FMR Updates

Three cheers for the Minneapolis Park Board

by Irene Jones

article

July 20, 2015

The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board has stayed strong in the face of difficult negotiations with Graco Corporation. In the end MPRB had to take the land along the river for a trail easement by eminent domain. Graco tried and failed to get something in return that would allow them to develop a portion of the adjacent property slated to become Hall’s Island Park. Instead, MPRB paid more than $600,000 for land Graco had promised to donate over a decade ago.

Riverview Corridor Transit Study underway. Your input wanted!

by Alicia Uzarek

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July 20, 2015

Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority is conducting a study of possible ways to improve public transit options within the Riverview Corridor — located between Union Depot in downtown Saint Paul and the Mall of America. While the project has the promise of greatly improving public access to the river, FMR is also concerned about the possibility of a new bridge across the Mississippi in the scenic gorge. The study, which will be completed in early 2016, will recommend a preferred route and transit mode to be studied further. Provide your input today!

Resource of the Month: The best views of the river

by Tom Lewanski

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July 20, 2015

There are numerous places to view the river, but two stand out far above the others.

Pullers. Painters. Planters. Pickers. — Hats off to FMR volunteers!

by sue rich

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July 14, 2015

Volunteer planting native shrubs in the oak savanna woodland along the Mighty Mississippi in south Minneapolis.

Because of you: A great year for the river, The 2014 FMR annual report

by Whitney Clark

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June 23, 2015

Friends of the Mississippi River 2014 Annual Report cover

The good, the bad and the dirty: The environment and the 2015 special session

by Trevor Russell

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June 15, 2015

Following the chaotic end of the 2015 regular legislative session, the conservation community rallied to build public support for a veto of a highly controversial environmental bill: the Omnibus Environment and Agriculture Bill.

While Governor Dayton is to be commended for his veto of the original bill, a renegotiated bill surfaced during the recent legislative special session and was passed with many of the same dirty water provisions that were in the original bill.

Overall, the Omnibus Environment and Agriculture Bill remains one of the most anti-clean-water measures to come out of the state legislature in recent memory, and includes an especially egregious repeal of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens' Board.

Oversized development downsized at Mississippi and Minnesota River confluence

by Alicia Uzarek

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June 12, 2015

Last month, FMR appealed the Saint Paul Planning Commission decision to grant a height variance in the confluence area because we believed it would greatly impact this significant portion of the river corridor. We are pleased that the Saint Paul City Council decreased the building height variance to allow a 60 foot building instead of a 73.5 foot building — a 13.5 foot decrease.