Residents of the Valley Pond Townhome Association are making one more attempt to stop the city from building a new bike path that would cut across many of their 
front lawns and driveways.
Late last year, the city of Northfield announced that the 2023 street construction and mill and overlay projects would include the construction of two-lane protected bicycle lanes on Roosevelt Drive and Maple Street, and the off-road bike lanes on Heritage Drive and Lincoln Street South. Many of the residents in the area came together to protest the construction of the bike lanes citing concerns of safety, cost and intrusion.
The city countered with safety concerns of its own. Mayor Rhonda Pownell has said several times, coming on the heels of two bicycle fatalities in Northfield last year, that people do not feel safe riding their bicycles on city streets, and the city’s bike paths need much better connectivity.
The entire street project was approved by the council at the beginning of April, and funding for the project was approved at the council meeting on April 18th.
In response, those opposed to the bike lanes are now attempting to engineer a reverse referendum to stop construction by circulating a petition. By collecting a total of signatures equal to 5% of the total number of people who voted in the November 2022 election and presenting it to City Clerk Lynette Peterson by May 18th, they would require the city to put the bond vote to pay for the street projects to a public referendum. Should the city decline to offer the referendum, it would be unable to issue bonds for street projects for one year.
Todd Zehnder, one of the Valley Pond residents, said the opposition to the bike paths is due to intrusion, extreme danger, and excessive city spending. The bicycle lanes that would be built across his property, he said, cannot be justified.
“We realized that in studying this thing that this street has only 1200 cars per day, and there’s no rational justification for this – I’m going to call it an exotic bikeway. General state and federal guidelines for bikeways suggest that they’re planning to do isn’t required until traffic reaches about 6500 cars per day.”
Zehnder, in fact, did not mince words when speaking about the bike lanes and their construction.
“This is a battle against stupid, and we’ve lost that battle. After about two months into this, we realized that we were really fighting an ideology. We have certain members of the City Council that are just locked into what I’m going to call a little bit of a fantasy vision of the future. I mean 10-15 years from now they’ll all be hopping on bicycles to go grocery shopping in January. It’s a little bit of ‘Save the Planet’ thinking behind it… There’s the bike way zealots, and there’s the rational people. We think we’re the rational people.’”
A successful petition would most likely bring the street project, which is currently up for bid, to a halt. City administrator Ben Martig pointed out in early April that if the project were to be stopped, there would be no street project for 2023, and the repairs scheduled for Heritage Drive and Lincoln Street South, which is an area in obvious need of attention, would go back into the queue and would not come back up for repair for a few years.
The petitioners estimate they will need to collect about 600 signatures, and Zehnder estimates they have collected about 200.
For more information on how to sign the petition call 507-497-5225
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Gary Frekking and Todd Zehnder can be heard here
Community Calendar is for events all around the region
Last year, the City of Northfield established a community calendar on its website to be a clearing house for all events that happen in and around the city. Now, the city is ramping up its efforts to encourage anyone connected to a public event to post on that calendar.
Northfield Communications Specialist Kara Trygestad said the calendar truly is for any public event – in whatever form that may take – in the area. Non-profit organization events, school events, live music at local establishments, city events from a City Council meeting to an author’s talk at the Northfield Public library are all welcome. A quick view of the calendar shows such disparate events as a convocation talk at Carleton College to burger night at the Eagles Club.
The calendar is something event planners and promoters, visitors from outside of the area, and locals looking for something to do on any given night had been inquiring about for a long time, and with last year’s additions to City Staff it was something that became possible.
It fell to Northfield Director of Communications Michelle Mahowald to find the right company to make something like this work. Mahowald worked with Director of Library Services Natalie Draper who had experience with a company called Localist from her time in Richmond, Virginia, and recommended it highly. Draper said it is very easy for people to post their events, and even easier for people to find the things that would interest them.
Trygestad said there are some parameters on what may be posted, as the city does not want private and personal events on the calendar, but she said any public event from a wide area is welcome.
“There’s not a whole lot you can’t put on as long as it’s a public event. If there is a cost, you can put that in there. We ask that personal garage sales don’t go on there. Anything that’s kind of a personal nature, like weddings or reunions. But if it’s a public event in Dakota or Rice County, they’re free to go.”
The calendar is multilingual, making it accessible to every member of the community. For more information, and to view the calendar, click on the Our Community heading of the Northfield City website.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Kara Trygestad can be heard here
Round table conversation kicks off African Diaspora Film Festival
And tomorrow night, the Northfield Public Library will host a public roundtable discussion of the role of music in the African diaspora.
The roundtable, along with a book exhibit is the opening event of the African Diaspora Film Festival.
A statement released by the City of Northfield said the conversation will explore the role of music in Africa, its significance in the preservation of memory, and its various developments. The festival will include films, music and scholars from different languages and origins. Screenings will be held at the Weitz Cinema at Carleton College.
This event is free and open to the public. However, space is limited. Attendees are asked to register through the Northfield Public Library website at mynpl.org. The event tomorrow night will begin at 6:30.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
