I too was surprised the City Manager decided to single out the sarcastic comments.  He might have also pointed out that someone initiated the conversation under Construction Process by listing someone’s address and then went on to make several disparaging comments about the property and the builder (here and several other places).  How civil is this?  Does this behavior fall under the City Manager’s definition of a bully?  There seems to be a double standard. 

When someone initiates a public conversation by attacking, does he not open himself to criticism?  And who is to decide what form of criticism is appropriate?  I agree sarcasm is an effective way to diffuse a bully and make light of someone’s comments – and you see sarcasm in every public blog.  But here’s the great part about reading an online blog: you can ignore comments you don’t agree with.

From Government Technology magazine:

What Does Your Lawyer Want You to Know About Social Media?

http://www.govtech.com/e-government/What-Does-Your-Lawyer-Want-You-to-Know-About-Social-Media.html

Tim – in a perfect world I would agree with everything you said, but the reality is we are living in a bubble and the only way to sustain the bubble is by relaxing standards.  We need to empower builders and their clients to build more McMansions that will artificially sustain home prices and tax revenues.  It is essential to our well being.

I tend to agree with Roger.   Except that instead of tax breaks for the new houses I think there should just be higher taxes for existing residents.

Bob, Thanks for your comment and interest in a mountain bike trail at Braemar. This item will be on the Park Board agenda on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the City of Edina's Public Works & Park Maintenance Facility, 7450 Metro Boulevard. We hope that you can attend.

Developers are speculators so they buy a tear down at a price they think they can build a new house and make money.  They are no laws specfic to speculators buying property, it is called captialism.  The redevelopment is driving up property values so new houses will continue to be more expensive until this little real estate bubble bursts.  If you want to spend millions on an over priced house I would do it soon or wait until the bust happens and get a bargain.

Thank you for your comments. The City of Edina and the Edina Planning Commission are interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions regarding residential redevelopment. Check out the online discussion at http://speakupedina.org/discussions/residential-redevelopment/.

Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures are being considered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for implementation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that impact Edina. In a nutshell, the PBN procedures would concentrate flights into less diffuse and more narrow bands coming into and departing the airport. The result of this recommendation, if adopted by the MAC, will be to concentrate flights north and west of the Minnesota River over southwest Minneapolis and Edina. 

The FAA has asked the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) to give a letter of support of the proposed procedures.

The City of Edina has not been given the same opportunity to learn about the issue as other communities impacted by aviation noise, such as Minneapolis, Richfield, Eagan, Mendota Heights and Apple Valley.  The MAC engaged in outreach in those communities, including meeting with City officials, holding public meetings and publishing notices in local newspapers. MAC did not share information with City of Edina staff members until last week, after we initiated contact with them.

We're not sure why MAC didn't reach out to Edina in the same way as it did in neighboring communities. The MAC decided to engage the public on this issue through its Noise Oversight Committee (NOC).  The NOC is comprised of volunteers, some of whom are elected officials and staff from cities near that airport, such as Bloomington, Richfield, Minneapolis, Eagan and Mendota Heights.  The NOC interacts with MAC staff to learn about current and future issues, such as this one, and provides feedback back to the MAC.

Edina is not represented on the NOC, so during the planning stages for this proposed change, our community concerns were not voiced, and therefore not considered by the group until this week when Edina residents shared their concerns, Edina City Council Members made calls and wrote emails, and City Manager Scott Neal spoke to the NOC at its meeting Nov. 14.  They are aware of our concerns now, but they voted 10-1 in favor of recommending the change to the MAC.

The City of Edina does not yet have a position on the proposed PBN procedures. We will not take a position until after our residents are given an opportunity to share their opinions and we have all of the information we need to make an educated decision.

Mayor Jim Hovland has asked Gov. Mark Dayton to intervene and delay MAC from taking action until Edina can become more knowledgeable on the issue, complete its own impact analysis and offer informed testimony on the matter. 

Several other legislators have been contacted, including Congressman Erik Paulsen, Rep. Paul Thiessen and Rep, Keith Downey. They have all agreed to help the City.

If the governor does not intervene, the NOC's recommendation will be considered by the MAC at its meeting Monday, Nov. 19.  The City of Edina will be represented at the meeting.  We will speak to the MAC and ask for two things:  representation on the NOC and to delay action on a letter of support to the FAA on the proposed navigation changes until the Edina City Council and residents have more time to learn about the issue.

The meeting on Monday, Nov. 19 is open to the public. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in Room 3048A of the Lindbergh Terminal. Those who want to attend need to obtain a pass from the information desk on the terminal's tram level to get through security.

For more of City Manager Scott Neal's perspective on the issue, read his blog at http://www.edinamn.gov/wordpress/aviation-noise-in-edina/.

I looked at the maps and it gives no way to make a comparison so it is very difficult to see the impact (clearly designed to limit info).  It appears there are 2 corridors over Edina - which is even more confusing.  

This is very concerning and just getting basic information out would help

Thank you for your comment, Andrew. The new radio-read transmitters operate far below the FCC limit. You can read more on our website at http://edinamn.gov/index.php?section=radio_frequency.

The FCC limit is an arbitrary government number that dosen't take into account any of the scientific literature on the subject of EMF fields and RF exposure. Please do your research on this subject before making blanket statements about what the government thinks is safe for you and what the established medical community has to say about this subject. Please see the American Academy of Environmental Science's website for the recommendations of scientific medical peer-reviewed research at www.aaemonline.org.  The City of Edina is putting the health and saftey of the citizens at risk by continuing to install these unsafe meters in peoples homes.

Our family lives in what will be called the Chowen Park neighborhood.  We think the idea of naming neighborhoods in general is a waste of our taxpayer dollars and our council members time.  We all are citizen of Edina.  This reminds us of the divicive tactics of politicians who like to redistrict in order to divide and conquer.  We may be off base because we have only watched city council meetings on TV and have never attended one, so it's hard to complain. But we wanted you to know our feelings.  

The other big waste we have noticed is the new bike lanes on Woodale and 54th street that make it very confusing to drive on. We believe what you did is dangerous to drivers and potentially could cause a bad accident. These bike lanes are another waste of taxpayer dollars, wherever they came from.  It's like you decided to inconvenience and put in danger the majority of Woodale users (drivers) for the benefit of the few (bikers).  We are not against biking, we enjoy it......

Also spending time at council meetings discussing and passing resolutions regarding the marriage amendment  and voter ID which you apperently support the liberal point of view and imposing these city resolutions on all Edina citizens as Edinas point of view is one more reason we cannot support the current city council of our town.

You should know that marriage was created by God and not government.  You are not just taking a stance in favor of a political cause, but you are taking a stance against the ONE God we will all stand before one day. There is a saying we have heard that seems appropriate here: " The truth is the truth no how many people believe it and a lie is still a lie no matter how many people belive that".  And please know that we have many gay friends, neighbors and coworkers and we love them very much. 

We wish you well and pray you will search out The Truth for yourselves.  

Mike & Jill Morgan 

Mike and Jill, since marriage is a civil union,  the proposed amendments to the constitution were discriminatory.  Since the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants separation of church and state, the churches are free to define marriage as a religious union as well. Each church can refuse to sanction any marriage they deem to be outside their religious beliefs. The Catholic Church, for example, did not recognize divorce as legitimate, so would not marry anyone who was, as they interpreted the bible, "already married".

I hope this helps you understand that marriage is both a civil right and a religious union, and since churches are protected by the 2nd amendment, your understanding of "The Truth" is not being threatened or challenged.  I hope you, too, will keep separate in your mind, the "right to a civil marriage" and the right of churches to define marriage as they see fit.

We have a neighborhood that was named 30 years ago as Viking Hills.  Can we keep the name?  It is Arctic Way and Polar Circle.

I agree that the area north of the creek and east of France is a neighbhood. Not really hidden though. I like the idea of referencing the creek in the name. I had never heard of Chowen Park until this neighborhood discussion began.