Musings and Newsings

10/16/11

Here are some thoughts from the Insider and some news items from the past two weeks.

Christmas Lake Launch Gate - The gates should be installed by the end of October. These will close the boat launch from 1000 PM to 600 AM as is allowed under the Shorewood agreement with the DNR. Of interest are comments on one fishing advocacy website that maybe someone ought to dump water from Lk Mtka into Christmas Lk to plant Zebra Mussels there. The Insider wonders how many times per month the gate will be torn off. After all, who is going to see "vandals" doing this in the middle of the night?

Organics Recycling - What's happened to the much touted (by Lizee and Hotvet) organics recycling pilot program? The City has had a grant to pay for it (from Hennepin County) for three months. Could it be that staff can't get the pilot off the ground?

Resident Survey - It's on the way to randomly selected residences in Shorewood by US mail. Looking at the draft that was discussed by Council, the survey seems pretty good. It remains to be seen if Council will know what to do with the results or, will like them. If you receive one, the Insider recommends you complete it and send it back.

Trails - Council approved adding the recently created Trail Plan to the Comprehensive Plan. Additionally, at the 10/10 Council Meeting, Council approved asking for grants for a trail segment connecting the LRT trail crossing County 19 to the sidewalk in front of the strip mall in Tonka Bay and one from Victoria to Minnewashta School along Smithtown Rd. The City is committing to pay 25% of the cost. This'll be the first test of what it'll actually cost to build and maintain new trails. BTW, the City has not addressed the maintenance issue including, cost of keeping these open in the winter.

Fiber Optics - City staff has been discussing connection of City buildings to the Carver County fiber optic network. Council has been told that the cost will be more than $80,000. Of course, no mention of what benefits come with this $80,000 of spending. Zerby has been directly involved in the discussions. It'll be interesting to hear him advocate for this when just two months ago, he managed to kill the LMCC's efforts to bring fiber optics to all of Shorewood including, City buildings.

Christmas Lake Milfoil-Eating Weavil Test - Reports are that it's a dismal failure. No wonder there have been no articles from Dick Osgood in the local papers.

Happy Reading!
The Insider