-and-
Wait. There's more.
No yellow brick road, but the promised orange highlight.
Toto pulls aside the curtain:
Once upon a time, Ramsey Town Center was featured on the Dorsey websight, as a pride and joy. Times change, and one wonders how the orange highlighted item, whenever written, weighs in on that long-since scrubbed website post. It might be a hoot to see the power point visuals for the presentation, over time, from after leaving Met Council, to after Nedegaard's bankruptcy and death, and Northfield banker coverage.
In a file somewhere on the hard drive I saved a pdf fromthe web, for screenshots, for old time's sake.
Found it - downloaded March 25, 2007; the Google cache of part of the Dorsey firm's website:
WOW! The wizard was Bruce Nedegaard's lawyer in negotiating the Ramsey Town Center pride and joy, splat in the middle of a very non-special Green Acres land-speculator's cornfield.
Of interest the same date as the cache copy of the Dorsey page was downloaded touting Ramsey Town Center; the download of the firm's identical page had scrubbed it off - presumably as having turned from good, to bad or ugly.
I have that archived too.
The wizard did that Ramsey deal as Nedegaard's lawyer shortly after leaving as Met Council administrative boss under Ventura-Mondale. Leaving for the greener pastures of Dorsey fame and fortune.
I cannot remember if Town Center and urban village grants from Met Council were delivered in Ramsey before the October 2004 date listed for the orange highlighted presentation.
Oh, I almost forgot. That "Bloomington Central Station" pride and joy remained on the Dorsey page March 25, 2007, and beyond.
It must have stayed good.
It included a rehab-rededication of the old Control Data headquarters building, as one of the first wizardly things the wizard got into after his Met Council stint (when, presumably, as head honcho of staff he had some say on the Hiawatha route, such as where stops would be along with the consequent real estate development opportunities attaching to stops, as located).
Oh, what a wonderful wizard he was ...
Indeed, "was" almost denies, "still is."
For Ramsey Town Center as it presently stands -- failed, tawdry, incomplete and shamed, he has wizardry text; e.g., see here and here.
_____________UPDATE_____________
The beginnings of the compromise of Ramsey's better aspects began much earlier than the October 2004 date assigned to the GOOD, BAD, and UGLY Town Center Urban Village, or Livable Community thing.
Whenever the terminology of Livable Community entered to fuse with and accompany Urban Village and Town Center wording, is something I cannot say, but I have found a handle for Transit Oriented Development [abbreviated TOD, amusing to those knowing German].
It was TOD for Ramsey's better being, ya betcha. This online item:
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a tool for achieving smart growth. This physical development approach coordinates land use, transportation planning and investment, and building design so that the resulting land use pattern is supportive of transit ridership, walking, pedestrian activity and the needs of daily life.
In August 2006 the Metropolitan Council prepared a very readable introduction to TOD, available for free downloading at the web site below. This 9-page, colorfully illustrated guide includes a description of key TOD elements and photos of TOD projects in the Twin Cities.
Linked from this printable guide are over 100 pages of updated technical "how-to" information, originally prepared in 2000 by the Met Council and Calthorpe Associates (http://www.calthorpe.com/ ), a national leader in TOD. The technical information, well illustrated, addresses site selection, land use patterns and density, street configuration, parking, transit frequency, pedestrian/bike requirements, building design, block geometry, compact development, and employment rules-of-thumb.
Useful for citizens, planners and engineers, the Guidebook establishes measurable standards to simplify the task of guiding development proposals and assessing their outcomes.
16 "Lessons Learned" are summarized from Twin City TODs. [...]
In Minnesota and around the country the communities being built that use TOD principles -- be they individual blocks, neighborhoods or towns -- are moderate to higher density, compact, walkable, mixed-use, and vibrant. Pre-WWII neighborhoods, towns and cities are typically oriented around walkers and transit-riders and follow TOD principles. Their mixed-use pattern places a variety of jobs, a variety of housing types, and a variety of shopping in close proximity.
Individual TOD "units" range from 30-30 acres, up to 125 acres -- this allows a 5-minute walk from any location to central transit stop -- or even 500 acres for 10-minute walks. Single family homes, condos, townhouses, etc., range from 12 units per acre in suburban areas to 60 units per acre in central city business districts.
For more background on TOD, see the Center for Transit Oriented Development's site at http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/ See also a Met Council summary of TOD at http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning/tod/tod.htm
The benefits of TOD are:
* Enhanced transit ridership.
* Reduced reliance on cars and reduced need to travel beyond walking distances.
* Decreased congestion and improved air quality.
* Preserved public infrastructure, historic assets and human attachments.
* Public infrastructure cost savings.
* Smart growth: efficient and diverse land use, open space preservation.
* Choice of living arrangements and community lifestyles.
* Inherent safety.
* Market advantages and cost savings for residential development.
* Cost savings for commercial development.
Those looking for evidence of the financial benefits of TOD for individuals may wish to read "Driven to Spend," a detailed, city-by-city report published in 2005 by the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the Center for Neighborhood Technology [...]
It says, "and vibrant." How vibrant is a failed empty expanse of sandburs?
It says, Driven to Spend."
That's for certain. In Ramsey, past and present.
Who are these IDIOTS that keep spewing this IDIOCY? They are planners, is who. Spewing planner-speak, a propaganda admittedly less Orwellian than simply being plain stupid. As naked an emperor as you'll ever see.
Ranting aside, the orange highlighting within that quote is about Calthorpe and 2000, years before the wizard's Oct. 2004 highlighted presentation. Ramsey in 2000, if not earlier, was already on the slippery slope of error and ill-reckoned hubris.
I hope the new council majority in East Bethel are discovering the men behind their curtains. I wish them well.
Check the TOD brochure, if you want TOD to be widespread in your community.
-----------------------------------
TOD to the COR, I say.