(rshsdepot) Fw: Star Tribune Article (St. Paul Union Depot)

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry Rosenberg" <hwr5_@_columbia.edu>
To: <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:14 PM
Subject: Star Tribune Article


>
> This article from the Star Tribune has been sent to you by Henry
Rosenberg.
>
> Henry Rosenberg wrote these comments>
> BYLINE:
> CREDITLINE:
> HEADLINE: Editorial: Playing post office / Wait and see on Arden Hills
site
>
> Things tend to get messy when hopes and dreams collide. That's the case in
a rolling regional dispute over what's to become of the sprawling Twin
Cities Army Ammunitions Plant in Arden Hills, as well as the U.S. Postal
Service's riverfront buildings in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the
St. Paul Union Depot.
> Start with the dreams of St. Paul. The city has long wished for the
downtown post office to relocate in order to open more riverfront property
for development and to allow the Union Depot enough room to develop a
transit hub, eventually with high-speed trains to Chicago. Minneapolis, too,
would like to see its massive riverfront post office converted to commercial
and residential uses.
> Moving is fine with the Postal Service, now studying the feasibility of
consolidating regional mail processing on one big site, the most viable
seeming to be a corner of the Army's old arsenal property near the
intersections of Hwys. 35W, 10 and 96. The roads would provide good access
to the 500 daily truck trips generated. The land, already federally owned,
would involve a simple swap. And pollution mitigation would be far cheaper
than cleaning up land intended for homes and shops.
> But that's where Arden Hills' dreams diverge. The suburb has long
anticipated beefing up its tax base by taking over some of the Army's land
for residential, commercial and industrial development. In 1994, Rep. Bruce
Vento helped the city craft a plan for the Army site. After Vento's death,
Rep. Betty McCollum began honing the plan to include a consolidated postal
center on an industrial portion of the ammunition site. But Arden Hills and
its bevy of developers went (excuse the expression) ballistic, declaring a
new postal center incompatible.
> Enter Sens. Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton. Each acted last week to undercut
both McCollum and the Postal Service by declaring the Arden Hills site off
limits as far as they were concerned. These were hasty, unfortunate actions,
especially since the Postal Service study won't be finished until July. It
may turn out that the Army land is polluted enough to make housing
impossible, or that a small suburb like Arden Hills could never bear the
cleanup expense. It was also curious that neither senator had a backup site
in mind.
> McCollum scrambled to find a site in Rosemount, saying the more options
the better. But this has become a three-ring circus in search of a
ringmaster. A logical choice for the job is Metropolitan Council Chairman
Peter Bell, whose agency is charged with regional planning. But Bell is
understandably reluctant to get into an elbowing contest with three members
of Congress, several federal agencies and a horde of local interests without
first seeing the Postal Service's July report. His patience is commendable.
All parties should wait and see, and take it from there.
>

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