May 23, 2011
May 9, 2011
Still There
In case you haven't made it out to the lake lately, the two loons are still there. If you get up and out early, about sunrise, you can hear them calling. I don't know why they haven't left, but I'm not complaining. We have as much wildlife on the lake as I can remember, including an occasional bald eagle roosting in the trees behind Gopher Electronics. The island is considerably smaller than it has been in years and nesting is more distributed than in years past. Several lake shore residents appear to have created habitat for water fowl and they are going to need it because this extended cold weather and rain has been hard on nests. We've made a few laps around the lake in our canoe and there are lots of abandoned goose eggs and blown-apart nests.
Unfortunately, our old non-native nemesis, the water lily, is about to rear its lake-killing head. Hopefully, the council will get the spraying permit approved soon so we can head the plants off early this year.
Supposedly, there was a toxic chemical (machine cleaning chemicals) dump from the high school a few years back that killed off the fish in the west lake. If the effects of that contamination are lowered, it seems to me that restocking the lake with fish would help balance the flora and fauna. If anyone has a line on how we might go about that, maybe we can get back more of our lake.
Unfortunately, our old non-native nemesis, the water lily, is about to rear its lake-killing head. Hopefully, the council will get the spraying permit approved soon so we can head the plants off early this year.
Supposedly, there was a toxic chemical (machine cleaning chemicals) dump from the high school a few years back that killed off the fish in the west lake. If the effects of that contamination are lowered, it seems to me that restocking the lake with fish would help balance the flora and fauna. If anyone has a line on how we might go about that, maybe we can get back more of our lake.
Apr 25, 2011
Spring or Not
We took the canoe out today and tried to get a few shots of the loons without scaring them off. As a photographer, I suck. But the birds tried to accommodate us and, at least, I came away with evidence if not with memorable nature shots.
With all the freeway noise, it's hard to hear the bird song from our lake, but it's out there and would be a shame to lose it. The lilies are about to make their damned appearance and the milfoil is already making a run for dominance. Hopefully we can get a head start on beating back the lilies this year and our lake will stay recreational all year.
Jan 31, 2011
"Unweave the Weave" Landscaping
The February-March edition of the Little Canada Le Petit Canadien mentioned that about $250,000 will be made available for landscaping to recover some of the damage done by the increased width of the freeway and to moderate some of the noise that came with that freeway traffic. All I can say is, "it's about time." I've monitored the sound pressure level in my backyard during rush hour and the noise level far exceeds EPA and OSHA safe limits; well into the low 90dBSPL territory.
The Canadien article suggested that the City Council has "focused on the area between I-35E and West Savage Lake in an attempt to create some natural barriers to the sound and view coming from the freeway." This is a solid approach. The extended barriers on the east side of the lake have reflected additional noise in our direction, which makes safely enjoying our neighborhood and yards impossible during much of the day. Hopefully, the character MnDOT used as an "acoustic expert" won't be involved in this analysis, since pretty much all of his guess-timates about the effects on our neighborhood from the freeway expansion and the noise barriers were so far off I'd be surprised if that guy ever attended a science class at any time in his life.
Sound absorption is a much better tactic for silencing noise than obstruction. The noise barriers have a limited effectiveness, based on height, length of the barrier, distance from the noise source and the target clients, the noise bandwidth, and the mass of the materials used for the barrier. Absorption actually converts sound energy to heat; not a lot of heat, but that energy is no longer sound. Noise doesn't bounce off of conifers. Instead, the air motion pass through the branches and leaf tissue and moving those obstacles converts sound to motion and heat.
Of course, the trees will absorb some of the carbon dioxide, lowering pollution levels. In all, this is a plan my wife and I have been advocating for almost a decade and I'm glad to see the city and state buying into it. We should all give Joel Hanson a call at 651/766-4040 or email at joel.hanson@ci.little-canada.mn.us and get the city behind this idea. With decent sized plantings, almost immediately we could have a substantially more quiet neighborhood. In a few years, this could be our view of the freeway.
The Canadien article suggested that the City Council has "focused on the area between I-35E and West Savage Lake in an attempt to create some natural barriers to the sound and view coming from the freeway." This is a solid approach. The extended barriers on the east side of the lake have reflected additional noise in our direction, which makes safely enjoying our neighborhood and yards impossible during much of the day. Hopefully, the character MnDOT used as an "acoustic expert" won't be involved in this analysis, since pretty much all of his guess-timates about the effects on our neighborhood from the freeway expansion and the noise barriers were so far off I'd be surprised if that guy ever attended a science class at any time in his life.
Sound absorption is a much better tactic for silencing noise than obstruction. The noise barriers have a limited effectiveness, based on height, length of the barrier, distance from the noise source and the target clients, the noise bandwidth, and the mass of the materials used for the barrier. Absorption actually converts sound energy to heat; not a lot of heat, but that energy is no longer sound. Noise doesn't bounce off of conifers. Instead, the air motion pass through the branches and leaf tissue and moving those obstacles converts sound to motion and heat.
Of course, the trees will absorb some of the carbon dioxide, lowering pollution levels. In all, this is a plan my wife and I have been advocating for almost a decade and I'm glad to see the city and state buying into it. We should all give Joel Hanson a call at 651/766-4040 or email at joel.hanson@ci.little-canada.mn.us and get the city behind this idea. With decent sized plantings, almost immediately we could have a substantially more quiet neighborhood. In a few years, this could be our view of the freeway.
Jan 20, 2011
Winter 2011 on Savage Lake
It's been a while, I know. Even in the heart of winter, some of our neighbors are enjoying our lake.There are snowmobile tracks all over the lake and our family uses the lake as a dog park. Whenever I begin to think about living somewhere warmer, I only have to take this little mutt outside and it's impossible not to soak up some of her love of running in the snow. Not that I actually run in the snow, but I love watching her do it.
Nov 6, 2010
Little Canada Elections
I worked for CTV on the 2010 Election Results program and was amazed to see that all 3 incumbent candidates for Little Canada's city offices ran unopposed: The results were:
I was impressed to see that about 75 city residents had the gumption to write-in their votes. That's a pretty insignificant (~1%) percentage of about 4,400 votes. However, I have always believed that "Sturgeon's Law" is optimistic, so I think this was a decent turnout of folks with initiative.
Apparently, Little Canada residents are either satisfied with city government (something my wife's 2006 city council campaign found to be unlikely) or incredibly disconnected from city government (more in line with the conversations she had with residents in 2006). Little Canada wasn't alone in municipal uncontested elections, but being in the company of other apathetic 'burbs isn't exactly a recommendation.
Apathy is tightly linked to anger and many voters were more emotionally-driven in the 2010 election than motivated by rational analysis or an understanding of the nation's pressing issues. We were passionate about some pretty strange things in this election and I've never put much faith in passion; anywhere outside of art or sports. It's only interesting there for entertainment purposes.
Our local state representative, Bev Scalze did pretty well in her race:
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 54B
Incumbent State Senatory John Marty won his race, too:
STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 54
Of those two battles, I'm please that Bev won as she has been consistently involved and helpful in our fight to restore Savage Lake. Senator Marty has been consistently missing in action which put me in a neutral position for his election campaign. Politically, I'm an independent voter, so candidates who display no interest in my areas of concern are pretty much off of my radar.
We have a new county sheriff, Matt Bostrom. Since I have not been able to figure out why the 2009 city budget saw a 20% increase in "Public Safety: Police" expenses, when all other expenses held pretty close to previous years, I'm hoping that Sheriff Bostrom will be more fiscally responsible than Mr. Fletcher. Fletcher had a reputation for cost over-runs in his department. It's hard to imagine a 20% ($197,670) one-year increase (from $926k to $1.124M, page 14 of the city's General Fund Summary) being justified for anything in a city as small as ours.
(Hopefully, we're not paying for the increased "enforcement" of the primary seat-belt law that has resulted in several dangerous situations on Little Canada road over the last year. That has to have been a money-maker for the county, even if it's another pointless example of Big Mommy government.)
In all, I think the 2010 election was disappointing. If we are unable to attract more than 3 Little Canada residents to run for 3 city offices in times as economically and socially critical as these, our community is in sad shape. I put some of the blame on an election system that is about as far from transparent as possible. Finding out who is running for what, before the election filing dates is, as best I can tell, impossible without inside connections. A county website posts the candidates, but it didn't come on line until several weeks after the filing deadline: http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/elections/Other_Offices.htm. The application system is pretty simple and inexpensive, but campaign finance laws are overly-complicated and close to incomprehensible, which keeps most of us from wanting to dip a toe into local politics. We all know that is the intent of our current system and there doesn't seem to be a way out of this undemocratic mess.The cure would be for more citizens to become involved, but that isn't the current trend in the US.
| LITTLE CANADA-MAYOR | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | |||
| Number of Precincts | 3 | ||
| Precincts Reporting | 3 | 100.0 % | |
| Total Votes | 2784 | ||
| BILL BLESENER | 2707 | 97.23% | |
| Write-in Votes | 77 | 2.77% | |
| LITTLE CANADA-COUNCIL MEMBER | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | |||
| Number of Precincts | 3 | ||
| Precincts Reporting | 3 | 100.0 % | |
| Total Votes | 4471 | ||
| SHELLY BOSS | 2317 | 51.82% | |
| JOHN KEIS | 2079 | 46.50% | |
| Write-in Votes | 75 | 1.68% | |
I was impressed to see that about 75 city residents had the gumption to write-in their votes. That's a pretty insignificant (~1%) percentage of about 4,400 votes. However, I have always believed that "Sturgeon's Law" is optimistic, so I think this was a decent turnout of folks with initiative.
Apparently, Little Canada residents are either satisfied with city government (something my wife's 2006 city council campaign found to be unlikely) or incredibly disconnected from city government (more in line with the conversations she had with residents in 2006). Little Canada wasn't alone in municipal uncontested elections, but being in the company of other apathetic 'burbs isn't exactly a recommendation.
Apathy is tightly linked to anger and many voters were more emotionally-driven in the 2010 election than motivated by rational analysis or an understanding of the nation's pressing issues. We were passionate about some pretty strange things in this election and I've never put much faith in passion; anywhere outside of art or sports. It's only interesting there for entertainment purposes.
Our local state representative, Bev Scalze did pretty well in her race:
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 54B
Total
Number of Precincts 13
Precincts Reporting 13 100.0 %
Total Votes 15888
KEN RUBENZER 6849 43.11%
BEV SCALZE 9022 56.78%
Write-in Votes 17 0.11%
Incumbent State Senatory John Marty won his race, too:
STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 54
Total
Number of Precincts 22
Precincts Reporting 22 100.0 %
Total Votes 30058
TIM JOHNSON 13131 43.69%
JOHN MARTY 16896 56.21%
Write-in Votes 31 0.10%
Of those two battles, I'm please that Bev won as she has been consistently involved and helpful in our fight to restore Savage Lake. Senator Marty has been consistently missing in action which put me in a neutral position for his election campaign. Politically, I'm an independent voter, so candidates who display no interest in my areas of concern are pretty much off of my radar.
We have a new county sheriff, Matt Bostrom. Since I have not been able to figure out why the 2009 city budget saw a 20% increase in "Public Safety: Police" expenses, when all other expenses held pretty close to previous years, I'm hoping that Sheriff Bostrom will be more fiscally responsible than Mr. Fletcher. Fletcher had a reputation for cost over-runs in his department. It's hard to imagine a 20% ($197,670) one-year increase (from $926k to $1.124M, page 14 of the city's General Fund Summary) being justified for anything in a city as small as ours.
(Hopefully, we're not paying for the increased "enforcement" of the primary seat-belt law that has resulted in several dangerous situations on Little Canada road over the last year. That has to have been a money-maker for the county, even if it's another pointless example of Big Mommy government.)
In all, I think the 2010 election was disappointing. If we are unable to attract more than 3 Little Canada residents to run for 3 city offices in times as economically and socially critical as these, our community is in sad shape. I put some of the blame on an election system that is about as far from transparent as possible. Finding out who is running for what, before the election filing dates is, as best I can tell, impossible without inside connections. A county website posts the candidates, but it didn't come on line until several weeks after the filing deadline: http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/elections/Other_Offices.htm. The application system is pretty simple and inexpensive, but campaign finance laws are overly-complicated and close to incomprehensible, which keeps most of us from wanting to dip a toe into local politics. We all know that is the intent of our current system and there doesn't seem to be a way out of this undemocratic mess.The cure would be for more citizens to become involved, but that isn't the current trend in the US.
Oct 11, 2010
Our Neighborhood
The lake is as nice as it has been all year. While we're all waiting for the hammer of winter to drop, it's prime time to visit the lake and see the fall colors, the remaining wildlife, and enjoy the relatively clear water while it lasts. As we lapped the lake tonight, we were struck by how beautiful our neighborhood is. We're lucky to have so many neighbors who treasure their homes and yard. Our hidden neighborhood is one of the Cities' unknown treasures.
We made a lap around the lake, from north to south and took some shots of the lakeshore from almost every angle. See if you can spot your house from here.
The mild and long Indian Summer has allowed the lilies to last longer than usual and the milfoil is doing pretty well, too. The freeway drain at the north east end of the lake is totally filled by sediment. That end of the lake is also a little more shallow than it was a year ago and a lot more shallow than it was 5 years ago. There was a statement made in a City Council meeting a few years ago claiming that the DOT had stopped draining the freeway entrance runoff into the lake. That is only true because the runoff completely clogged the drain. That's not what I'd call an "engineered solution." That's just more of the sloppy engineering that turned our lake into a catch basin for the freeway expansion and allowed unhealthy and illegal levels of noise to be reflected from the east side freeway barriers at our homes.
So as we enjoy the hard work of our neighbors and the beauty of a Minnesota fall, we should be figuring out how to fix the problems on our lake during the winter months so that we can enjoy the lake all year next season.
We made a lap around the lake, from north to south and took some shots of the lakeshore from almost every angle. See if you can spot your house from here.
The mild and long Indian Summer has allowed the lilies to last longer than usual and the milfoil is doing pretty well, too. The freeway drain at the north east end of the lake is totally filled by sediment. That end of the lake is also a little more shallow than it was a year ago and a lot more shallow than it was 5 years ago. There was a statement made in a City Council meeting a few years ago claiming that the DOT had stopped draining the freeway entrance runoff into the lake. That is only true because the runoff completely clogged the drain. That's not what I'd call an "engineered solution." That's just more of the sloppy engineering that turned our lake into a catch basin for the freeway expansion and allowed unhealthy and illegal levels of noise to be reflected from the east side freeway barriers at our homes.
So as we enjoy the hard work of our neighbors and the beauty of a Minnesota fall, we should be figuring out how to fix the problems on our lake during the winter months so that we can enjoy the lake all year next season.
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