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| Post Number: 11
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| Post Number: 12
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hymiebravo 
Group: Members
Posts: 4989
Joined: Jan. 2006
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Posted on: Apr. 07 2012,8:41 am |
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(danbelshan @ Apr. 06 2012,6:54 pm)
QUOTE Interesting consultant driven project on Streets in Mason City http://www.northiowatoday.com/?p=7474 Editorial: Another business flees the streetscape by Matt Marquardt - MASON CITY – Another business has left downtown Mason City. Lillian’s, formerly located at 16 South Federal Avenue, has packed up and moved to Clear Lake. “I would have gladly stayed in Mason City, it’s my hometown,” owner Twyla Steenblock told NorthIowaToday.com. With all that has been made of the new streetscape area of downtown Mason City, the sign in the window at her former location stands out. Mayor Eric Bookmeyer has spoken of the “cultural crescent,” some kind of personal IMAX movie he described where sidewalks are paved in gold, customers are steadily coming and going at all hours, a type of utopian “river city renaissance.” Apparently the mayor’s dream skipped Lillian’s, and it is not reaching other businesses as well, NorthIowaToday.com has discovered. Steenblock said she never envisioned driving all the way to Clear Lake everyday to run her store, but she had no choice. ”Mason City did absolutely nothing to help me stay in business,” she explained. “I was totally excluded from the ping pong ball drop over the holidays. I made some calls about that, and then I was yelled at. The streetscape project was terrible. Then by August things just got worse. Finally I found a great location in Clear Lake (419 Main Avenue), and they welcomed me with open arms. We just had our grand opening and it was a huge success.” The misery for downtown streetscape area businesses doesn’t stop there. Another small business owner on North Federal Avenue described the streetscape project as “a nightmare” and said his business has not recovered. ”This is the slowest we have ever been,” said the owner, who wishes to remain unknown for fear of reprisal. ”It got worse in August if you can believe that.” Another long-time business on North Federal that will not be named also informed me that “we are barely hanging on.” The owner of Butcher’s, also on North Federal Avenue, told me a couple months ago that they will be moving their business about a mile north, well away from the streetscape area. Add to that other businesses that left recently are a vacuum store, The Scooter Shop, Visit Mason City, and a martial arts shop, among others. This is not to say that there are not success stories in the streetscape area; obviously new businesses have sprung up here and there. Most notably the Historic Park Inn, State Street Deli, and Chop Restaurant as well as Oak Leaf Comics, just to name a few. But to gloss over or outright leave out the fact that there are still businesses experiencing difficulty downtown is a fabrication. Only when the full story is known can downtown truly succeed. I for one am hoping the city and its partners like Main Street Mason City are finding new and creative ways to spur success for all businesses in Mason City, not just those located in a very small geographic area.
Austin did some maintenance to their downtown. There have been some modest improvements made to that area as well. A great deal of them where made by the businesses already there. For instance upgrading their facades and that sort of thing.
It just seems inherently wrong to excessively spend money and over-hype something that should be something a little more pedestrian and down to earth.
I suppose in Chicago you could try and rehabilitate a blighted area by excessively propping it up.
But last time I checked Albert Lea was just a little shy of the population there.
Does Owatonna have streetscape? Maybe that's what they need to be successful.
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| Post Number: 13
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jimhanson
Group: Moderator
Posts: 8491
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Apr. 07 2012,2:21 pm |
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The reality is that coming or going from north Bridge to any other area of town--there is less than a minute's difference, no matter whether you go direct or use an alternate route.
Example: North Bridge to the Elbow Room on the south side--go direct via Bridge/Broadway--go via Bridge/Garfield/Broadway, no difference.
North Bridge to Southwest School--using Bridge to North side/Main Street/Hwy. 69--or I-90 to Hwy. 13--or Plaza to County 20 and transition to Hwy. 13--no difference.
North Bridge to Wal-mart--using I-90 to I-35--or Hammer Road to old Hwy. 65--no difference.
Making Bridge 4-lane until the North Side doesn't solve any problems--it just moves the congestion further down the road--unless you include a way to get onto Main.
The most cost-effective thing we can do is simply control traffic with a light on Bridge to provide access, and let people find their own best way.
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"If you want to anger a Conservative, tell him a lie. If you want to anger a LIBERAL, tell him the TRUTH!"
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| Post Number: 14
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usmcr
Group: Members
Posts: 922
Joined: Sep. 2003
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Posted on: Apr. 07 2012,4:53 pm |
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the reality of the traffic congestion is overblown. this is not the twin cities or rochester! yes, there is congestion during certain periods but it is brief & manageable, imho. considering the history of the population decline it does not seem probable that the city or county will have a surge of population any time soon. regarding consultants, what type of action has ever materialized from these on north bridge ave? the original platting was or is the culprit of the situation now. service roads imho should have been incorporated into the overall -plan at the time. this in turn would have limited the access onto bridge ave which could have been further enhanced by the use of signals. plaza street should be rerouted to possible hitech st as it is to close to the I-90 exit & on ramps. the cross traffic between hy vee & the hy vee gas station is not a good situation as well. perhaps barriers down the center line could limit the access & exits. if i am not mistaken we are paying a person to be a city planner, why is the city hiring consultants? if this person can not or will not preform the bidding of the city council then eliminate the planners job & use the savings to hire consultants that have the expertise!
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"Do not confuse dissent with disloyalty" Edward R Murrow
Memento homo quia pulvis es, et in pulverem veverteris
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| Post Number: 15
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hymiebravo
Group: Members
Posts: 4989
Joined: Jan. 2006
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Posted on: Apr. 09 2012,8:09 am |
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How is the consultant driven project that Freeborn County is involved in concerning DHS going?
I thought I read at the paper site a few weeks ago: That the county was poised to save $20-30 million---if the measures that the think tank and the consultants came up with were put into place.
It seems that part of the plan involves sharing centralized facilities of some sort.
I have to admit just glancing over it: It seemed like quite a nice thing. Mostly in that it was talking about saving $30 million.
As opposed to everything else that a person reads concerning tax fueled entities always being short of money and looking for more.
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| Post Number: 16
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danbelshan
Group: Members
Posts: 263
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Apr. 09 2012,5:16 pm |
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QUOTE How is the consultant driven project that Freeborn County is involved in concerning DHS going?
12 County Human Services Redesign Plan
Goal: Save Money by sharing and working together.
1st thing that happened
Consultant firm hired from New York for $750,000 (guess no one closer could do it or the 12 counties couldn't do it with existing staff) .
My suggestion was to have all the Counties' Human Services directors and County Administrators do the job and come back with a plan.
Back to the consultant
They recommended we implement the plan they designed and they be contracted to do an 11 million dollar piece of the 19 milion dollar cost to implement.
(remember the jail consultant recommended we build and they design it?)
Cost savings initially helped just a few counties. We were one of them. Why? Because we are the highest budget and cost per capita of all similar counties
see below.
County human services operations
County 2010 population 2012 annual budget Local tax levy Employees
Dodge 20,087 $4,602,264 $2,403,415 34
Fillmore 20,866 $3,673,344 $1,154,266 25
Freeborn 31,255 $10,600,000 $5,300,000 82
Goodhue 46,183 $10,213,053 $3,909,980 69
Houston 19,027 $4,401,480 $1,209,970 31
Mower 39,163 $8,455,043 $2,858,775 59
Olmsted 144,248 $54,701,663 $27,818,021 337
Rice 64,142 $10,550,366 $3,929,695 88
Steele 36,576 $8,082,583 $2,834,447 61
Waseca 19,136 $4,397,166 $1,048,409 26
Wabasha 21,676 $4,761,151 $2,133,579 34
Winona 51,461 $10,002,819 $2,963,047 74
Opinion Looking at the numbers above we appear to be out of line with other counties and I am working to solve this.
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| Post Number: 17
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hymiebravo
Group: Members
Posts: 4989
Joined: Jan. 2006
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Posted on: Apr. 10 2012,7:35 am |
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Have you ever noticed when you see somebody on TV get interviewed and they ask the person what they do: And they tell the interviewer they are involved in consulting. They always chuckle a bit, and say it like they are legally ripping people off.
Then the interviewer always sort of nods and agrees.
The difference between a crook (Or who is perceived as being one), and everybody else, many times---just boils down to social acceptance and public relations.
It seems like integrating entities is nothing new. And has been talked about and put into place in various ways all over the country.
It does seem like folks already on the tax rolls in the state: Should be able to emulate what has already been done successfully elsewhere.
An example might be the so called Street Scape rage.
Go down to Mason City have a look around and copy it.
Or use that along with other places to come up with your own version of it.
No consultant needed.
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| Post Number: 18
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SlapMyMonkey
Group: Members
Posts: 61
Joined: Dec. 2010
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Posted on: Apr. 11 2012,12:22 pm |
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problem is....A.L. keeps on voting in the same old crooks or same ignorant people who waste money like this.
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| Post Number: 19
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digger
Group: Members
Posts: 102
Joined: Nov. 2004
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Posted on: May 02 2012,4:22 pm |
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Heard a rumor that the new Kwik Trip can't proced with construction because they need to wait on the findings of the study. Any truth to that, can anyone confirm or deny?
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| Post Number: 20
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Self-Banished
Group: Members
Posts: 22684
Joined: Feb. 2006
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Posted on: May 02 2012,6:45 pm |
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^Oh oh, somebodies wheels need to be greased! Or a grant is in order. It's all fixed with money.
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 Remember boys and girls,
Don’t be a Dick …
Or a “Wayne” 
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