August 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

Rendering of Frogtown Square by Trossen Wright Plutowski Architects, PA

August 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

August 2nd, 2010 by Nieeta

Transportation Equity Network, a national nonprofit, awarded Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff the 2010 Rosa Parks Award for defending civil rights through transportation policy. The video above begins with an introduction by Lonnie Ellis, lead transportation organizer with TEN member ISAIAH. In his speech, Rogoff credited the hard work of the community on East University Avenue for securing the three missing Central Corridor Light Rail stations at Hamline, Western and Victoria.

July 25th, 2010 by Nieeta

Project: Frogtown from Public Insight Network on Vimeo.

Reporters from around the country gathered in the Frogtown neighborhood to apply Design Thinking principles to journalism with the aid of the Public Insight Network.

July 25th, 2010 by Nieeta

Central Corridor light rail station rendering

Monday, July 26th
1:00-2:30pm
Central Corridor Resource Center
1080 University Avenue West (south side of University, just east of Lexington)

Come hear about preliminary Saint Paul staff recommendations and provide your ideas, comments and questions on zoning in the Central Corridor area and possible changes to Traditional Neighborhood zoning regulations that would apply citywide. We are engaging in an informal public discussion process to get community input prior to finalizing staff recommendations to the Planning Commission. This session is targeted to developers and other involved in the development process.

Buses #16 and 50 stop near the Central Corridor Resource Center.

If you have any questions, please visit the city web site and click on ‘Central Corridor Zoning Study’ or send an email.

July 5th, 2010 by Nieeta

From the Met Council:

The Metropolitan Council has awarded the first heavy construction contract for the Central Corridor light rail transit Project to Walsh Construction to build the seven-mile St. Paul segment of the line. Walsh’s $205.1 million award includes betterment work valued at $10.4 million that was requested by, and will be paid for, by cooperating agencies and utilities.

Construction is expected to begin in August east of the state Capitol on Robert and 12th streets north of Interstate 94, with utility relocation work there expected to start soon after July Fourth. Most of the heavy construction on University Avenue will occur in 2011 between Emerald Street and Hamline Avenue and in 2012 between Hamline and Robert. The work in downtown St. Paul will occur in 2011-2012.

The project is able to begin heavy construction due to advance funding commitments from its partners and federal approval of this arrangement. Under this same arrangement, the project began improvements in May on streets around the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota and utility relocation work last year on Fourth Street in St. Paul. The FTA has agreed to reimburse the project partners for the federal share of this advanced work once it awards a Full Funding Grant Agreement this fall.

Work on the seven-mile St. Paul segment includes:

• Relocating utilities necessary for the LRT trackway
• Constructing nearly seven miles of embedded double track
• Fully reconstructing streets where track is being installed
• Building 14 stations from Westgate Station to Union Depot Station
• Modifying two bridges (on University over Highway 280 and on Cedar Street over Interstates 94 and 35E)
• Installing concrete paving for signalized intersections
• Building an infiltration trench for collecting storm water
• Constructing at-grade pedestrian crossings
• Demolishing the vacant Bremer Bank building and reconnecting the skyway

Steps to help businesses, property owners

The Central Corridor Project Office has taken steps to eliminate or reduce construction-related impediments to businesses and property owners. These steps include:

• Limiting construction of each segment on University Avenue to two-thirds at a time while maintaining a lane of traffic on the other third.
• Requiring contractors to restore the street in front of any business within 150 days and the sidewalk within 15 days.
• Implementing a contractor incentive program to encourage responsiveness, create a partnership between contractors and the community and promote cooperation. Evaluation criteria will include conformance with notification requirements, timely response to public concerns, maintenance of vehicle access and accessible pedestrian routes and cleanliness of construction sites.
• Issuing weekly emailed construction updates to provide the public with advance notice of routes that are closed and their alternates. To sign up for the emails, click here.
• Holding public construction meetings for businesses and the public to get updates and a look ahead from project staff and utilities.
• Setting up a construction hotline and posting the number, 651-602-1404, in prominent locations throughout a work zone.
• Assigning multilingual outreach coordinators from the community to be liaisons between the project and the public from the engineering phase through construction.
• Distributing a brochure to businesses on the corridor and nearby residents about how the project will communicate construction information and how it can be reached with questions and concerns.

About the project

The Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project will link downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis along Washington and University avenues via the state Capitol and the University of Minnesota. Construction will begin in 2010 on the planned 11-mile Central Corridor line, with service beginning in 2014. The line will connect with the Hiawatha LRT line at the Metrodome station in Minneapolis and the Northstar commuter rail line at the new Target Field Station. The Metropolitan Council will be the grantee of federal funds. The regional government agency is charged with building the line in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The Central Corridor Management Committee, which includes commissioners from Ramsey and Hennepin counties, the mayors of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, provides advice and oversight.

April 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

Wing Young Huie

Go to  http://www.theuniversityavenueproject.com for more info….

Public Art Saint Paul Presents Wing Young Huie’s The University Avenue Project — The Language Of Urbanism: A Six-Mile Photographic Inquiry

From May through October, 2010 Wing Young Huie’s photographs will transform Saint Paul’s University Avenue into a six-mile public gallery, revealing the everyday realites of the diverse neighborhoods connected by this urban thoroughfare. Hundreds of images will be displayed in windows and on buildings from the KSTP tower to the State Capitol. Each night at a landmark project(ion) site Wing’s images will be shown on 40-foot screens, accompanied by a soundtrack from local musicians.  Monthly cabarets will feature live community performances and new media presentations. A two-part book from The Minnesota Historical Society Press documents this extraordinary project.

Get Involved:

VOLUNTEERS We are currently recruiting volunteers that will be an essential part of producing this exciting large-scale project. Volunteer opportunities include project outreach, exhibition set-up, installing the photographs along the avenue, nightly running of projection site, community events and exhibition strike. If you are interested in participating, click here to register online.

BUSINESSES along University Avenue, offer your storefront window or building wall to exhibit Wing Young Huie’s photographs. Offered space must be available until the exhibition end in Mid-November. Click here to offer space at your business.

MUSICIANS, submit your music to be a part of the University Avenue Project! Images will be shown nightly on billboard-sized screens at the Project(ion) site, accompanied by prerecorded music by local musicians from an array of genres and cultures to create a musical soundscape that reflects the diverse and unique sound of the city. Take a look at the gallery of images and imagine which of your songs would add layers of meanings to this significant community project. Download this form for more information and to submit your music.

PERFORMERS Once a month The University Avenue Project(ion) site will host a community event to showcase the talents of local individuals, organizations and community groups. Information on how to register for a performance slot at a community event coming soon.

March 16th, 2010 by Nieeta

Here are a couple of opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses to take part in a pair or large public projects:

Union Depot Renovation

Central Corridor LRT construction

DBE/Small business owners  are invited to meet with the six prime contractors that were pre-qualified to bid on the Central Corridor Light Rail / Civil East construction project between Union Depot in St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis.

The Meet & Greet will be held Thursday, March 18, 2010 from 2 to 5 p.m. at 375 Jackson Street, 2nd floor (Directly across from the Metropolitan Council), Saint Paul, MN 55101 (Map).

RSVP to Lynnette at 651-602-1769 or by email.

One of these six prime contractors present will be selected to construct the first half of the Central Corridor:

• C.S. McCrossan and Ames Construction (joint venture)
• Graham Construction Services and Kraus-Anderson (joint venture)
• Kiewit Western Company
• PCL Construction Services
• Walsh Construction
• Granite Construction Company

This is your opportunity to make an impression and to discuss what your company can bring to the table as a partner and team member. The DBE goal on this project is 15 percent.

March 16th, 2010 by Nieeta

University Avenue

Small businesses that can change and adapt to the challenges and opportunities of light rail transit will be more successful than those that can’t. They will survive light rail construction and make more money if they know how to prepare. How do small businesses and entrepreneurs adapt? What are the challenges? How do you prepare and increase your revenue?

Workshops to be held this week will teach small businesses and entrepreneurs how they may benefit from light rail transit. You will learn:

• What you can do to prepare for LRT construction
• What you can do to keep revenues up during construction
• What you can do to bring in new customers when the light rail is running

When: Thursday, March 18, 2010
2:30- 4:30 PM (Vietnamese interpretation available)
6:00-8:00 PM (Hmong interpretation available)

Where: Lao Family Community, 320 University Ave W, St. Paul, MN

Lunch and dinner will be provided. Free and open to the public. For more information call 651-222-7798 or email

The “Creating Successful Businesses with LRT” workshops are led by Mr. Tran T. Nhon, MBA. Mr. Tran is a nationally noted expert on supplier diversity and an advocate for minority owned businesses.  He is chair of the Ramsey County Small Business Enterprises Advisory Board and a board member of the State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans.

These workshops are supported by a grant from National CAPACD. AEDA is supported by the B.C. Gamble and P.W. Skogmo Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation, Twin Cities LISC FRAN Project, and The Saint Paul Foundation.

More information:

Asian Economic Development Association
712 University Ave W Suite 105
Saint Paul, MN 55104
651-222-7798 | www.aeda-mn.org

February 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

Rendering of Frogtown Square

There will be a meet-and-greet session from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Central Corridor Resource Center, 1080 University Ave., St. Paul, (Map/Directions or Transit Info) for contractors and others interested in working on the Frogtown Square project. The project at the intersection of University Avenue and Dale Street in St. Paul is scheduled to open in 2010. It will include more than 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 50 active senior living units owned and managed by Episcopal Homes of Minnesota. It will also include underground parking for residents and surface parking for customers.

For information about the senior apartments project, called Kings Crossing, call Heidi Crumpler, Manager of Carty Heights, at (651) 288-1142, or click here to request an information packet.