03-06-2000 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 2, 2000 To: Honorable mayor and City Council From: Chuck Whiting, City Administrator Re: Monday, March 6, 2000 City Council Work Session In light of the tragic accident of last Friday, staff is preparing to bring to the meeting as much information about Highway 10, the pedestrian bridge and the aftermath of the accident as possible. I have arranged the agenda to facilitate the review and discussion. I think everyone feels it is important to find both short and long-term actions that can be taken in reaction to this accident. From some of the calls I have received from residents, there is a normal frustration in feeling enough can’t get done fast enough, but there is also a sense being shared with me that coordinating an effort to satisfactorily respond is also a concern. Item 1 – Review of Highway 10 Issues: With the attention now being focused on Highway 10 related matters, it seems the first thing needed is to review the voluminous work that has been done that either never came to fruition or was rejected. At the same time, reality again confronts the City as another Highway 10 project is on the agenda, the Pleasant View Drive traffic signal and design. While I may be speaking as the outgoing administrator, I would like to comment at the meeting about the need to make decisions better, and just what it may take to address Highway 10 issues for the long term. Council will be receiving a large volume of materials that may or may not have been sorted out by packet time. At Tuesday’s staff meeting, all department heads were asked to prepared and gather any information that may be helpful for the Council and community to respond to this incident. On the agenda, we are starting with the numerous studies and attempts to deal with all or parts of the Highway 10 corridor. Being sensitive to criticism that this is all just talk, it is still necessary to have some review particularly if there is to be submittals for funds requiring plans. Council will probably note this issue has been before the community on many occasions and from different vantage points. Some specific inquiries that have been made are responded to in enclosed staff memos. I’ll touch on some here: Can the City accept donations from people for a bridge, a monument, a tree, etc? Yes, Bruce’s memo touches on this. I have said to people that we will, but for the time being the City may want to wait to see whether the family needs to arrange a repository first, so as not to get their needs confused with something for the City to do. What can MNDOT and Ramsey County do about this? MNDOT has turned the highway over to Ramsey County, but is forwarding historical data on traffic, accidents and other pertinent information the City may want to review in order to make a good