If we cannot in Ramsey get Northstar -- we can jump in bidding for the Silver Bullet Express.
Strib reports the latest Zygi-playing-chicken with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, aka "Stadium Wars." He wants the rent lower, or a remake at public expense, or something he knows but taxpayers have to figure out. And then obligingly fund. After all, he's Zygi, owns a football team, and is privileged and special.
The warfront is shifting. We learn of "'Burb Games" if Strib's to be believed [who would ever doubt Strib veracity or conclusiveness - they never conclude anything].
Oh, the shame of it. I am devestated.
Wrong paper. It's PiPress; this link; this excerpt:
Anoka County / Stadium deal over, but site moves on
But county open to talking to Vikings again
By Nancy Ngo - nngo@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 01/09/2010 11:06:12 PM CST
Three years after Anoka County officials axed negotiations to build a football stadium in Blaine, the city is breathing new life into at least half of the 740-acre site west of Interstate 35W and south of 109th Avenue.
New businesses have moved in, and the city is planning for future development.
So far, two technology companies — Parametric Technology Corp. and Infinite Campus — have swallowed up 35 acres near Lochness Lake Park, erected buildings and created 600 jobs.
"Some of the land (the Vikings) thought they needed for parking is now developed," said Bryan Schafer, planning and development director for Blaine. "Everybody's moving forward."
Spurned suitor talk, if anything, right? Continuing:
Until recently, the Vikings were considering the redevelopment of the Metrodome site in downtown Minneapolis, where an $870 million stadium is proposed. But a dispute with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission prompted the team last week to say it might turn back to the suburbs for a new home.
Anoka County officials have mixed feelings about re-entering talks. Another potential Anoka County site — the Ramsey Town Center in Ramsey — has been floated. The 322-acre site still has large chunks of undeveloped land and runs along the new Northstar commuter rail.
But there is no commuter-rail station in Ramsey, said county Commissioner Dick Lang. He touts the remaining Blaine site as better for a stadium.
"It's off 35W. That's the only place that could handle all of the traffic," he said of the Blaine location. "It's easy access to the big freeways going from both Minneapolis and St. Paul."
However, the commissioner said he is open to talks.
"It would cost money initially but eventually pay for itself. I would entertain anything that would bring opportunities to our county and help our tax base," Lang said. "But with the economy, it might be bad timing."
Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah said she did not support the stadium a few years ago and wasn't likely to change her mind.
She adds that there's no longer a need for the county to have a say in what happens with the Blaine land, and involvement these days should be on a more local level.
Sivarajah says let local idiots see what happens, trying to play footsie with Zygi. She's had enough first bite at the apple, which to her tasted bad even then. And Lang, talk about a kill-joy. "They don't have a stop," he says.
But Ramsey's got Dennis Berg as their county rep, and he's been so very, very, very effective in getting things that benefit Ramsey - too many to count [in a comment list as many as you can think of] and that means they can well continue to hope for a stop - Natalie encourages that - and, well, how many times will Erhart blow off Ramsey's wishes - all that politics and stuff.
The Options: We've all seen those swill beer commercials, where in the hottest part of the dog days of summer the cooling pleasure of the Coors Silver Bullet express wooshes by leaving snow and smiles behind [lead photo at start of post for those not having seen and remembered its miricle passage mystique "through town" on TV -- where everything is real and to be literally believed, including political ads and speeches, and including the quality photos of product in the different burger joint ads showing without any exageration or dressing the product up, beyond tasty piles of condiments, thereby showing every watching consumer just what you can expect to get from the slack-jawed kids behind the burger counters of the real world, all that, in return for mere money].
And if Ramsey ends up not getting the Silver Bullet Express to stop; if the beer baron's family heirs are as huffy and uppity as Northstar folks; there is still one more option.
Repaint the Ramsey Star Express [aka the money-losing Ramsey bus]. Do it appropriately themed, to get the attention of at least some of those having trains that presently won't stop at Town Center:
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Read the remainder of the story via the PiPress link, above. Images from here and here. This link; for Danny Boy, if he can't get that Duluth-Twin Cities thing off the ground [that's a figure of speech, not literally intended]; and if he continues to lust after more train than he gets with Northstar. Note also, in suggesting a possible repaint job on the local bus, I am not trying to push any local politico into copyright infringement, if the beer baron family and/or others might throw a snit. You know, don't you, that highly productive brainstorming sometimes works best with no practical limits imposed in early stages.
