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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Mayor Coleman Sees Premier Development Opportunity

Please click onto the COMMENTS for the story.

22 Comments:

Blogger Bob said...

(Saint Paul) – Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman praised the Ramsey County Board today for their approval of the sale of the Ramsey County Jail and former West Publishing Building to Opus Northwest, saying the property on the bluffs of the Mississippi River present some of the best development opportunities in downtown Saint Paul.

“This is a great day for Saint Paul. The West Building is the premier development opportunity in our region, and we will do everything we can to support Opus in their development of this site. This project coupled with the Penfield will change the postcard of Saint Paul. We are looking forward to a development on this site that will bring new vitality to our downtown riverfront and enhance our current assets such as the Science Museum and the Xcel Energy Center. I appreciate the county board’s partnership on this project and I look forward to working with them on making Saint Paul the Most Livable City in America.”

9:14 AM  
Blogger Bob said...

The tax payers spent MILLIONS on this jail that isn't even 30 years old. I assume now it will be demolished at a time when we have prisoners sleeping on the floor over at the new jail.

9:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bob,

Let's not forget the taxpayers who paid millions on the renovation of the old West Building and now it is going to be torn down. This was a good very location for county offices as it is right next to city hall.

Next the county takes the old Minnesota Department of Agriculture building because the owner could not pay the property taxes. The county spent millions on renovating this building and moved their staff from Ramsey West to this new location that is across the bridge and a great distance to city hall.

The bigger question why would an APPOINTED county manager do this? He is NOT responsible to the people, but the only to the county board that appointed him.

Why would the Ramsey County Tax Assessor who is APPOINTED by the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners appraise this building to such a degree and then when the owner could not pay the property taxes he took the building for the county because on non payment of taxes. Seems a little fishy to me, but what do I know.

Look at all of the money that was wasted when Ramsey West was renovated. Look at all the waste of our hard-earned money. West Publishing gave this historical building to Ramsey County for $1.00. Have any of you ever gone into the conference rooms on the lower floors and seen the stone and timberwork. It is beautiful, but now it is going to be gone forever. Where is the HPC when we need them? Oh that is right Keillor is crying about a garage being built next to him. More important I guess.

Now that we are on the topic of wasted money, did anyone notice that the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners just purchased the old train station for $49 MILLION from the US Postal Service? $49 MILLION, heck that is 1/5 of the cost of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis.

Don't tell me we don't have any money. The Ramsey County Board spends it like water all the while giving themselves a 25% raise. Their salary went up from $64,000.00 to over $80.000.00 a year to make good decisions like the tearing down the Ramsey West building and purchasing a train depot for $49 million, not to mention all of the remodel and relocation costs.

Big bucks down the drain I say.

11:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Most livable city in America?"

LOL

12:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

11:41 - West Publishing put the building on the market when they left and couldn't sell it for the 2.5 million they were asking for it. Ramsey County gave them a write off of $15 million and then bought the USED furniture for 5 million dollars!!!!

Talk about a bad deal!

12:46 PM  
Blogger Nancy Lazaryan said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

7:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look at how much Ramsey County Commitment is charging $2,452.90 each per mo. $29,434.80 a year, they are using the power of commitment to take homeless people and use them to generate money though the county.
Look it up on this link below --- 10.1 and Richard Cohen is a Minnesota State Senator, and he is on the Civil Commitment Defense Panel.
Everyone is double dipping.

http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/NR/rdonlyres/6E81E995-ECF3-424F-B1AA-E845991083A1/10097/January152009.pdf

7:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When politicians die....

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by
a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems
there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts,
you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'

'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.
'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up . What we'll do is
have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose
where to spend eternity.'

'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the
senator.
'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,
down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of
a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in
front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked
with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him,
shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while
getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and
champagne.


Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a
good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time
that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator
rises...


The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St
Peter is waiting for him.
'! Now it' s time to visit heaven.'

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls
moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a
good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St.
Peter returns.


'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now
choose your eternity.'
The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never
have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I
would be better off in hell.'


So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to
hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a
barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and
putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.
'I don't understand,' stammers the senator.

'Yesterday I was here and
there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar,
drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a
wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.
What happened?'



The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were
campaigning...... Today you voted.'

8:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

GREAT>>>>I love it!

8:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The trash must be falling from city hall.
They fill our ears with trashy thoughts, and expect us to believe it.

9:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is exactly what's happening. Government wants people to dis-believewhat they have seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears. It's unbelievable! They have crime so they go after landlords instead of criminals. They have a short budget so they demolish homes that could not only be part of the tax base, but also provide jobs for the people repairing them. A bar has a problem with a criminal type customer, they close the bar. People want to open a business and pay taxes and the city doesn't like the type of business and says no. I'm dumbfounded that Trader Joes recieved approval.

10:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the way things look, it appears as if the landlords are getting ready to haul out all of the trash.

10:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Landlords suck and so do their low income tenants!!



Lawsuits.Yeah right.

No just the dumb first 3 lawsuits.Could anyone be stupid enough to file another?

12:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:05 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lets just say,
What the city wants, The city gets.
Its nice here in the suburbs, and the taxes aren't as high as
St.Paul.

6:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

12:19 AM
Anonymous said...
Landlords suck and so do their low income tenants!!
Low income!
It could happen to you, and you could become poor and maybe homeless.
People like you that would scoff at other shows their low intelligent's, and it shows your lack of compassion for others.

7:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My My, so many poor people left to exploit and so little time left! I'm buying undrevalued property in St Paul as fast as I can. Nothing down, CD terms, walk away when the city gets too frisky. It's all about the money. Right Chuck?

10:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The city is getting harder and harder to manage with the rebellion. More volunteers are seeing that their efforts only go to creating a Frankenstein monster.

The ego bubble is getting ready to burst, and there are an ever increasing number of pin-PRICKS around to do it.

6:42 AM  
Blogger Nancy Lazaryan said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

9:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Premier Development Opportunity? We can't even maintain our parking ramps or housing stock! Opportunity? For what? Opportunity for who? All the councils developer buddies?

8:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a meeting with Ciani just today and he tells me big things asre going to be breaking pretty soon.

9:19 PM  
Blogger Bob said...

LISTEN FOLKS!

When someone has been delinquent repeatedly in our society they are separated from us.

Bill has a history of working his way back into good graces here then gradually taking us back down that road of INSULATION! It is VERY frustrating to waste my time on a story to see it turn into the "Bill Dahn Hour".

I could NOT maintain this blog, do the investigative work I do, if I didn't have sponsors! Yes folks, I earn meager wages for my efforts after working for over a year for NOTHING and spending my own money on building participation in this blog.

My donors DO NOT have any litigation with the city now. And they do not ever plan on suing the city. They are people who believe in what we have built here in this forum. And, WE decided collectively the right thing to do is to put a STOP to "BILL FIGHTING"!

Fighting about Bill DOES NOT help our civil rights movement.

I WILL delete ANY further comments on this subject. If you have something to say email me privately.

11:21 PM  

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