Chaska Herald - Carver County - Comments

I think it's a bad idea. On

seano — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:45 -0500

I think it's a bad idea. On most municipal issues, I'm hard-pressed to ascertain what the Democratic or Republican position is, and I hardly think that infecting local races with the intense partisanship that has made it impossible for anyone in St. Paul and Washington to get anything accomplished is a good thing.

Maybe it is a good thing

chaskacounterpoint — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:47:11 -0500

Maybe it is a good thing that will help to break up the hold the good old boys of Chaska have had on our city for so long.

So how do you feel about

Mark Olson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:48:32 -0500

So how do you feel about party endorsements for city, county, school races?

Post your thoughts.

The faster the connectivity,

txaggie94 — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:52:21 -0500

The faster the connectivity, the more Facebook updates the kids can make! That's *very* important to their emotional well-being.

-Katie Tierney

According to a Duke

patrick_dempsey — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:00:36 -0500

According to a Duke University study published recently, students who are given high-speed internet access and laptop computers begin to slip in math, reading and English with the impact negatively affecting poorer students. The study was said "the introduction of high-speed internet service is associated with significantly lower math and reading test scores in the lower grades" and "appears to crowd out studying" on research done between 2000 and 2005 by Duke University. You can read the about the study in the August 24, 2010 edition of Investor's Business Daily.

Is high-speed internet really a necessity for student learning? Or is it just cool to have?

This is great news for our

Will Ahern — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:37:22 -0500

This is great news for our schools. Higher bandwidth means greater opportunities to leverage technology as an accelerator of learning.

Will Ahern
Candidate for School Board - Minnesota District 112
www.willahern.com

We have a real good

patrick_dempsey — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:00:43 -0500

We have a real good opportunity here if Chaska can procure the old M&StL line through town between the ball field and Zemble Street and even to East Creek along the south side of Cty 61. As I have commented previously in other forums relating to this issue, the city needs to convert the corridor in to a trail. The trail can connect to the city trail that passes under the East Creek bridge on Cty 61 and follow the corridor in to downtown. There is the issue with the 41 crossing, but with the new redesign of 41 between the river and 61, a new bridge could be built over the highway as other rails-to-trails have in other parts of the metro where trails cross major highways at grade crossing. If not a bridge, the trail could turn south along the east side of Walnut sSreet to 4th where riders could turn west to cross 41 at the light and continue down 4th street to Hickory where the trail could connect up with the corridor to the ball field and eventually to Carver. There is currently no direct trail connection to downtown Chaska proper and the existing trails are too circuitous for riders to know where to go. Trails are the #1 redevelopment tool for small towns and this opportunity is simply too great to allow getting screwed up. Riders that come down the LRT trail from Chan/EP/Hopkins currently turn around at Bluff Creek and head back east. There are literally hundreds of riders on weekends in the summer who could continue another 3 miles to Chaska if we had a direct connection to downtown. What better re0-development tool than a couple 50, 60, 100 people each weekend visiting downtown Chaska on their bikes and spend a little money. My first choice would be to build a trail from the Chan border following the old railroad right-of-way with bridges at Cty 61 and Hwy 41. But, my second choice is to develop the connection between Engler and the LRT trail along the north side of 61. Riders can then follow the trail from Engler/Audobon west along East Creek and pick up the direct connection I suggest from under the East Creek bridge at 61 and follow the corridor directly to downtown where riders can visit Cuzzy's or the Malt Shop or Cy's or ride down to Dunn Brothers or Tommy's. We need to do this right and from what I read in the article I'm concerned it is not going to be done right even if the city can procure the right of way between the ball park and Zemble Street.

I too will be backing Jay

pafab726 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:42:49 -0500

I too will be backing Jay Swenson...he is the change that is needed for Carver County! and to the Randy Maluchnik campaign, please don't put your fliers on my door anymore...you must see the big sign for Jay Swenson in my yard...save yourself the brochure.

Pat Fabish
Chaska Resident and
Victoria Business Owner

I will be backing Jay

Carroll — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:22:41 -0500

I will be backing Jay Swenson.
We need some new blood with a local small & pro business background.

Jay has these attributes along with being a good listener and common sense.

I believe Jay makes the best choice for District 3 and all of Carver County.

Carroll Aasen
Chaska

The pre-registration

Mark Olson — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:03:33 -0500

The pre-registration deadline for primaries is July 20.

Here's more info from the Secretary of State office:

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie reminded eligible voters that July 20 is the deadline to pre-register to vote for the Aug. 10 primary.

"The primary is rapidly approaching and it is important to remember that the deadline for pre-registering to vote is earlier this year," Ritchie said. "I encourage all eligible voters to pre-register to vote. It's easy, and takes just minutes to complete, and it will save time at the polls on Election Day."

The cut-off date to pre-register for the primary is July 20 and the deadline for the November general election is Oct. 12. Those who pre-register prior to the deadline will not have to register again on Election Day. Eligible voters may pre-register to vote by completing a voter registration application and submitting it to their county auditor's office. If a voter does not pre-register to vote, they may still register or update their registration on Election Day.

Voter registration applications are available at the secretary of state's Web site at www.mnvotes.org. Voter registration applications are also available at county government offices.

Diving back into our

Mark Olson — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:17:21 -0500

Diving back into our archives, I found my "Superfunkychanifragisexy" column about a 2001 Prince interview with a group of other reporters at Paisley Park.

He briefly shed some light on his bills when he commented: "I pay way too much property tax."

When my co-worker, Chanhassen Villager reporter Unsie Zuege, suggested that he protest his tax bill at a Carver County Board meeting, Prince responded, "I'm there."

Unfortunately, we've never spotted him at a Truth in Taxation meeting.

While I will agree this

Carroll — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:17:03 -0500

While I will agree this sounds like a great plan and the benefits would be huge to a number of agencies and rural county residents I have a few questions:

1) Why if this is such a great or even good plan are there not plenty of PRIVATE INVESTORS ready and willing to put their money down?

2) Why do many such plans all seem to have to get 'Big Brother' involved in getting these plans off the ground?

3) Are we in such a state they the people of this County are turning and beginning to believe the Government has to or can do everything for us?

4) Why are there not some Private companies/investment firms or business groups backing this 'Fiber Ring Plan'?

5) Do we no longer allow 'Free Enterprise' to work?

My answers and thoughts come in as an outsider watching this develop of the last few years:

First, I would assume it is NOT financially feasible yet to pay off for Private Investors.

Second, I believe the costs and associated potential revenue projections have errors and this plan will cost us, the Taxpayers of Carver County much more in the short and long term than any projection (This is just the way most plans like this end up).

Third, When it is stated "The primary reason the county pursued the high-speed line, which County Administrative Services Director Steve Taylor said would be 700 times faster than the existing T1 copper lines, is to improve communications and efficiencies for county workers." I think of this as an Oxymoron.

The employees can be and many are very efficient and having a faster internet/computer network service I believe is not going to make any major headlines in employee efficiency. There are many, many more factors affecting the efficiency of the employees and having worked in County Government for 9-years and alongside them for most of my 30+ working years I can tell you that Government itself will and has created more bottlenecks to employee efficiency than this project could ever solve.

I thank the Employees for the great, yet many times thankless jobs they do.

I call on the County Board to rethink the reasons of why and how Government Services are provided and what we really need vs. what is just a want.

This Fall we the Citizens of Carver County will be going to the Election Polls to Vote on a few County Commissioner seats. I know of one announced challenger and another ready to throw his name in the ring. Listen to all the candidates and make your choice.

In the mean time, we can all call, write or email our County Commissioners and/or other Staff. Communicate with them and let them know your thoughts.

Carroll Aasen,
Chaska

Well, we’ve reached

Mark Olson — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:30:46 -0500

Well, we’ve reached another milestone – the Minnesota River at Jordan dropped to 24.99 feet on April 9, which means it is .01 feet below flood stage.

The Minnesota River at Chaska still has to drop about 6 feet before it gets below flood stage.

All of the Commuters and

Carroll — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:30:13 -0500

All of the Commuters and other road users should all thank former Carver County Public Works Director Roger Gustafson, P.E. along with the the Carver & Scott County Public Works staff and County Board's for pushing forward the replacement of the old Carver County Road 11 (formerly CR 45) /Scott County Road 9 Bridge and having the forehtought to raising the roadbed over 4-feet.

Had they not raised the roadbed, that road would still be under water, since if memory serves me correctly that the roadbed was at approx. elev. 24-feet.

Thanks from Carroll and all of the commuters and other road users.

See more of Colin Fisher's

Mollee Francisco — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:57:52 -0500

See more of Colin Fisher's aerial photographs of the Minnesota River floodwaters here: http://picasaweb.google.com/colinfisher/20100329WebSyncFlood?feat=direct....

A million thanks to Colin for snapping this week's front page shot and sharing it with all our readers.

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)