WHD
On Jun 12, 2018 1:46 PM, "Ed Felien" <<email obscured>> wrote:
Mr. Duncan,
The level of Lake Hiawatha is 812. If we removed the three obstacles
blocking the outlet to Lake Hiawatha, we could lower the water level to
808. That is still above all the sanitary sewer lines. The water level of
the Creek by the time it reaches the dam just before the bridge at Hiawatha
Avenue is about 800. Conforming to the principle that water flows
downhill, the sanitary pipes also get lower as they march our waste to the
Pigseye wastewater treatment facility in St. Paul. As I said in my piece:
Enrique Velázquez, the surface water and sewers manager of Business
Operations for the City of Minneapolis, Public Works, wrote to me:
“Here is a summary of pipes underground shown in Figure 9 from upstream to
downstream:
1. City sanitary at 28th Ave: top of pipe appears to be at 808’ec
2. MCES interceptor sanitary sewer (city lines flow into this): top of pipe
appears to be slightly below 808’
3. City sanitary at 29th Ave: top of pipe appears to be at 806.5’
4. City sanitary at 30th Ave: top of pipe appears to be at 805’
5. MCES interceptor sanitary sewer (same pipe as #2 above): top of pipe
appears to be slightly above 807’
6. City sanitary just east of Nokomis Ave: top of pipe appears to be at
806.5’”
None of the pipes are above 808, so by removing the three obstructions we
would lower the level of the creek and the water level of Lake Hiawatha by
approximately 3 to 4 feet.
Already, by the time the Creek gets to Nokomis Avenue, the top of the pipes
are only 806.5, so there is really no danger of any of them being exposed
by dropping the water level by three or four feet to 809 or 808.
The second part of your rebuttal is complex. First, I agree, generally,
with your economic analysis. However, I am a bit more optimistic. I
believe the push for raising the minimum wage and almost full employment
will inevitably and in a very short time drive up wages. [In all fairness,
I must caution you, I am a pathological optimist.]
But I detect in your analysis a prejudice against golf because you assume
it is a game of plutocrats. I grew up on 42nd Street and 29th Avenue.
After delivering my Morning Tribune route I would bike down to the golf
course and look for golf balls and sell them for a dime or three for a
quarter to golfers on the 3rd hole. The people who played golf on Hiawatha
then and the people who play on Hiawatha now are working class and petit
bourgeois. They do not own the means of production. They may own a small
shop and they may have illusions of themselves as part of the ruling class,
but the ruling class doesn't play golf at Hiawatha--they've got Minikahda
and the Woodhill Country Club for that. The poorest people in Europe
invented golf. Scottish peasants and shepherds used a stick to hit stones
and amuse themselves while they watched their sheep. Don't let your
cultural legacy be expropriated by the likes of Donald Trump.
I think your conclusion falsely states the problem and the solution: "No
one wants to spend 50 or 100 million moving infrastructure, dredging,
building a new clubhouse etc to save Hiawatha Golf Course." The
infrastructure that needs to be removed shouldn't cost much: The U S Army
Corps of Engineers should come and take down their dam/weir--if not, then a
Park crew should do it; CenterPoint Energy needs to come and take down
their pipeline; the boulders under the Nokomis Avenue footbridge could be
removed by a Park crew in an afternoon. The dredging of Minnehaha Creek is
probably not necessary, but the dredging of Lake Hiawatha should be done on
a regular basis. The Park Board should call up the City of Minneapolis and
tell them to come and collect the sand they've dumped through the storm
sewer system. And, please, don't renovate the clubhouse. Every time they
do, the food gets worse. I remember chocolate malts and limeades that I
have never found as good. Virgil and Pat Welna used to come down to the
clubhouse every Sunday for breakfast as a special treat. I would agree the
food needs to be revived, but I don't think it needs 50 to 100 million
dollars to rebuild. It could be a fine place for an enterprising
restaurateur.
I hope you can come down to the course this Saturday to "Celebrate
Juneteenth and the History of Hiawatha's Black Golfers. All are welcome.
Food will be provided. 1pm. Sponsored by the Save Hiawatha Course, the
Twin City Golf Club and The Old Negro League."