. Pete they've run a story about a couple of girls in Bradenton and their lemonade stand, a story about a St. Pete man complaining about too much rain ruining his tomatos, and a story about a local softball team made up of toddlers. All in the last 15 minutes.
Hokey news items are everywhere.
As local TV and newspapers allow the national networks and dailies to cover world and national events, local stations and papers will llikely cover more and more mundane events...but news you can't get anywhere else.
So having said that, It's not the nature of what's covered on DAZ that is subpar; it's the quality of the journalism, technology, sets, lighting, styling, cameras and graphics. Pretty much everything else.
I've been watching WDAZ off and on since 1980. I kind of like the way things haven't changed much since then. I also can watch local news from Los Angeles and New York on my satellite dish, and those shows are ridiculous -- it's all entertainment, not information.
The somewhat cheesy nature of the channel, their stories, their "still need some seasoning" field staff (though they seem to have some standards -- the girl who couldn't really even speak English hasn't been on in a while, she may have been sacked [or moved to producer :-]) and the locally produced commercials that border on laughable are all kind of charming. If you move away and come back to visit or something, you'll see what I mean.
I do miss the Paul Harvey segment that 'DAZ used to have on the 6PM newscasts, though.
"The coverage/video of sporting events looks like it was filmed with a bad 8mm camera."
Hmm. Interesting comment in light of the fact that Chris Regimbal's work has often been purchased by ESPN.
Good thing our houses aren't made of glass. :o)
"Pomeroy calls Bush 'clown' in Internet video.'
Finally someone around here has the courage to say what we're all thinking.
Yeah, but there will probably never be an article titled:
"Bush responds to Pomeroy comment with 'Who the hell is Earl Pomeroy, and what has he ever done to make me care about his opinion?'"
---which says a lot of the ignorance---and arrogance---of George W. Bush.
Bummer about the top two floors at The Canad. Are they closed? Has anyone gotten sick?
Anybody have any info?
Pomeroy should apologize...to clowns. They don't deserve to be compared to this president.
What are you referring to with the comment about the Canad Inn? Something going on there?
Here's what I've heard: top two floors closed, evidently highly caustic mold, bigtime litigation with the roofing subcontractor. Bad situation.
Now...THAT's news!
Bush is a Clown. Pomeroy gets my vote.
Clowns scare some people. Bush scares a lot of people. Go Earl!
I havent heard anything about the top two floors being closed at the CanadInns. Just that the top floor is a penthouse and its an outragoeus price to rent and that nobody has rented it yet, and probably never will considering this is Grand Forks North Dakota. Wow the penthouse has a VIEW of WHAT the freaking interstate and thats about it.
Talking to Canad employees, they know nothing about a problem. Nice try "anon". Are you by any chance a manager of one of the local hotels such as the Best Western Townhouse? Nice try!
About the penthouse, it costs 200-300 a night, and has been rented out I was told by the GM there. Why ya gotta be a hater?
Waaaahhhh!!! Nobody wants to stay at my Flea Bag Inn since the CanadInn opened! Waaaahhh!!!! Maybe now I'll be forced to spend a little money on upkeep! Waaaaahhhh!!! Maybe I'll drum up a few lies about the competition because I'm such a miserable failure at what I do! WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two comments...
1. I love Earl Pomeroy more everyday.
2. Shame on the anonymous coward pretending that there is a "highly caustic mold problem" at the Canad. What a pathetic attempt to discourage people from staying there. I doubt your attempt will work, though...the Canad has had fantastic business. Also, the penthouse suites have certainly been booked since opening. In fact, I believe there were lights on in one of the penthouses last night...or I suppose they were just cleaning up the "mold" huh?
"Hmm. Interesting comment in light of the fact that Chris Regimbal's work has often been purchased by ESPN."
Charlie......I'm with you almost all the time on the blog and really appreciate your positive attitude, but I believe that comment about the sports footage wasn't about the person shooting the video, but more about the equipment being used. I don't know though. I will say that whenever KVLY or even the Fox affiliate out of Fargo are at the same high school game as WDAZ, they look night and day different. I also agree that a little money to upgrade some equipment would go a long ways.
Anon- you are so full of it! Don't you think that would be all over the news by now?
Manager of Flea Bag Inn,
You hit the nail on the head. Businesses around here expect patronage just because they're locally owned, even though they refuse to reinvest in capital improvements and service and update their product mix. We've traveled more and experienced more than generations before us. We see CNN or the New York Times and we expect a little more from our media. We dine out in the Twin Cities and watch the Food Network and we expect a little more from our local restaurants.
Prior anonymous...
I'll concede on that point. Truthfully, in this house my wife and I have also commented on the differences, in particular the Fox affiliate in regards to broadcast appearance.
My only defense is that I jumped the gun, misread the intentions in my eagerness to tout the personnel we have locally...people who have yet to develop egos large enough to exhibit rudeness in public places. And...overall...I think WDAZ does a darned good job. (If nothing else, they deserve accolades for their professionalism in '97...not that I'm interested in bringing all that up again. :o)
Thanks...for pointing out my error, btw. Hopefully, the right people will read this blog and be able to make improvements...
While I cannot confirm the caustic mold issues, i do know that while I worked there, there were a number of meetings about major structural issues. Parts of the hotel were opened later than others because there were some problems with the fire marshal's original inspection. I'm fairly positive it is all open now, barring any damage that may have arisen once my work at the hotel was completed.
The Canad story is true. There is litigation against the roofing contractor and, I do believe the top 2 stories are in fact closed.
I took a tour of the penthouse level yesterday and can confirm, in fact, that it is not closed. The rooms are still being finished.
It is a passkey access only level, and the rooms are pretty swanky compared to regular rooms. The window views in the corner suites are amazing.
GFG: Can you "block" certain IP addresses if they keep posting garbage?
I see another new hotel is coming. I just saw a sign for Country Inn and Suites just east of Amundson Funeral Home. It said opening summer of 2008.
Wasn't the Lakeview Hotel a Country Inn and Suites at one time? Try it again at a new location? Seems strange.
I saw the sign, it is true. The last time Country Inn tried GF, both entities were very different. GF is now a growing city, Country Inns is a bigger and better company now. Welcome to GF!
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