During the recent appointment process resulting from the passing of councilmember Tom Kough, there were several expressions of concern that we fill vacancies on the city council as "democratically" as possible. One preference expressed was for the use of special elections in more instances than state law currently requires. State law requires special elections with more than 2 years left on a vacant term, and allows cities to require special elections in other instances. Right now, our city code requires a special election only in the "other instance" of a councilmember assuming an "incompatible office" (one that you can't hold at the same time as being a councilmember). I have brought forward a proposed ordinance to liberalize our use of special elections in 2 ways: First, to use special elections for all types of vacancies (not just incompatible office), and second to use them for all vacancies except those that occur late enough in a term where there will be a regular election already going on for that seat (up to approximately May of the last year of the term). The city council will hear comments from the public on that proposed ordinance at our 6 PM July 14th meeting. Some discussion topics related to council special elections include: -Is it preferable to have councilmembers that are appointed by the council who serve for as much as nearly 2 years without having faced the voters, versus elected councilmembers whenever possible? (Is it necessary to be elected rather than appointed to have "legitimacy" or accountability?) -Should the cost (estimated by city staff to be $20,000 per special election) enter into the discussion? If so, how important of a factor should it be? -Should a special election for a vacancy be going on at the same time as a general election for the same seat? (If so, how much overlap in the schedules of the 2 elections is acceptable?) The city council would appreciate input from the community as we consider this proposed ordinance. More background information can be found here: http://www.ci.roseville.mn.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=2000
Hi, just wondering if anyone could answer a few question about the plan. I am referencing this document: http://www.cityofroseville.com/DocumentView.asp?DID=2010 I am interested in the 2002 proposed segments. Have any of these been approved/built yet? Do they represent bike lanes, paths, or it just depends on the section? Fairview Ave north of B2 has the red stripe on one side (where I know there is a path) and a purple on the other. Does that mean there will be a sidewalk installed on the west side of the street after the B2 crossing? I am also curious about what looks like a 36 crossing into the Rosedale center? The proposed connection from County C to Walnut St is very interesting as I know that corridor has increased in commuter traffic due to the opening of the Minneapolis Diagonal Trail. Great!
For those of you who are interested in the saga of how the worst violator of alcohol laws in the history of Roseville is being helped by city bureaucrats to get its penalty reduced by 97%, here is an update. At the June 16th meeting, it was expected that the city council for a second time was going to rubberstamp Mr. Klausing and City Manager Bill Malinen's plan to reduce Davanni's penalty by 97%. It was expected to be yet another split council vote. Ms. Pust was expected to vote no on the reduction. Davanni's was tagged for selling alcohol after the police had suspended their license for a previous violation of selling alcohol to kids a few months earlier. But to many people's surprise, Ms. Ihlan was unable to attend the meeting, apparently being stuck out of town for the evening. The other wildcard for the meeting was that this was the first time newly appointed member Mr. Willmus would have to vote on the issue. To the shock of Mr. Klausing and Mr. Malinen, Mr. Willmus stated that he could NOT support a 97% reduction in the penalty to Davanni's. Ms. Pust also restated her opposition to the reduction and said she would vote NO. So that left the issue a 2-2 tie. So it got tabled until tomorrow's meeting of June 30th. So tomorrow, June 30th, the council again will bring up the issue of reducing Davanni's penalty by 97%. It appears that if it passes, it will be done with a split council vote with Mr. Klausing casting the tie breaker giving Davanni's a 97% reduction of their penalty. Note that it was Mr. Klausing who led the effort to support former city manager Neal Beet's illegal reduction of penalties for three other businesses just a few years ago. In my personal opinion, I find that this whole process of dealing with Davanni's violation of the law to have been highly unethical from the very beginning. First, Mr. Malinen failed to completely inform the city council members of Davanni's history of being the number one violator in the history of the city, going back to 2000. It is his job to do this. Second, Mr. Klausing's and Mr. Malinen's claim that the council probably never intended such a harsh penalty for someone who sold alcohol on a suspended license was made in complete ignorance. They had no research to support such a claim. In fact, the recommendation came from the Roseville Police Department. I know, because I was there at the time. Third, Mr. Klausing acts if this is no big deal because this is the first time Davanni's has violated the law. Well it is a big deal, because it is NOT the first time they have violated the law. It is like the 5th or 6th time they have violated Roseville alcohol laws. While there are a few other businesses that have sold alcohol to kids once or twice, Davanni's has been caught selling alcohol to kids at least 4 times and they are the only business to have sold alcohol with a suspended liquor license, which is what they are currently supposed to be penalized for. Fourth, it was pure deception on the part of the city to issue two council reports on this issue. One report given to the public telling them that the city wanted the standard penalty applied, and then a second report sent to council members hours before the meeting via email calling for a 99% reduction in the penalty. This second report was never brought to the attention of the public and they were never given a copy at the meeting. One has to raise the issue of who is being paid off. Reports don't get changed a few hours before a council meeting by accident. Just a few years ago, we had our previous city manager handing out favors to businesses who were selling alcohol to kids. All done behind closed doors. Now we have Mr. Klausing and Mr. Malinen handing out favors to a business whose management team sold alcohol while their license was under suspension by the Roseville Police Department. The police department suspended their license because just a few months earlier, Davanni's was caught selling alcohol to kids. I'm also concerned about the actions of Police Chief Carol Sletner. Just a few years ago, she kept silent while former City Manager Neal Beets knowingly broke the law and reduced penalties to businesses caught selling alcohol to kids. Yes she spoke up in what she had hoped were private emails to Beets, telling him that she thought his actions violated the law, but said nothing to the public and/or the city council. Not until the council asked her directly at a council meeting to give her opinion, and after Beets had left the room, did she speak up publicly to state that she opposed reduction of penalties. She said it sends the wrong message to businesses, and if you give one a break, then all of them will want the same break. On June 16th, I attempted to ask Sgt. Matt Marshall at the council meeting (who is the person directly in charge of the alcohol compliance program) why he was not supporting the city ordinances and the penalty system we have which was initially proposed by officers in his department. He started to respond that the department was not commenting about that, when Chief Sletner told him to follow her back into the locked area of the police department. Sgt. Marshall said that he could not speak to me anymore and said that he had to immediately comply with her request. It appeared pretty clear to me that city manager Malinen has a gag order on Chief Sletner to keep her mouth shut on this issue. That gag order applies to everyone who works under her. It is pretty clear based upon the last blow up of this alcohol issue a few years ago that Chief Sletner is opposed to the reduction of penalties to businesses that violate alcohol laws. But as we saw a few years ago, she will not speak up. Last time it was fear of city manager Beets and this time it is fear of city manager Malinen. I have to admit that it would be even a bigger embarrassment to Mr. Klausing and Mr. Malinen if Chief Sletner spoke up to oppose this 97% reduction in penalties to Davanni's. So the gag order serves a political purpose it seems. As I said, this whole issue smacks of favoritism, back room deals, and plain and simple unethical behavior on the part of several people. Ms. Pust and Mr. Willmus have put their foot down and said that they are voting NO. Hopefully one more council member chooses to step up at tomorrow's council meeting (June 30th). The council has an ethical duty of shedding light on this whole situation and airing out the stink that is currently associated with it. John M. Kysylyczyn K Solutions LLC, owner 3083 Victoria Street Roseville, MN 55113 email: <email obscured> home office: (651) 484-1384 www.ksolutionsllc.com Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004
Reference September of 2006 the topic of LRT in Roseville. Ms Debra M. Bloom P.E., Assistant Public Works Director, City Engineer wrote: "This line is recommended for BRT (bus rapid transit)/ bicycle/pedestrian facility. Buses are not limited to the transitway and can exit onto City streets. As a result, BRT is less expensive to construct and more flexible. Since the line in Ramsey County is still active, there are no specific plans to construct a transitway in the near future." See more text below. This study needs to be updated. I recommend an SRT or Streetcar Rapid Transit for this corridor. BRT has consistently demonstrated very poor results. All over the country people are taking rail transit in increasing numbers greater than *any* kind of bus system. Buses discourage ridership. When the TCRT streetcar system was changed to buses, transit ridership dropped by almost 50% within a very short period of time between 1954 to 1956 and never has recovered. In 2005 39% of Hiawatha respondents stated they were new to transit (had never taken a bus previously) and that if the Hiawatha was not available, they would use their cars, *not* take a bus. A streetcar or LRT vehicle lasts a minimum of 35 years and a bus a maximum of 12 to 15 years. The rail rolling stock (rail and wheels) lasts 50 years, and the rail ties of the Hiawatha are built to last 75 years. With electric rail transit, there is no on-sight air pollution. See the following: http://www.nj-arp.org/brt2.html If the line is built for SRT/Streetcar Rapid Transit for this corridor the track could be built to LRT standards and converted to LRT/Light Rail in the future if density warranted. A Streetcar Rapid Transit can operate as a rapid transit in the corridor like LRT with a maximum two-car pull and convert to a streetcar function on city streets, thus more flexible. If the below grade utilities are not great or are absent in this corridor, the cost of building the rail bed to LRT standards would be close to the same as building to streetcar standards. A BRT would require an asphalt surface with corresponding cost of maintenance, a wider ROW (right-of-way) 33 feet for BRT to 24 feet for Streetcar. Rail transit provides greater leeway and reliability in winter climate of snow and ice, again lower maintenance costs. No on-sight air pollution would provide a cleaner, better environment for an adjacent bicycle/pedestrian non motorized highway facility for human space. The FTA has been pushing BRT to, in my view, force more people into cars, and recently a grant was given to build BRT in the 35W south corridor and the Cedar Avenue corridor. Not good. All The Best Paul Nelson Ward One - D7 Hyde Park Saint Paul
The Minnesota Minute online video contest celebrating Minnesota's nature, environment, and outdoors that I mentioned earlier has been extended to September 1st. Check out the submissions and prizes (including a Sony Palmcorder) from: http://minnesotaminute.org Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org
I just wanted to note that there was a lot less traffic on the side streets during the parade on Monday. Last year we had a lot of problems with people wanting to get across Lexington while the parade was in progress. I think that the letters that were sent out to the residents stating what streets were going to be closed did assist those of us who were doing security for the parade. I also wanted to mention this: if the Police, Reserves, CERT or Sheriff's Reserves directed your children to stay off the street - this was for good reason. We had a person have their foot run over by a vehicle and a person get hit in the head with a flag from one of the marching bands. Please remember that what the volunteers are doing is for your safety and the safety of those involved with the parade. Reminders: Run for the Roses is on Saturday morning and there will be temporary road closures and runners/bikers/rollerbladers on the streets. There will be areas of Central Park closed during the fireworks on the 4th for safety. Please stay out of the areas that are roped off. Thanks! Kris Williams CERT
Another screw-up on the part of the partisan Roseville communications department. The city website claims the following qualifications to RUN for city council: Must be an eligible voter of the City; 21 years of age; Resident of the City for at least thirty days before general election. State law on the other hand says in Minnesota Statutes 204B.06: Must be an eligible voter of the City; IS OR WILL BE ON ASSUMING THE OFFICE, 21 years of age or older; Resident of the City for at least thirty days before general election. The difference? According to the city, you have to be 21 years old to RUN for office. According to state law, you do NOT have to be 21 years old to RUN for office. You only have to be 21 years old by the time you take the oath of office which would most likely be the first business day after January 1, 2009. So many 20 year olds ARE eligible to RUN for office. Personally I would put my faith in state law over the partisan Roseville Communications Department. Hopefully somebody down at City Hall will issue a correction. Sorry, but I think it is kind of embarrassing when the elections people don't know the qualifications to run for office. We have only been holding city elections for 60 years. John M. Kysylyczyn K Solutions LLC, owner 3083 Victoria Street Roseville, MN 55113 email: <email obscured> home office: (651) 484-1384 www.ksolutionsllc.com Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004
Municipal wireless is dead. Based upon what has happened in at least 20 cities I have read up on, it is viable if you don't mind it being another money pit like the Oval. Minneapolis has Wi-Fi, but it is slow. Yes it is faster than dialup, but maybe two or three times faster and that's it. In this day and age, that just doesn't cut it for many people. Sure it is great for email, but my Netflix internet TV box wouldn't work on it in the high quality mode because it just isn't fast enough. Yes municipal Wi-Fi is cheaper than what Comcast is offering, but if you compare speed versus cost, I believe that Comcast is probably a better deal. If you compare their Wi-Fi vs. DSL, you may find the same thing. So what that means is that if you are in the nitch of where you want faster than dialup, but don't need DSL or cable speed, then this might be the service for you. But maybe that is the failure of municipal internet, in that it may only appeal to a sliver of the customers. Now if Roseville owned the electrical utility, like Anoka or North Saint Paul does, then maybe you run fiber to all the homes. If you own the poles, you can do whatever you want. But since we don't own the poles, the city can only do this thing wirelessly and the technology just isn't there. The guy from Comcast told me Monday that they are going to start installing fiber out on the poles in a year or two here in Roseville. They are hesitant to running fiber to the homes at this point because of the maintenance costs associated with that final run. One of the bigger efforts made on this issue in a broad sense was during my term in office where I had a small report prepared which looked at the cost of installing underground conduit along all of our main county roads. If there is a city role in this, I believed it may be better if it is limited to providing infrastructure for hosting the technology. So we own the tunnels and this will allow companies to lease space from the city and install and upgrade technology in a quick and easy fashion. (note you are limited on what you can hang on power poles unless you want to make them taller, etc. which is why the tunnel idea) This was a great idea, but of course the cost was expensive for just the major roads. Unfortunately no one was thinking about these things when we rebuilt all the side streets the last 30 years or we could have already had something in place there. Well it would have taken a massive financial commitment and some elected leadership to pull this one off. Unfortunately there really weren't many people willing to step forward to make this a reality. If we would have done this, we would have been able to quickly disperse technology to the neighborhoods and then a private company would have only had to worry about direction connection from the neighborhood level to the homes. John M. Kysylyczyn K Solutions LLC, owner 3083 Victoria Street Roseville, MN 55113 email: <email obscured> home office: (651) 484-1384 www.ksolutionsllc.com Mayor of Roseville, MN 2000-2004
Hello,
I appreciate and agree with these writers. From time to time we may
forget that RIF can be for communications beyond the "issues," and we have
much to enjoy in Roseville.
I am reminded of a bumper sticker I saw recently. I think it was worded
as: "More wagging, less bark." Of course, if you are a cat feeder, you'd
likely word that differently.
By the way, what are residents of Roseville properly called?
Rosevillites? Rosevillians? Rosevillans? Rosevillers? Hmm?
Best wishes,
Have any efforts been made recently by the City of Roseville to consider wireless internet as an option for residents,as well asfor fire, police, and emergency services? I am becoming familiar with the Minneapolis Wi-Fi network, its current operation, how it is working for residents and City services (at least eventually it will be), and how it will cover all of Minneapolis by this fall, so I'm curious about what efforts have been, or are being made. I understand that some peoplemay have reservations about municipal Wi-Fi, but it is working in Minneapolis, although better in some areas than others. It is also a much cheaper alternative to internet service than Comcast currently is. I would love to answer any questions about the subject that people may have -- Dan Nelson
For those that are interested, here is a cut and paste from the city's web-page on this. It is still cheaper than a movie. Roseville has two City Council seats up for election this fall. Filing begins July 1 until July 15. If interested in running, file at the Administration Department at Roseville City Hall, 2660 Civic Center Drive. To file, a person completes an affidavit and pays a $5 filing fee. More information is available on the Elections webpage. Call 651-792-7026 if you have questions or contact the City's Elections Coordinator. Qualifications to run for a City Council seat include: Must be an eligible voter of the City; 21 years of age; and Resident of the City for at least thirty days before general election. http://mn-roseville.civicplus.com/index.asp?NID=1261
I would love someone to interpret the montage/collage on the front of the Roseville Review Supplement for the 60th Anniversary Rosefest? Especially the woman dressed as Obi-wan Kenobi? The parade cars, marching band members (even though Roseville doesn't have a marching band...)the skaters etc seem to sort of fit. The revolutionary war era soldier? Are they all just parade references and I'm reading too much into it? ( That wouldn't fit with the guy lining up his putt...) Thanks!
Certainly a positive message that I am sure many would like to project to those outside the community. I prefer to stick to the cold hard facts. Let me expand upon the previous comments. 1. Central Park, along with all of our parks, are a community asset. We can first thank the voters and city leaders back in the 1960's and earlier for having a high level of community vision in setting aside the land, and approving referendums to make this happen. I personally believe this kind of leadership and vision is lacking in most of society today. The Parks and Recreation staff do their best with the limited resources they have. Thankfully we have citizen volunteers who step in and contribute. But when you look closely, you see that there are "issue". Let's face the facts, you have a park system that has a $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 backlog in repairs. This isn't small change. The council just recently bypassed voter approval to approve bonds in the $2,000,000 range for some arena expenditures and this isn't part of the backlog I am referencing above. Burying our heads in the sand won't make it go away. Then you have leadership issues at the elected level where there seems to be a greater desire to build even more new items rather than place a priority on fixing what we have. Should we be installing more streetscaping and pathways which require long term maintenance costs when we can't afford to fix what we already have? 2. We do have well kept homes in general. The Neighborhood Enhancement Program really is just window dressing and more to do with public relations if you take a broad look at this whole issue. The Roseville Housing and Redevelopment Authority has wanted to really dive into this issue for the past two years but has been rebuffed by the city council every step of the way. Mr. Klausing along with staff who do not live in Roseville, have blocked their efforts numerous times. Just recently, public hearings for many of these issues were eliminated by the council. We can do ten times better, and we have volunteers who have stepped up to the plate to lead the way, if certain people would put aside personal power, political, and ego issues. The HRA is in an excellent position to take a leadership position on this issue. 3. Our streets are well maintained. The comment about them being done without special assessments is false. The council years ago followed state law which allowed them to bond for millions of dollars without voter approval, by assessing properties anywhere from 25-100% of the cost. The bonds have been paid back over a lot of years through increased property taxes. Having new streets means minimal maintenance in the short term. There is no free ride. Then from what public works staff has said in so many words, the taxpayers were overtaxed over many years in order to create some kind of endowment where they use the interest off of this endowment in order to pay for minimal maintenance. Let me be clear that this is taxpayer money, not some gift from Guidant, 3M, etc. Instead of us using this money to pay down our mortgages, car payments, credit card debt, or sending our kids to college, the city has our money and is using it. In other communities, they chose to let the taxpayers keep their money and simply use assessments when projects come along. Again, there is no free ride. Government overtaxing citizens and keeping their money is not what I would call planning or vision. 4. Pleasant city staff does exist. I have personally met many of them. What is unfortunate is that a few bad eggs spoil the batch. When we do find a few bad eggs, rather than separate them from the batch, they are protected by the city manager. The manager uses a loophole in state law to keep investigations of other employees non-public and out of sight from council members. This loophole doesn't exist for state level management employees. The desire to bury problems by the city manager ends up creating an atmosphere where it appears that all employees are on the take. It also lowers the standards that other employees feel they should strive to achieve. Let me give you some examples of what this management style creates. If the fire chief can run a political campaign website from city hall during the business day on city owned computers with no repercussions, then certainly an employee should be free to run their ebay business from city hall on city owned computers during the work day. If a communications department employee can make a derogatory comment towards council member Kough during a public meeting, then why can't all employees make similar derogatory comments to county or state elected officials in a public environment on city time in their official capacity as a representative of the city of Roseville. Then look at the example our council sets for our employees. The council never holds the city manager accountable for anything. When a police investigator from the Maple Grove Police Department proved that the city manager broke the law, the council never even considered disciplining him. Never considered a written reprimand, a day off of work without pay, or firing him which would have been the standard action. Instead they let him stay on the payroll as long as he wanted while he looked for another job. Then the police chief who stayed silent when emails showed she knew the city manager was breaking the law, is allowed to continue on as if nothing happened and it was just another day at the office.
I greatly endorse Roger's message. My wife and I have had the privledge of
volunteering in Roseville for many years. I have owned two different homes
in Roseville since 1966. Have met and enjoy many friendships in Roseville
and consider it a pleasure to have lived in a city where we have such great
amenities. Hope to see everyone at tonight's Rose Fest Parade. I will again
have the privledge of volunteering for the parade. We have some of the
greatest bands in the state in our parade.
Go Roseville!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mary & Denny Harris
While walking to the Roseville Ampitheater last evening I was reminded about how fortunate we are to live in Roseville. A variety of reflections occurred: #1- Our beautiful Central Park- Perfect in every detail. The Parks and Recreation staff should be complimented for their hard and competent work. #2-The well kept homes- We went by one home that was a mess with high grass -weeds etc for the past couple of weeks but yesterday it was mowed and cleaned up. How great it is that we have the Neighborhood Enhancement Program. One citizen told me that our quality staff had helped get volunteers to come and help her clean up and improve her place. #3-Our streets- Well maintained and done with out special assessments because of money having been set aside some years ago so the income from the Fund can be applied to the cost on a planned basis. #4- The pleasant City Staff and Council Members who are always ready to help- And the list goes on & on- We all can be proud of our City - Roger Toogood
Wow - it is not often there are surprises like that, thanks to all the volunteers and professionals that helped find him.
Not Sure what happend with the prior link. Keith Kennedy was found today, as reported tonight by the Star Tribune. Good News!
Ramsey county is wrapping up its seasonal collection site in Roseville next weekend, June 27th and 28th. The process is very efficient; show up in your vehicle of choice, get your license scanned and have your items unpacked. It takes about 5 minutes. Hours are Friday, 10am-6pm, and Saturday, 9am-4pm. The site is located on Kent St, which is off of Larpenteur and the street after Dale (heading east). Items include: - automotive products - home improvement products - cleaning products - lawn & garden chemicals - oil and oil filters - propane tanks - items containing mercury They will not take alkaline (AA, AAA) batteries (can be thrown in the trash if made after 1993) or incandescent light bulbs (can also go in the trash). For more information on accepted items or a map, I have attached a relevant PDF.
Good point, Roger. So I just went to the city website (_http://www.ci.roseville.mn.us/_ (http://www.ci.roseville.mn.us/) ) and signed up for several types of email updates. The city also has an RSS feed, and I will be getting updates that way, too. It's very easy to do (hey, if I could do it...!) I'm also one who reads the city newsletter cover to cover. I never did respond when they were having to find out how many people wanted the print copy, so I would have been another cheerleader. It is important to speak up about these matters, and I am thankful that this forum allows us to have our say! Karen "I read anything I see" O'Brien In a message dated 6/20/2008 1:06:24 P.M. Central Daylight Time, <email obscured> writes: i wonder what percentage of roseville's voting age population receives e-mail updates from the city and what percentage checks out the website each day? roger hess jr