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Steve Jankowski From: Geo Rule [georule@civilwarstlouis.corn] Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 8:11 PM To: Mayor Ramsey; Matt Look Cc: oolin@colinmcglone.com; Brian Olson; Steve Jankowski .Subject; MSA Reconstruction of Andrie/164th Dear Ramsey Leaders & Staff-- Councilman-at-Large Wise does not have an email listed on the city webpage. If any of you have the ability to share this communication with him, l would appreciate it. My name is Geo (short for "George"} Rule, and my wife and I own the house at 9165 164th Lane NW, in Northfork. As I like to say, "We -live at the corner of 164th and 164th".Our frontage (mailbox and driveway) are NOT on the Andrie side of 164th, and as such we have been left out of most communication and petition-making by both the city and the Northfork HOA. The theory apparently being since we aren't financially impacted, our opinion is not necessary nor sought.. However; in addition to livingin Northfork, and riding our bikes all over the neighborhood, we do have sideage on Andrie/164th, and our side yard along the Andrie side of 164th would be impacted. . Late last year, I contacted the public works department with a somewhat ill-tempered email while laboring under several pieces of misinfiormation provided by a neighbor who is opposed to the project. At that time, Engineer Jankowski did straighten some of those misconceptions out, but the entire picture was still not terribly clear to me. Today, I wrote Councilman McGlone whom 1 had never previously met, an email td enquire on the status of the project and if he could help me understand the issues and details better. Well, Colin showed up at my door (after calling to ask permission} a couple hours later, and we had a nice long conversation about the history of this project and the issues involved. He did also confirm that our side yard (or rather that portion of several feet that is actually city property that we've been watering. and cutting on your behalf!} is the proposed location of the proposed sidewalk. We also talked at length about what MSA is and how it is funded, the standards involved in upgrading a road to MSA standards and the benefits thereof, and long-standing Ramsey city policy on sidewalks. As such, I am writing you today as a resident of the neighborhood, abike-rider in the. neighborhood, a property owner who stands to lose some grass I apparently don't own anyway, and a taxpayer and voter of Ramsey and Minnesota. Having been educated on the project and issues, it passes beyond my understanding how there could be any serious question of NOT using the state'MSA funds to upgrade Andrie/164th to full MSA standards, including a sidewalk. That's what those funds are for. Further, we all (Northforkers and Ramseyites in general} contribute to ,everybody else's MSA improvements, so it is only fair ghat we get ours in return. The City, having decided that Andrie/164th needed repaving, and having also determined that it is a MSA road, and further knowing that long-standing. Ramsey policy requires sidewalks, anything less would simply not make sense in the short-term nor the. tang term. Thus, this is clearly the time to do the Andrie/164th project in full, with all associated standards implied therein, including a sidewalk. The opportunity to have the state pay for what Ramsey city government has already decided it wants will not come again in a generation or more regarding Andrie/164th if you don't act now. Let's put it this way --you've got along-standing city policy that,says we want sidewalks, and in this case you have state standards that also say you should have a sidewalk on Andrie/164th and state funds to pay for it without assessing the ' neighborhood for it. That's a pretty straight-forward "High-fives all around, rev up the trucks!" to me. Once the decision was made that Andrie/164th needed repaving was made, the rest is pretty obvious. I can get over not watering and cutting your grass anymore for the greater good of Ramsey.. fj . 1 ' - 1 ~ ~ -