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Nose for News 
Group: Members
Posts: 431
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 25 2004,9:22 am |
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The Barrel Makers Need to Change
Private enterprise knows more than local groups like Desperashun (spelling?) Albert Lea who convinced the commissioners and downtown merchants that if the courthouse stayed where it was it would revive downtown.
Look where the new growth is . Its out by I35, why because of the 35,000 cars a day going by. That's why Wal-Mart went and so will the others on Wal-Marts coattails.
Now has the city council has convinced itself that they are city planners and they will develop the Farmland site? I hope they can do better than Bob Graham (official city planner) who allowed tins sheds on the edge of fountain lake created the wonderful Bridge, Fountain, Clark, Main intersection and who has been known to read his off the wall poetry at official meetings when he has a captive audience that cannot leave.
I feel sorry for downtown merchants and mall merchants who were sucked into flawed thinking of the new school, courthouse, a clean lake, higher sales tax and a historical district will revive downtown and their malls. They will now pay higher taxes only to see their customers flock to the I35 corridor.
Instead of the city condemning developers and new business for wanting to locate in certain area's they need to listen to private enterprise not the entrenched city staff.
The barrel makers and buggy wheel makers of 100 years ago either adapted and changed product or went broke. Our local government has no incentive to change and be innovative with total job security like the city planner above. Maybe the new city manager can shake up our local Barrel Makers!
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DISCLAIMER
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Nose for News Is Pleased To Announce That We Have Absolutely No Affiliation Whatsoever With The Albert Lea Tribune Or Its Parent, Boone Publishing.
Like Other Minnesota/Iowa Residents, We Simply Endure Them.
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MrTarzan
Group: Members
Posts: 564
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 25 2004,6:23 pm |
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Good Luck to her. SALUTE!
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Be not simply good, be good for something-Henry David Thoreau
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Daisy Duke
Group: Members
Posts: 147
Joined: Mar. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 25 2004,11:36 pm |
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My biggest question is what are the city managers thinking? When I first moved here I was told they wanted this community to be a "retirement community" but then they go and buildd a new high school. How many 60 yr olds on up have freakin teenagers!!!
They have turned down so many opportunites its insanity!! This town could be unbelievably wealthy if we could get some real brains on the board. Look ast Rochester for example, that town is booming. Let's kidnap some of their city managers for awhile!! 
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Life is too short, SO play naked
The supreme reality of our time is the extreme vulnerability of our planet.......JFK
Naughty, Naughty Kool-Aid............comedian Dane Cook!!
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| Post Number: 4
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minnow
Group: Members
Posts: 2243
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,12:11 am |
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Why should we listen to an admitted drug addict? 
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Daisy Duke
Group: Members
Posts: 147
Joined: Mar. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,12:39 pm |
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I was wondering why people listen to you?? I have never done drugs in my life show me where I admitted to doing them? Otherwise stay out of this post cause you have nothing positive to add to it.
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Life is too short, SO play naked
The supreme reality of our time is the extreme vulnerability of our planet.......JFK
Naughty, Naughty Kool-Aid............comedian Dane Cook!!
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| Post Number: 6
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Truth
Group: Members
Posts: 552
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,6:27 pm |
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Minnow do you have anything constructive to offer here?
Really! Do you? I want a damn answer this time, not more crap.
Answer the question or split.
There is absolutely no reason other that poor planning why this city could not be as well developed as cities like Rochester.
Although Albert Lea was a center of development in the previous centuries, it's location does hinder continued growth to some extent. Our city lays in a line that is more consistent with traffic flow from the north to the south and west. Cities to the east, even without the junction of two major interstate trunk highways, are geographically located to better support industries with ties to the east.
The South Minnesota region is geographicly closer to the industries of the Fox River Valley and the Great Lakes not the Plains States or the West. Due to that location we will never effectively draw industries to this area when they are shipping products between the afore mentioned industrial giants and the Twin Cities.
The railroad situation here illustrates that fact perfectly. Albert Lea grew in large part because of its location in conection with the importance of Kansas City and gateway cites like St. Louis. The railroads built through this area and several junctions were constructed as the railroads vied for the most direct routes between Minneapolis/St. Paul and those gateways.
However, as trucking began to take away from the profit of less than car load shipments and the construction of the interstate highway system gave truck traffic rapid, reliable routes connecting those same cities, the railroads began their processes of evolution. The evolution included large mergers and the subsequent abandonment of redondant and unprofitable lines. While St. Louis and Kansas City are still extremely important to the countries industrial base our location left us as little more than a crew change point on the routes that railroads took to serve those cites. We see a fair amount of trucks laying over in Albert Lea but, I don't see that as anything to build hope upon. Our location, as I said before, is far closer to the Upper Midwestern and Eastern production zones, however, we do not lay on a convenient route between those areas. So like the railroads saw us decades ago so do corporate developers; a way point too distant from anything of much importance.
With that said, I think that good planning and with extremely talented sales people at the helm (not to mention cleaning up the town) the location of the I-35/I-90 junction could be exploited to attract some industry to our city/county. We may never see the gains that grew Rochester and the cities of central Wisconsin but, we could do much better than our past record indicates.
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The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.
Nietzsche
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| Post Number: 7
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jimhanson
Group: Moderator
Posts: 8491
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,8:14 pm |
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Truth--I respectfully disagree with some of your assertions--question the meaning of some, and agree with others.| Quote | | The railroad situation here illustrates that fact perfectly. Albert Lea grew in large part because of its location in conection with the importance of Kansas City and gateway cites like St. Louis. The railroads built through this area and several junctions were constructed as the railroads vied for the most direct routes between Minneapolis/St. Paul and those gateways. |
I recall a railroad map in the local historical museum showing railroads that served Freeborn County. I can't find the specific map on the net, but some of the railroads that I've found that serve Albert Lea are: Albert Lea & Southern, the Illinois Central (Albert Lea was the end of the line, built from Cedar Rapids), the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, the Minneapolis & St. Louis, the St. Paul and Pacific, the McGregor & Western (through the Dakotas), and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Pacific. I'm sure there are more, but the railroad situation actually favored south and EAST more than west--in fact, the transcontinental railroad to the West coast--the Great Northern Empire Builder, went through the Twin Cities. In any case, Albert Lea was well connected by rail to anywhere.
| Quote | | Our city lays in a line that is more consistent with traffic flow from the north to the south and west. |
| Quote | | Our location, as I said before, is far closer to the Upper Midwestern and Eastern production zones, however, we do not lay on a convenient route between those areas. |
I don't understand this one--are we on a traffic flow to the EAST or the WEST? Railroad maps seem to indicate that historically, we had much better connections to the EAST. In any case--as long as we had rail connections, we weren't far off any main line--transcontinental lines weren't more than a day away--north or south.| Quote | Our location, as I said before, is far closer to the Upper Midwestern and Eastern production zones, however, we do not lay on a convenient route between those areas. So like the railroads saw us decades ago so do corporate developers; a way point too distant from anything of much importance.
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If we are closer to the MIDWESTERN AND EASTERN production zones--we must be right on the route. I don't understand.
The "junction of two interstates" hasn't done a thing for Albert Lea, or Austin, or Clarks Grove, or any other city within a 50 mile radius since the Interstates were built. Waseca isn't even on ANY Interstate, and THEY seem to be doing OK. New Ulm, Mankato, Dodge Center aren't on any Interstate, and THEY seem to be doing OK. Is location important? St. Cloud and Sioux Falls are FARTHER from any production or consumption area--and THEY seem to be doing fine. The point is, short of being located on a two-lane road in central Montana--transportation is irrelevant. Even the biggest export of the County--ag products, find easy access to roads, railroads, and ports.
Like so much of America, our area doesn't produce many durable goods--manufactured items--items that add value to an existing product--and consequently, if a company is located reasonably close to transportation, it makes no difference. I agree that the right people make all the difference in the world--but I also maintain that growth must come from within. The Waseca--Owatonna model of growth is closer to reality.
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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: 8
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Truth
Group: Members
Posts: 552
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,8:52 pm |
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We had and still have better connections North and South. The CRI&P Spine Line was purchased by the Chicago & Northwestern, which is now part of Union Pacific. This line is a very heavy and well maintained line connecting South St. Paul (and the Twin Cities area) to Kansas City. In addition, the connection between the old C&NW double track Chicago Freemont corridor and the Spine Line at Nevada, IA provides a connection to the UP transcontinental line at Omaha. That system (now all under UP ownership) makes Albert Lea a small town between large production/consumer regions to our north and to our south. Albert Lea is connected best north and south. In the past the east/west line that passed through Albert Lea was a secondary line of the CMSt.P&P (Milwaukee Road) not a main line. The other east/west lines in our area were even lessor secondary lines that existed as grain collection lines not heavy direct route main lines.
However, the point remains, with no concentration of online industry, Albert Lea is simply a point along the line, not a terminus.
"The South Minnesota region is geographicly closer to the industries of the Fox River Valley and the Great Lakes not the Plains States or the West. Due to that location we will never effectively draw industries to this area when they are shipping products between the afore mentioned industrial giants and the Twin Cities." (me, 2004)
There you go. This is one of the reasons given by Ford for not building here last year. Draw straight lines between the Twin Cities metro area and the Fox River Valley at any point as well as Chicago. We (Albert Lea) will not be on any of those lines). Location is everything in transportation of durable goods. It's to late to invent the wheel. The large industries and the infrastructure to support them are already in place.
From this point on our ability to attract large companies that will employ skilled labor is going to be very difficult and will depend more on factors other than location, a supreme disadvantage for us. So, you can see, your point that the interstate highway jct. is not as important is proven by Albert Lea's lack of sound economic growth.
What's going on in Dodge Center? Since the CGW was abandoned I haven't seen much happening there.
Waseca has several viable production industries, buut they too will never become a metropolis.
That brings me to another point. Why do we need stellar growth. I know we need more but, I think its all right to be of moderate size. Bigger than we are but, I don't want to live in a sprawling mess.
Your thoughts?
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The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.
Nietzsche
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| Post Number: 9
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The Advocate
Group: Members
Posts: 116
Joined: Feb. 2004
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,9:43 pm |
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Owatonna has 3 new companies: The Coca Cola warehouse and two Business Incubator entities that are going out on their own. In The Owatonna Peoples Press article of March 25th, 2004, there was mentioning of some downward economic indicators in Owatonna such as the Mustang plant closing. However, they appear to have rebounded in a big way. Their economic development has embraced a new model and they indeed will flourish. Brad Ahrends has mentioned that systems problems are the cause for our economic slump here and yet no changes were really made with the recent restructuring. Why on Gods' green earth do these people here not look to successful economic cities and see what they are doing.
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| Post Number: 10
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GEOKARJO
Google This!!!
Group: Members
Posts: 7799
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 27 2004,11:51 am |
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To Quote the Dell Commercial " Your Not The Boss Of Me" Attitude is alive and well. 
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