Power of the Falls: Past, Present and Future - Central River Forum [Video]

A panel of experts discussed key issues, and a lively discussion followed, with questions from the audience.

Geology, Spirituality, Tourism, and Early Settlement History
Karen Campbell, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota

River Health
Charlotte Cohn, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (invited)

Developing Hydropower, Building a City
William de la Barre (David Berg), Minnesota Historical Society

Hydropower Today
Matthew Miller, Xcel Energy

Public Issues in Hydropower Licensing
Susan Overson, National Park Service

For more information, contact Cordelia Pierson at 612-465-8780, ext. 212, or cordelia.pierson@gmail.com

Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative Meetings [Video]

Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative meetings from May 25, 2011 at the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board HQ.

The Public Meeting

Steering Committee Meeting - Part 1

Steering Committee Meeting - Part 2

Minneapolis Opens Its First Bike Boulevard, Connects to Riverfront

From KARE 11:

Just in time for summer, pedalers and pedestrians now have more miles of roads to roll and walk on.

The new RiverLake Greenway opened Saturday connecting the Mississippi River to Lake Harriet providing a safer route through South Minneapolis.

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U of M Power Plant to Get Greener

From Brainerd Dispatch:

The University of Minnesota campus quite literally runs on steam —lots and lots of steam. It's used for heating in the winter, and powers equipment that provides air conditioning in the summer.

For decades that steam has been created at a university power plant fired by coal and natural gas. But after years of concern over pollution, university officials say they're going to drastically reduce the amount of coal burned at the facility near downtown Minneapolis, about 100 yards from the Mississippi River.

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Great Blue Herons Rebuild Their Colony [Video]

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Tonight Only - Power of the Falls: Past, Present and Future - Central River Forum

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Minneapolis Park Board HQ
2117 West River Road

The waterfall at the heart of our city - St. Anthony Falls - has powerfully shaped our city's past.  Dakota people honor "Owahmenah" - falling water - as a sacred place.  Before 1850, it attracted hundreds of artists, writers, and politicians, becoming one of the best known tourist destinations on the North American continent.  Harnessing the falls for hydropower sparked growth of the city and transformed the Upper Midwest.

How will these falls shape our future?

A panel of experts will highlight key issues, and contribute to a lively discussion, with questions from the audience.

Geology, Spirituality, Tourism, and Early Settlement History
Karen Campbell, St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota

River Health
Charlotte Cohn, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (invited)

Developing Hydropower, Building a City
William de la Barre (David Berg), Minnesota Historical Society

Hydropower Today
Matthew Miller, Xcel Energy

Public Issues in Hydropower Licensing
Susan Overson, National Park Service

For more information, contact Cordelia Pierson at 612-465-8780, ext. 212, or cordelia.pierson@gmail.com

Businesses Have Questions About Riverfront Plans

From Finance & Commerce:

Since Above the Falls was adopted 12 years ago “a lot has happened,” Leighton told the sometimes fractious crowd. “But the more ambitious land-use plans [of converting a significant portion of the riverfront to housing] have not happened. Now the city is poised to move forward with redevelopment scenarios.”

Read the full article...

Fight Against Asian Carp Making Slow Progress

From the Star Tribune:

The common carp, shown above, has been a problem in Minnesota beginning not soon after it was imported here from Britain in the late 1880s.

Asian carp — should they ever arrive in breeding populations — will be a bigger problem, still.

So far, the DNR believes only "pioneering'' individuals — most recently a bighead carp caught in the St. Croix River — are in waters as far north as the Twin Cities.

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Mississippi Watershed Management Organization to Get New Home on the Riverfront

From The Journal:

The new riverfront headquarters for the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization is actually one big science experiment.

Staff will monitor a rooftop “salsa garden” of edible plants, comparing the water that pours off the green roof to water that pours off an empty roof nearby. They will plant and uproot different types of trees over time, so they can measure how much water the trees suck out of the ground. And they will check to see if pharmaceuticals and other new pollutants are starting to come down in rainwater.

“Our entire site is really all around that discovery piece,” said the organization’s executive director Doug Snyder.

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Video - Upper River Public Forum: Creating a Great River City Legacy at MPRB

Recorded June 2, 2011

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“Our Development Future: The Above the Falls Policy Review and Implementation Study”

Eleven years after a visionary plan for the Mississippi River above St. Anthony Falls was adopted, the transformation of the Minneapolis riverfront is attracting new energy and attention. This focus is critical for Minneapolis - and the region.

Haila Maze and Thomas Leighton, Principal Planners with the City of Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development Department, provided an update on the findings of the Above the Falls Policy Review and Implementation Study. They highlighted key issues that shape new development along the City’s riverfront above the falls and reflected on the balance point between the visionary and the possible.

The Minneapolis Riverfront Partnership hosts this public forum series with the Above the Falls Citizen Advisory Committee (AFCAC), an appointed commission charged with supporting riverfront revitalization, including business, environmental and neighborhood representatives.

For more information, please contact Cordelia Pierson at info@minneapolisriverfrontpartnership.org.

Download the presentation...

Supporting Research Documents

Project Description Sheet

Scope of Work

Phase 1A Scan and Information Development Presentation

Phase 1A Scan and Information Development Report

Phase 1B Land Use and Market Trends

Phase 1B Redevelopment Scenarios