Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/17/2015 - Strategy Session

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• • • Page 2, Q8. 8. What are three to five greatest opportunities that the City should capitalize on in the short-term? 1 potential job growth within the city. 2 a new day (council) for Ramsey, Sale of the COR, Hiring of Econ Devopment Director 3 1. Again the social events we have established- Concerts, markets, Happy Days, Environmental Expo 2. The Mississippi River Trail and the Train stop - opportunities to capitalize on new folks coming to/through Ramsey... what can we do to make this a Destination... 3. The ability to step back with the new Council and determine a clear focus and joint vision between our Council, Staff and Residents... none of these entities should feel estranged or threatened by eachother... This can tend to be the case right now, but we have a chance to correct that! 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The community, location, COR Development Opportunity, Transportation, Livability A new beginning. A new Council. New competent staff where needed. Get the COR in private hands, no more conflicts of interest, good staff I don't know xx Stop building, tear -down, and grading of land until there is some nailed down concept in place. Should a problem arise, the City should be making the area presentable again as opposed to an eyesore for YEARS. The City should be grading and planting native grasses (possibly) on the areas surrounding the Cor to attract more interest. Encourage water savings. Especially concerning the current drought situation, and having the most pervious soil 1 know of, this could be a great time to show environmental stewardship (and a positive mark for the City). Need something like a Chamber of Commerce, to let them do the marketing of the City, and get City Hall out of the way. Promotion of empty buildings, properties. These properties should be cheaper than building in new areas. With the local access by train, the river, bike trails, would be nice to be able to promote the area as a way to get out of the downtown cities and have a place to CAMP for the weekend. Bike, tent and a backpack to an area by the river access. That bar/ballfield that nobody seems to own for more than 6 months, there or behind there? Lots of open park spaces. Why not use some of that space for butterfly waystations? Central Park has one itty-bitty bit of colorful plants at the entrance comer. I'm not a great big fan of great big open spaces unless it is a farm field. The City requires parking lots to have some landscaping. Why not have some greenery to break up the soccer fields? There is already irrigation systems there, but you could use some prairie grass to break up the area. Butterfly gardens, if you don't want trees putting shade on the grass. Stuff like that. 11 We have overcome the City/County identity problem somewhat, but having a CITY ZIP CODE would get the entire city recognized by all the automatic addressing programs to stop telling the WORLD that we are ANOKA, and our streets are all NW. The NW is Hennepin County and ends at the Mississippi 27 of 40 Jan 26, 2013 5:57 PM Jan 26, 2013 3:00 PM Jan 23, 2013 1:37 PM Jan 22, 2013 9:02 PM Jan 22, 2013 10:33 AM Jan 20, 2013 7:45 PM Jan 18, 2013 11:01 AM Jan 18, 2013 7:04 AM Jan 18, 2013 2:40 AM Jan 17, 2013 10:39 AM Jan 16, 2013 11:06 AM