Open Thread #100
The open thread turns 100...pretty amazing!
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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.
133 comments:
100! Woo! Anyways, the NWS thinks we won't necessarily get a good size flood this spring due to the wet fall. They keep on reiterating this, but don't tell us how much it increases the chances of a major flood. I'd be willing to bet it increases our chances quite a bit. Whats everyone else's take on this?
As someone at the NWS (and note I am speaking individually and do not reprsent the NWS)...the soil conditions going into the fall freeze-up is one of about 6 factors that go into a spring flood.
The big ones are
1. How much snow is on the ground at the time of the melt in mid March-early April?
2. How fast or slow is the melt? Does the temperatures warm quickly and stay above freezing for days or is the melt gradual.
3. How much water is in the snow?
4. Is there a big storm at the time of the melt?
The four above greatly affect any flooding. The wet ground we have now going into the winter will have an impact if we have snowy winter and at the time of March and early April the snowmelt is fast or if there is a rainstorm at the time of melt. If there is lots of water in the snow or if there is a storm...then the extra water will not have much of a chance to soak into the soil and instead runoff fast into the rivers causing them to go higher.
Now if we have have a drier than usual winter and the melt cycle is good and no big early Spring storms then there will be little additional water to add so the impact of a wet fall will be much reduced.
So stay tuned....
Does anyone know if/what businesses are doing to honor veterans this veteran's day? My husband is an OIF vet and we are very grateful for the things businesses do to honor vets. I know the Golden Corral is hosting a free supper but I heard it was next Monday. Anything else?
Applebees had free meals for active duty or veterans of any age.
Taste of the Holidays -- Grand Forks at The Alerus Center. Olive Garden?
I did not go to this event, but noticed that Olive Garden was listed as one of the local restaurants providing food for the event. Does this mean Olive Garden is coming to town?
Can we get a facepalm emoticon up in here?
For the love of God, Olive Garden is not coming to town. And for the record, I don't think thats a bad thing. Its not that good of a restaurant, but the menu prices are that of a high end restaurant. Its a rip-off.
STOP TALKING ABOUT OLIVE GARDEN!!!
For the love of god this has been beaten to death. No they are not coming to town.
I agree with Matt. Facepalm emote please...
I hate to talk about Olive Garden, but I just want to point out that their prices are very comparable to Paradiso so they are not that expensive (and, by the way, Mexican food is one of the cheapest types of food to make). What does that tell you about their over inflated prices? And I think they will come to Grand Forks someday, but it may be many years. Okay, enough Olive Garden talk...
We will talk about the Olive Garden if we want to. I don't see why Grand Forks couldn't have one we have all the other chains in town might as well get it over with.
Paradiso.. Blech. I really wish we would get a Juano's (Fargo restaurant chain) in town. Best Mexican I've had in ND... heck its better than half the places I went to in Oklahoma.
I agree on the "blech" for Paradiso. I've had food poisoning from there twice, both times I didn't want to eat there anyways as the food quality is terrible, but my friends chose that place. Now if people I'm with want to eat there, I just say "see you afterwards, I'm going someplace else". I refuse to eat there ever again.
On a different note, I heard a rumor that the airport entrance will be relocated to come off the road one mile further west (17th St NE) with the new terminal being built. Does anyone know anything about this? I find it hard to believe they would move the entrance road.
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There ya go :-)
From what I know about Dale, he may have done that old school.
Whats the word on Larry O's new bar going in the building by K-Mart?
Moving the terminal to the other side of the runways was an earlier plan, but I believe the current plan is to put the terminal between GFK flight support and the Grand Forks Airport Authority Building.
Although people were kind of rude -- You Still didn't answer my question --
Why was Olive Garden listed as one of the local sponsors in the advertisement for a Grand Forks specific event where they would be serving their food locally at the Alerus Center?
I am not sure as to why Olive Garden was there. Maybe they are testing the waters to see how popular it was and to get feedback as to the reception people have towards Olive Garden here.
Go Sioux!!! Anyone else see our fellas steal it back in the last period? Woo hoo!
Laura, I would probably go ask the people that organize Taste of the Holidays....
Maybe the people that organized it requested them. Just an idea, not everything has to be a top secret mission.
Does anyone have an idea what is being built just east of the 42nd Street Choice Financial bank building? They've been doing ground work there lately.
Also, does anyone know of any other buildings slated for the land north of the new Springhill Inn and Suites? They've done so much groundwork on land far north of the hotel site.
It also seems like they've finally started to get down to business at the Boston's/Space Aliens property. They appear to be preparing to expand the building to the east.
I know that the Spring Hill site had to be annexed in to the city, and they brought in city utilities from the north, so that would explain the ground work at the hotel site. Not sure what the ground work is for just east of the bank though. Anybody know if that is zoned for commercial or residential?
What...you guys all just roll into work? Your boss know you're using the internet? Yup, a bunch of you stopped by my site around 8:15...does that mean you don't get to sleep in?
Ha! Homemakers.
I recently stayed at a SpringHill Suites in Sioux Falls and thought it was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at. The King Suite I got for under $100 was one of the coolest hotel rooms I've ever stayed in; included a huge bathroom, great breakfast, 40in flat screen TV, luxury bedding sheets. Way better then luxury suites I've stayed at in some Seattle, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis hotels. It didn't have much for a pool but I didn't care about that anyways.
Just thought I'd share that. Great addition to our GF hotel market.
GF Police officer trial going on...any thoughts?
I believe it's zoned commercial - was looking at a house the next street over and checked on that first to see what would possibly be in my backyard.
I'm curious about the Grand Forks Herald's online presence. Has it finally decided that it will do *no* service to the Grand Forks citizens?
They have removed the "Business" section from the menu bar on the left. Now, that is not to say that the business section is gone, there is simply no link, which leads to a lack of readership/representation. You can reach the Business section by typing in /business/ after the base URL, but how many casual readers are going to know to do that. Also, said Business section very rarely runs local (read that as "north of Buxton") business news.
Heck, *most* of the Herald's news is not local. It is in fact Minnesota and Fargo news. There are the occasional articles for the immediate region, but most articles actually have a "The Forum" byline. I find this interesting since The Forum refuses to run Grand Forks related press releases and business stories, stating that "Grand Forks news is not of interest to The Forum readership" (Craig McEwen, cmcewen@forumcomm.com, March 20, 2008).
Now, I am not a paper subscriber to the GF Herald. I don't know if the printed version is as devoid of Grand Forks news and info as the online version. I hope not.
It's pretty empty, but I think they want to keep the online version emptier because they think it will drive paper copy sales (which have been dwindling). Some of the Herald staff were rather bitter about people reading online when I talked to them this Fall.
I don't really remember what the Herald was like before they were bought by Forum, but if the Forum in Fargo won't even communicate Grand Forks news, it's a pretty raw deal.
I like the Snowflake lighting along Demers!
Matthew, the herald is owned by Forum communications. http://www.forumcomm.com/ the parent company of the Fargo Forum. I do find it kind of sad that they are reducing the online column's. I am able to read a newspaper at work so its not the end of the world to me. But the main issue is that I don't see the value in getting the newspaper. IMHO it isn't worth the 75 cents a day or the 12-15 dollars a month (whatever it is now. When i delivered papers it was 8-11 a month) There is just something about the articles that just make you want to question how they got in the paper. ie. Eat beat... I'll stop there.
"They have removed the "Business" section from the menu bar on the left."
Someone at the Herald seems to have read your comment on here...the missing link has been returned to the proper place.
"I like the Snowflake lighting along Demers!
I like what I see so far, but isn't the city going to be decorating more throughout the city? Or is this year mainly about testing out the new decorations to see what the public thinks?
I'd like to see them keep the focus of decorating just in the downtown area. When you try to decorate in heavily commercial areas (like wash & 32nd) it just gets drowned out by all the flashy business signs, etc, and you just don't get that same nostalgic feeling.
There's just something about the older brick buildings, narrower streets, few streetlights and lots of Christmas decorations that looks wonderful.
Question about the recycling bins at Hugo's: what's with the people digging around in them? Is it legal to do that? I can understand going in there to get aluminum cans (I think that's wrong, though), but twice I've seen people going through the newspapers. Once I actually saw a guy get IN the bin. Maybe both times they were looking for something that got accidentally tossed in there, but with identity theft, it makes me wonder....
Also, I shred anything that might lead to identify theft, but here's another question: what can I put the shreds in to recycle them? All of the shredders I've had use plastic bags, which can't go in the bins. Opening the bag and dumping them is sheer folly here in ND with the constant winds. Ideas for a "green" way to encase the shreds?
Thanks!
Timely post TIB. I missed the recycling pickup this week so I hauled off a bunch of stuff to Hugo's. My wife and I also noticed the people digging around. Seemed be looking for perfect boxes or something. Not sure. As far as shredded paper goes, I've dumped mine into brown paper bags in the past. I figure that's ok to go in with the paper recycling.
Since we're on the subject, the new recycling bins downtown are in the alley next to Rhombus Guys. They are blue.
So what do people think of the idea for a downtown campus for UND?
I don't like the idea of a downtown campus, I don't know if there's much of a need for it at this time.
While we're on the subject of UND, something that has bothered me this year is that they started charging for after 5:00pm parking for the public. This irks me. For something as simple as my toddler's 30 min music classes on Monday nights, I have to buy a parking pass. Wouldn't it be good public relations with your community to let them come to after hours events on your campus and not charge them to park their car in near empty parking lots!?!?!?
I'm guessing the cost of the parking garage is behind this new "nickel and diming" of the public.
ndborn - were you in the 6 or 6:30 class?
MattFacingSouth - We were in the 6:00, did you go too?
Speaking of UND, I saw the article today on the cost of Div 1 ...
"The projection notes that the “Fundraising/external-new” line item for UND athletics was $100,000 in 2006-2007. That same line item for 2008-2009 was projected to be $470,000. It’s $935,000 in 2009-2010 and goes up to $2.03 million for the first year of full Division I membership, 2012-2013." ...
WOW! Can UND afford that? Are other areas of the University going to suffer just so the sports programs have money? Is the pow-wow only the beginning of cancellations due to lack of funding at UND? I sure hope not, when I think of UND events, I think of a lot more than sporting events, in fact I almost never go to the sporting events.
I'm waiting for this to happen: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/opinion/24mon4.html?_r=1&em
We were in the 6:30 class. We'll be back in the Spring, I'm sure.
I agree about the parking prices. What a negative trend it seems to be over there. Parking has gotten so strict, even since I was in school (and I thought we had it bad!). Unfortunately, like most everything else, without consistent, immediate public outcry these policies are rarely redacted and instead increased down the line.
The UNDIA director admitted that the cancellation of the Time Out week was not due to lack of funding, but out of "principle" due to his perception of lack of community support. Too bad, as the event was truly a special one. Think of the opportunity for native people that the director of the UNDIA just ripped away by some perverse form of "principle"
It seems to be this blog has turned into a halfway forum for talking and not a blog anymore... once again almost two weeks and nothing besides and open thread.
What are peoples opinion on the Grand Forks Herald Prices for Thanksgiving's newspaper! Its ridiculous! 2 dollars for a Thursday paper! Why are we paying for the ad's? didn't the ad people Pay the herald to have their ad stuff in the paper? Why is the herald double dipping? I think that is just plain bad PR and a bad business decision.
There will be no Wacipi (pow-wow) either? Does anyone know if this part of Time Out Week will be canceled? Boy, that would be a shame.
What are peoples opinion on the Grand Forks Herald Prices for Thanksgiving's newspaper! Its ridiculous! 2 dollars for a Thursday paper! Why are we paying for the ad's?
Sign of the times. Who needs paper ads these days with the internet? 95% of the ads I saw prior to the paper coming out online. Newspaper paper readerships are decreasing rapidly, and they need to figure out how to stay lucrative.
Wow, the Boston's is gone? They were going strong when we left GF two years ago.
Is that Japanese place still there? What about that Mafia restaurant themed place?
Yes, No in short. Boston's was bought out by Space Aliens.
$2.00 for a paper?!
That's ridiculous! Down here on Thanksgiving morning, I bought copies of BOTH the Tampa Tribune and the St. Pete Times together for a total of .54 cents (with tax).
That's two major newspapers totalling two inches thick APIECE for about $1.50 less than one copy of the Herald.
Yes, the Tribune and the Times have far greater readership to support it, but two bucks for a holiday edition (that is only unique in the fact that it has more ads in it than usual) is out of control.
I agree ... I was floored when I saw that is was $2.00 this year. Not that I can't afford the $2.00, but just because I thought that was very tacky of the GF Herald to price gouge on that edition. Pure greed is all it is. My opinion of them went down a lot when I saw what they had done.
So, you guys think that it doesn't cost more for the paper to produce and deliver that newspaper compared to other editions?
There's a heck of a lot more advertising in the Thanksgiving edition-which is supposed to cover most of the costs of a newspaper.
Sorry to change the subject, but does anyone know what that building is between the fire station/Beyond Juice strip mall/Suite 49 and University Station? It looks like another apartment complex, I'm guessing owned by Dakota Commercial?
I believe there are more apartments and a Marriott going in there.
Ben, no I do not think so. I delivered the paper for 7 years. I never was paid any extra for delivering black friday's paper than any other friday.
The advertisers paid to put the ads in there. why would the end user be paying for the ads? If i'm buying the paper I'm buying it for news. not for stuff to line a bird cage...
As said before the advertising revenue should have offset the added costs. not the customer.
Ahhh...good old WDAZ on the weekends. They just had a story on about a guy who has worked for Cenex for 40-some years...now that's news!
Ahhh...good old WDAZ on the weekends. They just had a story on about a guy who has worked for Cenex for 40-some years...now that's news!
Last week on whatever channel 11 is, at 6:45 in the morning, they prefaced a story with not one, but two, suggestions that you had better watch this upcoming story to learn how to keep your college age student from "bringing home an unwelcome guest" for Thanksgiving.
The story was about a bedbug infestation at some schools in Missouri and Kansas, and contained absolutely nothing about prevention. When they came back from the story, both of the "news personalities" looked deer-in-the-headlights stunned as they stammered for some explanation of why they would run such a pointless story (given that the number of students from this area to those small colleges is likely zero,) and what advice they could come up for preventing bedbugs. Lacking any, they quickly went to commercial.
In the early morning, I want to hear the weather, roads and relevant local information, not human interest stories that appeal to 1/2 of one percent of their audience, or anything, other than a tornado warning, that's preceded with "you must watch this!" Cut the filler, and give me useful knowledge.
As Zappa said, "just shut up and play yer guitar."
Did anyone else go to Canad Inns for Thanksgiving? It was AMAZING
Anyone know what the price of gas went up 1.79 here at a few stations, there is nothing that would warrant this in the news and Fargo is dropping into the 1.49 per gallon range. There is no reason gas should be 30 cents more expensive here.
The local gas cartel at it again.
The local gas cartel at it again.
I think you are right Ben Gas just went unver 50 dollars a barrel and these guys see it fit to raise the price of gas 15 cents when there is no reason to do so. Soon Grand Forks, ND will be over 30 cents more expensive than Fargo.
Gas was 1.75 in Minneapolis last weekend, so 1.79 here isn't out of line. The $1.49 in Fargo sounds far enough out of the norm from everywhere else in the region that I wouldn't expect us to see it, if it's really an accurate report.
We don't have any refineries or oil wells here, so everyone's costs are probably about the same, and they're likely a bit higher than Fargo or Minneapolis. I wouldn't imagine that we'd ever have the lowest prices around, and who cares about four cents when we were paying four dollars not that long ago.
Dale - your math is fuzzy...we are 15 cents higher than yesterday, and 30 cents higher than Fargo - for absolutely no reason. (and according to minneapolisgasprices.com, the average price today in minneapolis is 1.69) If anything, the gas for the stations just got cheaper. you will notice that the Herald ran a report on gas prices region-wide a few weeks ago. Right after that report the gas in town went down to about 10 cents higher than Fargo. Now that the report is further back in people's memories, the gas creeps back up again. Anybody think it is odd that EVERY station in town has the exact same gas prices?
Anybody think it is odd that EVERY station in town has the exact same gas prices?
Actually, I would think it was a little odd if they weren't all the same price, since, as I said, they all have pretty much the same source and costs.
As for my math, I stand by seeing (and paying!) $1.75 for gas in Minneapolis three days ago. I trust my eyes and receipt more than a web site, sorry. So we're four cents more expensive than that. Where's the conspiracy theory about the gas in Grand Forks being eleven cents cheaper than Minneapolis on Sunday?
Prices are what they are... is it unrealistic to think that station A decides that they could raise the price by some amount to try and increase their margins? Of course not. Or that station B sees that station A is making more money and raises their prices to match it? Nope. Nor is it far from likely that it works the other way as well, driving down prices.
But is it realistic to think that there's a morning meeting between the owners of Valley Dairy, Holiday, Superpumper, Tesoro, Simonsons and everyone else to set the day's price of gas, taking advantage of your poor memory of Herald articles to stick it to you?
Personally, I don't see it, sorry.
I am not saying that there is some smoky back room meeting among the station owners in town, nor am I saying that you didn't pay 1.75 in Minneapolis the other day. What I think it concerning though is that the station owners in town raised the gas to 1.79 (1.72 now at most stations) when Minneapolis prices went down (go to the site, you will see very accurate prices for GF, Fargo, Minot, etc) Fargo prices went down and the price for a barrel of crude went down. It just seems to be bad business to increase prices while the consumer sees prices falling everywhere else. And while I don't feel there is some sort of meeting with the station owners, I also feel that a few chains set the prices for the entire city, rather than increased competition through independent ownership.
"you will notice that the Herald ran a report on gas prices region-wide a few weeks ago. Right after that report the gas in town went down to about 10 cents higher than Fargo."
Glad I'm not the only one to make this connection! Maybe coincidence... maybe not.
I guess that I'm really not seeing your point. They all get their gas from the same sources, their costs are all about the same, there are at least seven different "brands" of gas in Grand Forks (Valley Dairy, Sinclair, Simonsons, etc.) and they all charge pretty much the same amount. Do you think that we need fourteen different chains? Forty?
They're still going to do the same thing -- charge what everyone else charges, because gas is gas (for the most part,) you'll drive across the street to buy it if it's any cheaper over there, and the margins are so slim that raising prices five cents probably makes a fair difference.
Where's the conspiracy theory about the gas in Grand Forks being eleven cents cheaper than Minneapolis on Sunday?
This is a very salient point, because no one takes note when gas is cheaper here, due to whatever the local reason happens to be, but when the prices are higher, you can bet someone pipes up with "collusion!"
Let's worry about things when gas here is double what it is elsewhere. Ten, twenty, thirty cents, these are understandable differences, and comparing the price today, not over, say, a three month period, is so incidental as to be meaningless.
Funny thing gas went down 7 cents already. Just drove home from work and VD had it at 1.72 per gallon, I guess the fact that oil is 46.00 a barrel probably had a hand in the lowering of the gas prices.
Short term changes in the price of gas and crude oil have no real bearing on anything. If you truly forced the price of gas to be tied to oil, it would take weeks, if not months, for a barrel of oil, purchased for $46, to make its way to the local gas station and result in a lower price at the pump.
Whether economics, climate, politics, or many other subjects, it's trends that matter, averages over time, not a brief observation.
I used to work in the gas industry and contrary to Dale's claims, daily changes in the oil market do have an immediate impact on gas prices at the pump.
For what it is worth, since Dale doesn't believe it, I filled up in Fargo this morning for 1.47.
I used to work in the gas industry and contrary to Dale's claims, daily changes in the oil market do have an immediate impact on gas prices at the pump.
How? Regardless of feasibility, it doesn't work from an accounting standpoint. The cost of a gallon of gas sitting in a station's tank is the cost that the original crude was purchased at, the cost of transport to refinery, refining to gas, and transport of gas to station (plus a bunch of other stuff.) It's all built into the supply chain, and retail stations don't (and can't) adjust current inventory costs on their balance sheets based on future projections. That's an accounting rule, not something specific to any industry.
If they have an immediate impact, it would be perceptual, not financial. I can see where a station (or distributor, or refinery) would boost prices because the cost of oil goes up, in anticipation of future costs, but that doesn't change what their actual costs are. The value of the gas in the tanks doesn't mysteriously change day to day anymore than the value of a car on Rydell's lot fluctuates based on what people are paying for steel today.
So a local station may raise or lower their prices in response to crude oil, but it's arbitrary on their part, so the connection between the price of oil today and gas today isn't what you think it is.
I filled up in Fargo this morning for 1.47
That's awesome, but I would be surprised if it stays at that level. It would be nice, but given that prices outside of Fargo are quite a bit higher, it implies that they are artificially low there.
$1.49 in CA. My mom is surprised we're 20+ cents higher - it's very rarely the case, in fact, usually the opposite.
$1.49 in CA. My mom is surprised we're 20+ cents higher - it's very rarely the case, in fact, usually the opposite.
Another aberration. According to the gasprices.com website chain, California prices are on a par with Grand Forks or higher, local variations, like where your Mom lives, aside.
And if you look at North Dakota, as a whole, everywhere BUT Fargo has prices in line with (or higher than) what we're paying here. So if you think there's a conspiracy here to keep prices high, you'd best expand that to a state-wide collusion network.
This is a cool map:
http://www.northdakotagasprices.com/price_by_county.aspx
As you can see by that, there's a swath of lower prices through the southern parts of the central US (probably associated with taxes and/or transportation,) but, otherwise, we're pretty much average here in Grand Forks.
Does anyone know why there was a fireworks show tonight around 6 PM North of Columbia Mall? I was driving in the area and saw them, but didn't know of anything that was going on.
If you are looking to get into the holiday spirit, check out Red River High School's production of "A Christmas Carol" this upcoming week.
Even If you don't come to "Carol", be sure to support the local high school Arts scene. The students really appreciate when they see new faces in the audience...and they work so very hard on stage and behind the scenes in order to put on these productions.
Thank you for your support!
Does anyone know why there was a fireworks show tonight around 6 PM North of Columbia Mall?
It was associated with the Alerus Center, possibly something to do with lighting up the Christmas Tree out by the flagpoles. I don't know, though, as I never heard anything about it until someone mentioned it at work yesterday afternoon.
Yea, I was sitting in my house when all of a sudden i started hearing explosions... at first I thought it might be a plow clearing off snow... but after looking outside I saw nothing...
Why did we waste money on fireworks for lighting a tree?? Couldn't they have used that for their UND poster inside the Alerus?
I was also sitting in my house when all of a sudden my mom got scared and said "you're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air." I whistled for a cab and when it came near, the license plate said FRESH...
Seriously, anonymous posting is disabled and we've had one open thread in one month and no other posts from GFL.
Also, Fargo is getting its second Olive Garden. They're building it on the southern end because of how ridiculously busy the one on 13th ave always is. So, GFL readers will have two Olive Garden options here now.
Yea, Looks like this might be a dead blog...
Can't wait for the slew of olive garden fanatics to come rushing in wondering what the latest rumors are on some random building that looks like something might be happening...
Evidently the bizz buzz was probably pretty important to this blog also. This has to also be about the fact that the moderator has left it for dead and there are no new topics. Oh well, back to the herald website.
ND ranked #1 in the US for having the most scandalous politicians yesterday...I was for sure LA had that honor - aren't you so proud?
Kim. Where did it say Politician's?? I just saw public officials.... I didn't think school board is known for being party based...
Like stenehjem said, you look at the numbers its not as bad as they make it out to be... a group of 5 makes the numbers inflated... Stuff happens. Life goes on.
what the hell happened to this blog
it's winter, building slows, not much news? No big deal to me.
I hate to bring up the "OG" again, but one rumor floating around was the oldest 4plex theatre property was bought and an "OG" will go up?
I heard that too and mentioned it in an earlier post. I was pretty much told to shut up.
OK, so is this blog dead or just dormant as 2008 bites the dust? I hope for a revival in January. Meanwhile, not much progress seems to be happening here in GF, though Dorgan's outline for an Obama-backed stimulus package raises interesting prospects for GF industry.
Based on the current economic conditions, we should be happy not much is happening in GF. Hopefully it will stay that way until a recovery is here. Nationally people are very happy if nothing is happening, that means you are surviving. Also, not a lot of development goes on when the highs are in the single digits below zero.
According to the Grand Forks County property search, here:
http://www.co.grand-forks.nd.us/BYPROP44F.HTM?property=44131300027000
the building has not been sold. I don't know how current those records are, but if memory serves, they're accurate within a couple of weeks or so. I don't remember if there's a "For Sale" sign on the building, but it's not listed for sale on either the Greenberg or Crary web sites.
I promise that this blog isn't truly dead...just very much dormant as of late. I apologize for that. This is an incredibly busy time of the year for me and I have almost no free time...certainly not enough time to properly maintain a blog like this. In the next couple of weeks, this should start to get better for me and I'm going to make every effort to get things back on track in 2009. It is true that there doesn't seem to be much to talk about as of late...very few business stories appearing in the last couple of months. Hang on, guys!
People seem surprised that this blog isn't going anywhere. That is what the whiners wanted, and that's what they got. You kill the anonymous post, you kill the blog.
Who needs "snipers" when you can use suicide to kill your blog. Do the right thing, open it up and you will see the change.
I have a concern and I hope the right people read this. As I sat at the intersection at Demers and Washington this morning (in not more than 2 minutes) I witness not one but 6 cars that ran red lights right in front of me. The first time they were coming from the south heading north and I counted 4 that went through the light AFTER it turned red and then when my light turned green I had to wait for two more to turn in front of me (I was heading west) to be able to go. The intersections in this town are dangerous enough as it is with all the ice and snow build up and it is really hard to stop and go but when you add the fact that people blatenly ignore the lights on top of that it makes one wonder. Where are the cops around here? I NEVER see anyone pulled over for speeding and running red lights is just standard procedure? Whats the deal? I try to be a law abiding citizen but today I just want to slap an "unsafe driver" sign onto these peoples bumpers.
Kim, I have seen the exact same thing (in nice weather, not winter), AND, 3 times I have been in a lane right next to a cop car when a driver has sped through a blatantly red light right in front of us and the cop(s) did nothing but sit and watch it happen ... I was FURIOUS ... I felt like getting out of my car and screaming at the police officer to do his job and stop being so nice (or lazy). In my opinion, running a red light is serious business and should not be given leniency by the police.
I've lived here nearly 3 years now and I'm still astonished on a daily basis at how many people blatantly run red lights. I never ever go as soon as my light turns green because you can almost be assured that at least one more car is going to come and run the red light in front of you. It's all hours, all over town, all seasons- I just can't understand it.
"Do the right thing, open it up and you will see the change."
Because sifting through 100 anonymous posts for one useful one is what I love to do...
Anonymous posts are still more interesting than reading numerous posts about olive garden by people who havent figured out yet that olive garden is NOT coming to town.
Aren't all the anonymous posts about the Olive Garden?
I agree about the red light thing--it's scary, and ever since I ran into a truck that ran the middle (not the beginning or the end) of a red light a few years ago, I've been much more careful, especially on my bicycle (still riding this year, woo!).
I was thinking that an interesting thing might be for the city or GrandForksGuy to get a poll up about what people see as the most important things for the police to be doing, traffic-violation-wise. I think running red lights and stop signs are right up there.
I am glad to see I am not the only one in town that has noticed the traffic problem. I am really surprised there are not more catastrophes here.
Why is gas here more expensive than anywhere else? I read in the paper this morning that gas prices are still dropping nationwide but they went up .10 per gallon here this past week. What's up with that?
Any way, this is post #99 so woo hoo the 100th post almost has 100 comments. Not too shabby for a dead blog.
Merry Christmas!
Not too shabby for a dead blog
Well, it took over a month to get there.
Let's not start arguing about gas prices again! Matthew, kudos to you for still riding your bike, though at this point, it may be bordering on psychotic :-)
Merry Christmas, all!
Well considering there is not a lot to talk about right now and lots of people are not online when they are visiting family for the holidays, I'd say this blog is vibrant and alive!
And for the record, I for one would LOVE to see an Olive Garden in Grand Forks...not that it will ever happen while I am here but since I like to go there at least twice a year it would be nice to have a closer one than Fargo.
I am with you Kim I think it would be awesome to have an Olive Garden in town here and see no reason why it can't be discussed.
As far as the anon posts, being good. To a point maybe but I think it is funny how people are SOOOOO BRAVE when they don't have to put a name to their posts.
Merry Christmas.
Hey, just a quick heads up about Allegiant Air out of Fargo...
If you book a flight to Orlando from Fargo, you'll end up in the SANFORD airport, which is easily 40+ miles from anything meaningful in Orlando.
I picked my sister up from there and took her back there last week, and it was a bugger. Thank God I have a GPS! Without it, I would have never found the place. It's in the middle of the swamp NE of downtown. It took me about two hours round trip from the resort at Disney World (where we all were staying) to the Sanford airport.
She said she liked her trip with them alright, but I'll be seeing for myself this Friday when I fly with them up to Fargo for New Year's.
I guess we'll see...
Apparently the Olive Garden posts weren't just anonymous trolling here... unless you guys are just joking.
The Christmas light display at Lincoln Park is terrible this year! Not worth $1 let alone $5.
As for the Christmas light display. I haven't seen it yet this year, but I will still go. The money goes to a great cause and in my opinion that makes it worth it.
Not joking. I LOVE Olive Garden and it is sad that we can't go there anymore because I am not about to drive to FARgo for dinner. The occasional birthday or anniversary maybe but not for a fix of salad and breadsticks. And EVERY time we've gone there we have waited no less than an hour for a table so somebody else besides myself must LOVE it too. Olive Garden is good stuff. Aaaah now I'm getting hungry for some of their salad...but I will pass on Fargo and maybe hit the St Cloud location while we are visiting family this Christmas. Merry Christmas to all! May the joys of Christmas come from heart and not from your pocketbook ;)
Grand Forks Guy, can you please just start a Olive Garden thread. It could be a continual place for all these idiots to discuss their love for one restaurant. On the topic of red lights, yes it can be annoying and maybe something should be done. Stop signs on the other hand? Really that is what we want cops focusing on?
Oh so the folks that want a Olive Garden are Idiots WTF Chet? it would be a legitimate topic for discussion. Why not? Please we are dying to see what else you can ad to the discussion. :(
That wasn't very nice Chet. We don't call you names for liking any particular restaurant do we?
Don't you think running a red light is a serious offense? You might if you happened to be in the intersection at the time someone happened to run one and you lost a loved one because of it. Geesh! Have a little bit of compassion.
Another restaurant bites the dust...
Would that be The Royal Fork? I don't think that one snuck up on anybody. I do think that they were a little overpriced to begin with. The Golden Trough was just the nail in the coffin...
Nope, I just realized it may not be public knowledge yet, so I'll refrain on naming it until it's confirmed.
lol. Ok, so now that you have everybody's curiosity, I will start the ball rolling. Need to get a little pool going; my guess is Rhombus.
I think Matt is talking about Suite 49...kind of a suprise if you ask me!
I really didn't mean anything by saying Rhombus, it was just a name that came to mind. I am not surprised about Suite 49. They had problems right from the start. I think the person with a lot of money invested is a pretty darn good businessman and knows when enough is enough. What surprises me is that it's been open this long.
Suite 49, I would imagine that place will be bought by someone else because I would have to say that is a great location for a bar right next to a major arena like the Ralph. I juust think it is the wrong type of sports bar. I think a sports bar with a cheaper menu and less glitz. Their food is good but over priced.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=98458
Its official.
Okay, thanks for confirming. I didn't want to end up with my foot in my mouth.
OMG OMG Olive Garden moving into Suite 49?!?!
I can't imagine that site sitting empty for long. Nice place.
I think one of the main reasons Suite 49 closed was because it wasn't very good.
At all.
HAIPLEASEPUTOLIVEGARDENINKTHXBYE
LOL @ DJ with the Olive Garden thing... For all those wondering why the Olive Garden rumors all are baseless in my book its because Ryan Schuster confirmed as of october they had no plans at all.
http://www.areavoices.com/bizbuzz/?blog=34322
If Olive Garden says that to a News entity I would pretty well assume that they are telling the truth.
Suite 49 Just had the wrong menu IMHO. it was a great place And I liked the atmosphere. But a more college oriented sports bar is whats needed there. After overtime closed, they need a 21ish generation y/the one below that place for them to hang out...
Isn't the idea of that area to become UND's Dinkytown?
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE...
Meest they will have to start over. Anyone think Gas is too high, oil is below 40 bucks a barrel and the gas is still 20 cents higher than fargo. Crickets chirping in the back ground.
Start Over what? I don't even know what part of my post you're talking about.
For anyone that's interested. I'm helping organize a show at the empire arts center January 5th.
Its 3 local North Dakota Groups.
Stay out late - pop/rock from Minot
I am Ian Johnson - Folk/Indie from Fargo
Jamie Mulligan - Fold/Acoustic from Grand Forks
It starts at 7pm and is 5 dollars. The money stays at the Empire after the bands get some gas money! Come on out and support your community arts center!
-Adam
What is the deal with the train? I was so close to being to work on time this morning but got stuck waiting out the train for 10 minutes (the one at UND and Demers) Why must it go through at 7:50 - 8:00? Why not wait till after rush hour?
As I sat there I got to thinking...where is it coming from? Where is it going? It was full of coal...anyone know?
Kim, you mean at demers and 42nd? Its probably going through like most other ones into the yard to get rearranged. and shifted for shipments. I'd recommend going over the bridge if you want to make sure you'll never get caught by the train. I never trust it. same when going downtown. always take the turn off demers to be safe instead of trying to cross the tracks.
Kim - if it was a coal train it was probably headed to UND. They use coal boilers to steam heat the entire campus.
I think they only take a car or two for the UND plant.
My guess is that the rest of the train is full of coke or coal coming out of mines in MT and WY or lignite from Western ND. They're heading through GF for Duluth, where they offload onto ships bound for the various power generating plants and steel mills along the Great Lakes.
Hey, Happy New Year!
I can go for weeks at a time without getting stuck behind a train at 42nd and Demers, then get stopped several times in a week. However, unless there's something weird going on (I've seen back-and-forth blockades that have lasted 30 minutes) it's almost always shorter to just wait that to drive around it.
My personal "rush hour" (ha, in Grand Forks,) complaint is turning left from Demers onto I-29 South. Around 5PM, you'll wait a loooong time because of the constant stream of traffic coming out of the Industrial Park. And if you're coming off the interstate and want to turn left to go west on Demers, good luck.
Perfect example of a place that could use a stop light for about two hours a day, and could be flashing red/yellow the rest of the time.
Thanks for that interesting tidbit of knowledge about the trains carrying coal. Very interesting!
No complaints about GF rush hour traffic, takes me about 12 min to get from EGF to work and I live at the point and that is if I catch a few lights in between. I really enjoyed the light display this morning - the LED snowflakes are pretty and really brighten up a dark dismal drive along Demers.
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