Monthly Archives: January 2012

City sets 3/21 hearing date for Area 21 parking permit

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It turns out the that code change that brought us the 75% threshold for successful partitions also brought a few other changes. While we were grandfathered in to the 60% threshold due to when our petition began, one other change will slow our petition process down a bit. The city is now required to give 30 days notice of hearings on parking permit changes instead of 10 days notice. This means that we cannot have our hearing in February, and instead are now aiming for the Saint Paul City Council meeting on the evening of Wednesday 3/21. I’ll share more details as that date nears.

Another change is that notice must be sent not just to the petition area, but also to anyone living within 350 feet of the petition area. If our MGCC experience is any guide, we can anticipate those opposing the petition will show up to make their case. We will have to, again, be sure that strong advocate are present and testify to city council.

RSVP sewer line requests due 2/10

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If you would like the City of Saint Paul to repair your sewer service within the right-of-way as part of the upcoming RSVP project, Lisa Falk-Thompson asks that you get your request in to her by February 10. You may choose to have your sanitary service connection at the main replaced, or to have the connection and the service from the main to the property line replaced. The estimated costs are from $1500 to $2400, depending on what you choose to do.

Please use the Request for Sanitary Service Repair form Lisa has prepared. Any questions about this should go to her at lisa.falk-thompson@ci.stpaul.mn.us or 651-266-6117.

Sewer

Just a reminder, Lisa expects that our “Prior/Goodrich” RSVP project will be put out to bid in February and construction will run from May through November.

MGCC Transportation Committee Recommends Area 21 Parking Permit Changes to City Council

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After a very vigorous citizen discussion, the MGCC Transportation Committee voted unanimously to recommend that City Council approve the Area 21 parking permit changes, including the expansion on Lincoln to Prior. Our next target for advocacy will likely be the 2/15 meeting of City Council, I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you to everyone who showed up to speak for the permit and lend your support. It really helped.

Don’t Forget the Parking Permit Meeting Tomorrow!

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Even though we gathered more than the 60% support for changes to the Area 21 parking permits, the Mac-Groveland Community Council’s Transportation Committee refused to support our petition in December. Instead, it will be brought up again at their meeting tomorrow (Monday, 1/23) at 6:30pm, at the Edgcumbe Rec Center. We really need as many advocates for this permit as possible to join us at this meeting!

In December some vocal neighbors from Lincoln between Prior and Howell complained that the transportation committee would only be nudging the St. Thomas parking problem eastward by supporting permit parking on Lincoln between Cleveland and Prior. This may be the case, but we are following the process the committee laid out for us at their January 2011 meeting. We were offered no resolution for St. Thomas parking issues by either St. Thomas or the city except this permit process. Now is the time to turn out to advocate for the parking permits!

Both traffic calming petitions fail to gain enough support

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As reported a few weeks ago, the bumpout petition for Lincoln Avenue between Cleveland and Prior was not very popular and we stopped gathering signatures after the no’s passed the 28% mark.

Now I am sad to report that the traffic circle at Lincoln and Prior also failed to gain enough support. We needed 75% of the “linear feet” of each block from the intersection. Today was the deadline and we’d reached only 68%. Again, we got 28% nos.

The thing that feels so awful is that even though over two thirds of our neighbors wanted to see a beautiful small traffic circle as a gateway to our neighborhood, we won’t have it installed. The RSVP project will leave the intersection of Lincoln and Prior as it was.

Two things really got in the way of success on the traffic circle. One was that a neighbor who lives on one of the corners was vehemently opposed the petition. (The other three corner owners supported the petition.) The other was that the owner of the large apartment building at 1940 Grand, which has substantial linear feet on Prior, refused to sign the petition. Missing those two large chunks of footage really made the mission impossible.

The galling thing is that until this Fall the threshold for petitions of this sort was 60%, a threshold we easily surpassed. City Council changed the rules, though, and trying to get three quarters agreement proved too much for our neighborhood.

I’d like to share special thanks with Joe Frank and Susan Hinze who spent many hours knocking on doors. I also appreciate all the support we got (two thirds!) and all the thoughtful concerns that were expressed along the way. It was great to get to know more neighbors through this petition drive.

Petitions Update, Join us on 1/23

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Welcome to 2012! Quite a lot will change on our block this year, it should be exciting. As you know, we have been circulating two petitions for modifications to the street as part of the RSVP project and another petition for parking permits passed a couple months ago but is in a bit of trouble at the neighborhood council level. We need your help with all of these, so here’s an update.

Parking Permits

Even though we gathered more than the 60% support for changes to the Area 21 parking permits, the Mac-Groveland Community Council’s Transportation Committee refused to support our petition in December. Instead, it will be brought up again at their meeting at 6:30pm Monday, 1/23, at the Edgcumbe Rec Center. We really need as many advocates for this permit as possible to join us at this meeting!

In December some vocal neighbors from Lincoln between Prior and Howell complained that the transportation committee would only be nudging the St. Thomas parking problem eastward by supporting permit parking on Lincoln between Cleveland and Prior. This may be the case, but we are following the process the committee laid out for us at their January 2011 meeting. We were offered no resolution for St. Thomas parking issues by either St. Thomas or the city except this permit process. Now is the time to turn out to advocate for the parking permits!

Traffic Circle and Bumpouts

In December we worked with the city to draw up two petitions for traffic calming modifications to Lincoln as part of the RSVP process. Neighbors have been circulating these petitions since mid-December. The bumpouts have not been very well received, and that petition has already failed. The idea of a traffic circle at Lincoln and Prior that matches the one installed at Lincoln and Finn last year has seen considerably more support and is currently on track for the 75% approval required to succeed. You check up on these at our petition progress page.

We less than two weeks to complete the traffic circle petition, though. There are 22 houses on Lincoln that we have failed to reach. If you can help out with door knocking or phone calls to these neighbors, please let me know! The petition is due at the city on Friday, 1/13.