BY ED FELIEN
Park Board arrogance on Lake Hiawatha plan
The Park Board had a public hearing in January to ask for public comments on their plan for Lake Hiawatha. On their project page they said:
“Groundwater Pumping Permit
“Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued a Water Appropriations Permit (#2015-2560) that the MPRB must follow. The permit includes a maximum yearly volume of 400 million gallons.
“The DNR issued this permit to bring the MPRB into compliance while the MPRB works to reduce groundwater pumping. Yearly reporting of monthly pumping records is required.”
I wrote to them:
“If the Park Board is concerned about exceeding the maximum pumping limit at Lake Hiawatha, then why don’t they remove the artificial dams that are blocking the exit of water on Minnehaha Creek? The Barr Engineering Report said removal of rock weir and gas pipe would lower the lake and surrounding water table by at least two feet.”
They never answered. I wrote again:
“Please explain to our readers why the Park Board is raising the water level of Lake Hiawatha and the surrounding water table by continuing to allow the illegal dams on Minnehaha Creek to block the exit of water from Lake Hiawatha in violation of Minnesota Statute 103G.141.”
Finally, they wrote back:
“Mr. Felien,
“The MPRB has already responded to this question. Please review previous emails or read the related project pages at minneapolisparks.org/park-care-improvements/park-projects/current_projects/”
I wrote back,
“Robin,
“Thank you very much for getting back to me.
“I’m sorry but in all the correspondence I have reviewed and in looking at your Project Page, I found no references to the illegal dams and weirs blocking the exit of water from Lake Hiawatha to Minnehaha Creek.
“Please refer me to the Park Board’s answer to my question about why we are not removing the causes of the flooding of Lake Hiawatha wetlands and the basements of surrounding homes.”
I haven’t heard back from them, yet.
Correction
In our January edition we said, “Park Board Commissioner Becky Alper will be challenging Aurin Chowdhury.”
We got our Beckys mixed up. Apologies to Becky Alper, but Becka Thompson is possibly challenging Aurin Chowdhury for a seat on the city council in Ward 12, even though, currently, Thompson lives in North Minneapolis. She wrote a mournful complaint to the Star Tribune that our local city council was more concerned about world problems than problems here at home:
“There are some in our community who would rather cry about issues on the other side of the globe than roll up their sleeves to care for those right in our backyard. Why? Well, from my perspective, it’s because it’s easier.
“It’s easy to hold a news conference and complain, and it gets you like-minded donor money from across the country, too. Win-win for those who only care about power. By contrast, it’s difficult to look children in the eyes as they tell you about their homelessness, or how their parents just overdosed, or while you help them search the city for a free coat. It’s difficult to sit down with parents and try to help them realize that some of their actions are harming their children, or work with community members to make sure that programming can continue in a city that is quickly coming to financial ruin.”
She has a website: vote4becka.com/ that says, “Becka Thompson Minneapolis Ward 12.”
She’s even inspired a satirical website: voteforbecka.com/ that says she’s running in Ward 14 (there are only 13 wards in the city).
She has not responded to Southside Pride questions about the seriousness of her candidacy.
Park Board Elections
Precinct Caucuses are April 8. All precinct delegates can attend the City Convention July 19 and 20. July 19 will struggle to endorse a candidate for mayor, and July 20 will seek to endorse At Large candidates for Park Board.
We sent the two candidates who we knew were running for At Large Park Board seats a simple two-part questionnaire:
• Do you support removing the dams on Minnehaha Creek that have blocked the exiting of water from Lake Hiawatha that has resulted in the flooding of basements and sinkholes in neighboring homes in violation of Minnesota Statute 103G.141 — a person is guilty of a misdemeanor for altering the cross section of a public water?
• Do you support insisting the City of Minneapolis remove the sand that has flowed through the storm sewer system to seriously reduce the depth of Lake Hiawatha from 33 feet to a sandbar in many places?
The candidates haven’t gotten back to us.
