Their business is “family anthologies that blend professional photography and biographical story-telling” – that’s from a Northfield News article titled Focusing on the bigger picture by David Henke back in May when they opened their storefront. ‘Tis cool to see another new Northfield business embracing social media. Visit the Anthologie blog, the Anthologie Facebook group, and follow both Dan and John on Twitter.

They’ve got a special 4th of July offer going called American Anthologie. Dan writes in their blog:

John and I will interview and photograph champions of the ideals on which our nation was founded. We are not only interested in speaking with soldiers and veterans, but anyone with an American spirit and a story to tell.

Tell us what it means to you to be an American. Tell us when you felt the most American. Tell us what your hopes are for the future of America. We will interview you, photograph you, preserve your memorabilia and create a custom book telling your American story – safeguarding it for future generations.

See album of 100+ photos from last year, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

And if that’s not enough, see the albums from

• 2007: Part I, Part II, Part III
• 2005
• 2004

Ben Witt, Northfielder, blogger, and owner of Milltown Cycles in Faribault, is once again hosting the annual 4th of July Northfield Criterium in downtown Northfield on Saturday. Races start at 9 am and continue throughout the day… which brings a lot of people to downtown Northfield to participate and support/cheer the racers. And Ben could use a little help. From his blog:

At Northfield, the biggest challenge has always been find people willing to be corner marshals. The race has 8 corners, all of which need to be staffed all day with competent people from 9am to 6 pm. This is a big role to fill. If you’re coming down to watch, please consider volunteering. We really need your help to continue to make this race a success.

This is a race that is put on for the community at large, Jake and I don’t make any money and spend a lot of our time to put it on. Please consider helping out if you can, even if it’s for an hour or two. We also need help at the registration booth. This is a crucial point for getting the race running smoothly, and we really could use some good people to help us out.

Contact Ben at 507-331-2636 or benwitt11@hotmail.com

The study is about public support of private initiatives.  It looks at the goals of the public support, the decision-making process, and the quantifiable results.  From my reading, it appears that things went pretty well in Austin until fairly recently and then there were some projects that, to say the least, did not achieve the desired results.  The study also includes recommendations for improving the economic development and public incentives processes in Austin.

I’m not sure that I agree with all of the objectives of the group that initiated the work or all their opinions on the causes and effects of the less than successful projects.  However, I thought their analysis of the economic development and  the evaluation/decision processes was quite useful.

The full report, with its valuable appendix, is almost 100 pages.  There is a good executive summary if you’re in a hurry.

The author examines the stated goals of economic development activities, the objectives of incentives, what kinds and amounts of incentives the city is using, and what the taxpayers are getting from the public investment.  There is an admirable effort to put dollar values to the incentives to and the results from the projects, as well as the loss or return to the taxpayers.

The study distinguishes two types of incentives.  One is called “firm-based” and encourages firms to locate or expand in Austin.  The second is called “project-based” and seeks to influence the locaion and quality of development.  Based on my reading, there seems to have been more success with the former than the latter.

In grading Austin’s performance in economic development and incentive allocation over recent decades, the author notes both strengths and weaknesses.  The strengths are in clarity about the businesses desired and consistency in tying the release of incentives to private expenditures and jobs created.  The weaknesses are in analysis of the costs and benefits of project proposals and the sharing of critical quantitive information with the taxpayers.

The study identified key questions for broad community discussion of economic development goals:  “What kind of jobs and industry growth do we want to encourage?”,  “How do we want our city to grow?” and “How do we better balance economic growth with the preservation of our quality of life?”.  It was suggested that “to be effective, economic development strategies and policies must be tied to goals that are consistent with deeply held community values and visions for the future”.

The author defines economic development strategy as an effort to “create an environment that encourages private sector investment and business expansion and tries to influence the kinds of industries and activities that form the economic base of a city”.  I particularly enjoyed the first part of that definition.  He goes on to note that in fact “economic growth in a metro region is primarily the outcome of the investment decisions of thousands of private firms”.

According to the study, public incentives are only one piece of private investment decisions.  At least important are such things as appropriateness of the labor force, quality and affordability of sites, community infrastructure, including K-12 education, healthcare, utilities, water and sewer, and quality of life, including neighborhoods, personal and property safety, clean environment and cultural activities.

The key recommendations for greater economic development success and public incentive decisions include: a consistent process, a fiscally responsible process, a deliberative process, an accountable process, and a strategic process.  Again and again, the author emphasizes better cost-benefit analyses and the provision of quality and timely information the taxpayers.  Finally, the study is full of such useful resources as key questions for developing incentive policies, several model evaluation matrices, a model economic development policy and, my favorite, a prototype cost-benefit analysis.

I can’t really tell you whether or not this particular study is one of the finest available.  However, I do think it’s useful in structuring a discussion of the topics of economic development and incentive policy and provides some tools to examine your community’s objectives, processes, and results.

See the album of 18 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

Click play to listen. 30 minutes.

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

Robbie and I each ate one of his ice cream cookies. He gets the cookie dough from The Ole Cafe and the ice cream from Tiny’s. Yum!

Last week, the Northfield EDA recommended that the City enter into a partnership with the Archer House: a $100k forgivable loan in exchange for ADA-compliant toilets for public use. I like the idea and I think Dallas Haas would, too. See pages 9-21 in the June 25 EDA packet; the June 27th Nfld News story; and the June 26 Friday Memo in which Joel Walinksi wrote: (continued)

The EDA Thursday provided their recommendation of a $100,000 forgivable loan to Manawa LLC, the owners of the Archer House River Inn, to be used as gap financing for the estimated $1.25M Archer House renovation project. The forgivable loan would be a Master Development Loan, which will require council approval before the agreement is finalized.

In addition to a significant renovation of the Archer House, a downtown Northfield landmark, this agreement also establishes a partnership between the Archer House and City on the public use of private space. As part of this agreement the ADA compliant restroom facilities will be available to the public daily from 6:00 AM to 12:30 AM.

At the EDA meeting, Mr. Brett Reese and Mr. Todd Byhre, representing the Archer House, provided a presentation on the extent of the renovation project and a general assessment of the newly focused business plan of the inn. In July, Council will be asked to consider approval of this agreement.

The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week.

This week’s memo includes information on a potential EDA loan to the owners of the Archer House to help with gap financing for a substantial and much-needed renovation. The memo also included a nice note of thanks to those, including yours truly, who have been intensely involved in the work of the draft Land Development Code (thank you, Joel!)

It’s a fairly slow week for meetings at City Hall this week, in part because there are five Mondays and Tuesdays in June (regular meetings are usually the 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th Mondays or Tuesdays of the month), and in part due to the July 4 holiday. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.

NOTE: The Library is closed on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4 this week.

• J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘n’ Stein
• The Tavern Lounge
• The HideAway Coffeehouse & Winebar
• The Contented Cow Pub

Dianne has the listing for the seven unoccupied finished units (street address: 101 St Olaf Avenue N). And yes, the prices have been slashed. (continued)

Unit 202 (which we had planned to buy) had been originally listed for $350,000+. It’s now listed for $199,000. Highland is pursuing the sale of the remaining 35. There are 55 total in the building.

Brian O’Connell, Northfield’s Community Development Director, confirmed via email that he and the bank are currently in discussions about improving the condition of the property and site maintenance for it. I neglected to ask him how those discussions relate to the City’s discussions with PiperJaffray (TIF note) that I blogged about in early May, but I’ll follow up with him on Monday about it.

For more background on this, see all the blog posts here tagged The Crossing.

Click play to watch. 39 seconds.

Northfield’s Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) launched a tourism campaign earlier today, hoping that its similarly catchy 8-syllable phrase will convey to out-of-towners that the Carleton Arb in summer is the perfect place for a little sex alfresco, with plenty of nearby restaurants and pubs in downtown Northfield to enhance one’s visit before and aft.

“Since the media is going crazy over this development right now, I thought we’d strike while our irons are hot,” said CVB Executive Director Red Ruffensor who created the campaign.

I got a tip from Dean Kjerland on this new art installation at Northfield City Hall. The center panel reads:

Art at City Hall 2009
…inspiration; sufficiently enabled

art glass panels: American Opal Glass
commissioned by: Norman Butler
project chair: Dixon Bond
design: Dean Kjerland
special thanks: Joel Walinski

‘Twould be cool if there was more information about this (and other RAQ news) on the dormant Riverwalk Arts Quarter (RAQ) website.

Mayor charged following Goodhue investigation

Lansing introduced his friend, mortgage broker Paul Norby, to Roder, who in February 2006 helped the new city administrator finance his Northfield home. Roder allegedly received two separate loans that year —totaling more than $30,000 — in conjunction with his mortgage and subsequent refinancings from acquaintances of Norby’s.

Following the money in the case

AL RODER

• $10,000 approved as moving expenses from the city

• $10,000 later added by council as additional moving expenses

• $20,000 check made out to First National Bank by the city and wired to Roder for moving expenses

• Paul Norby helped him get a mortgage

• Lee Lansing said $25,000 was “dumped” into Roder’s account so that he would qualify for his mortgage

• Paul Norby gave Roder a loan of $25,000 principal toward closing on his home in February 2006. The check was provided by Ardeth Livermore, an acquaintance of Norby’s. Closing requirements on Roder’s house were $33,840.44.

• $25,000, with interest, was deposited in a Wells Fargo account in Roder’s name by Gary and Mary Purdon (sic).

• Lee Lansing said he (as mayor) and Norby wrote to Washington Mutual, Roder’s mortgage company, and said Roder got $20,000 for signing on and $15,000 for moving expenses, which was untrue.

• At the closing for his house, Roder provided a cashier’s check from Wells Fargo for $32,000. Of that, $25,000 was from the check provided by Ardeth Livermore.

• Roder says he repaid the principal, interest and fees on the $25,000 loan. Norby claims to have paid a fee of $1,250.

• In June 2006, Roder gets a $69,000 loan and pays back Livermore, Norby, and a second mortgage from Washington Mutual.

• Roder refinanced his mortgage through Paul Norby in June and October 2006

• Jack Maruska, a contract worker of Norby’s, loans Roder $5,862 for his June 2006 refinance.

… encouraging EVERY kid in Northfield to come down to central park at 2 o’clock tomorrow in order to raise money for ASM4P and that there will be a grill out, tie-dying, a dunk tank, henna tattoos, bracelets, break dancing, music, a rally march, and then a concert at The Key at 5 o’clock. All the money we raise goes directly to Gunnar. News and media will be there and we want 1000 kids to show up so invite/kidnap all of your friends and bring them with!

• There is a Facebook group called Northfield Youth: War Kid’s Relief – A Soldier’s March 4 Peace.
• I blogged about ASM4P a week or so ago.
• Gunnar has blogged about the kick-off.  He means business.

Left: Yesterday afternoon NHS Executive Director and blogger Hayes Scriven messaged me a photo of the new ‘no biking’ stencils painted on sidewalks all over downtown this week.

Center: Queen of the Triumvirate Tracy Davis tweeted the photo of the stencil on the sidewalk in front of Rare Pair.

Right: I was riding my bike around downtown this morning taking photos for a blog post about all this when I got busted for, um, riding my bike on the sidewalk. Unlike last month’s citation, I didn’t swear.  See Ross, I’m learning.

Severe storms with strong/violent straight-line winds are raging across southern Minnesota. This first batch of severe storms will probably pass off just south of the Twin Cities, affecting the far southern suburbs like Faribault, Waseca and even Northfield.

Dundas Mayor Glenn Switzer sent me this photo of last week’s Dundas Historical Society planning meeting where the musical line-up was being finalized for this weekend’s Celebrate Dundas community celebration. (See the PDF poster.)

Who’s performing?

Glenn says (the links are mine):

The Ditchlilies, Peter Lang, Aaron Anderson’s T.V &. yell-r-d bellers (Rice County All-Stars), Will Healy (KYMN – live show!!), and The Zillionaires – how cool is that…

    
In addition to the Contented Cow, the Tavern Lounge, J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘n’ Stein, and The HideAway Coffeehouse & Winebar are all hosting performances this year. See the JuneBug 2009 schedule for details.

JuneBug is making the most of social media this year. See the JuneBug blog, subscribe to JuneBug RSS feed, follow JuneBug on Twitter, and join the JuneBug Facebook group.

Throughout the four days of JuneBug ‘09, Twitter will be used to announce upcoming acts and their venues, 30 minutes prior to each performance. So follow JuneBug on Twitter.

See Jessica’s Paxton’s blog post on Northfield.org for more JuneBug details.

No, JuneBug is not an advertiser on Locally Grown. However, all but one of the JuneBug venues is a client of mine.

The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page.  Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week.

Note: City Council special meeting and work session tonight. Agenda items include recommendations from the Safety Center Task Force and a joint meeting with the EDA regarding the Master Plan for Business Park(s).

You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.