I picked up the July 2024 issue last Wednesday and I need to ask some follow-up questions about the front page “Nero Of The Northland” article.
I live in South Minneapolis, renting a house within walking distance of the creek. Our landlord has done severe foundation work in the past, as have our neighbors. I know in 2000 or 2001 or so the city even bought out some very damaged houses, tore them down, and turned the lots into ponds that help lower the water table.
You barely even mention the name of the dam and I’m trying to figure out what the purpose is and what you’d prefer they do. If the floodgates were thrown open, all dam operations basically forgotten, wouldn’t the basement flooding problem be the same but in a slightly different location? Yes, I now know the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District website says the dam is trying to mimic pre-urbanization, but is that just nice wrapping on a boring practical development to pre-empt environmental concerns from residents?
I enjoyed your photoshop and the sardonic venom, but I could’ve used more context in the article and less focus on the callous disregard of the current head of the park board.
Is this related to the stupid golf course that we’re spending $$$ to constantly pump out? Is that it?
Micah Mueller
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Editor’s note:
You say, “ the city even bought out some very damaged houses, tore them down, and turned the lots into ponds that help lower the water table,” but the ponds don’t lower the water table, they simply register it. That’s where the water table is for South Minneapolis—thanks to the dams that are holding back water from emptying down Minnehaha Creek.
You say, “If the floodgates were thrown open, all dam operations basically forgotten, wouldn’t the basement flooding problem be the same but in a slightly different location?” If the dams were eliminated it would lower the water table in the Watershed District for everybody around Lakes Hiawatha and Nokomis by three to five feet, and all that water would flow from Minnehaha Creek into the Mississippi River.
The fact that the Park Board wants to “mimic pre-urbanization” is the same as the ego of Roman emperors who created naval battles in the Coliseum for their amusement. All of South Minneapolis was once a swamp. Do they want us all to abandon our homes so they can play swamp?
