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Topic: Taking a look around (Read 2196 times)
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Mike Laven
Newbie
Posts: 2
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Hello to Everyone in Fort Collins,
I'm Mike Laven, President of the Mankato City Council.
I along with (to date) 64 others will be visiting FC on October 8 - 10. This is part of a www.iclvisit.org
Mankato is nearing completion of a 20 year vision process and we will be using the Key Performance Areas as guides to look at what has worked in FC and what has been a challenge to date.
For the record Fort Collins was chosen as the city to visit several months before your national ranking so don't worry about us staying for ever 
So with out taking too much more of your time. Although this is the Net, time never stops. Please follow the links to get a better idea of who we are and why we are stopping by for a visit and let me know what you think.
Mike Laven
www.city.mankato.mn.us
www.envision-2020.com
www.mankatofreepress.com
(Click on the forum section)
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nisperos
Newbie
Posts: 45
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OK Mike, thanks for the greetings to our town...
and the nice compliments extended in choosing Fort Collins...
I'm just someone who likes to post and not particularly connected with any vested interests. I don't know too much about your town except what I can quickly find on the net, but since you asked for feedback...
I checked out the iclv site you linked and was impressed that your choice last year was Bellingham, WA. Very cool town! I never lived there, but visited lots when we lived in WA state. As you may know, AARP named Bellingham, WA the # 2 place for baby boomers to retire the same year they named Fort Collins the #1 place.
So, lesson #1: Check out our Senior Center. But, if you've ever checked out AARP -- you know it's not your parent's or grandparent's organization or mag anymore. And, of course, you've seen the financial services spot on CNN about the generation that won't define retirement as (visual here) shuffleboard anymore? So yes, check out all our facilities. Edora Pool on the other side of town has a walk-down ramp into the indoor swimming pool and its separate heated warm therapy pool is also sweet -- and, that same facility also has an indoor ice skating rink. Even retirees want options.
Mankato is naturally situated to draw from St. Paul, La Cross, Sioux Falls, and Sioux City as a retirement community, so make the most of it. I probably don't have to tell you about cultural, entertainment, and educational opportunities in our town if you've been doing your research, but your town has some of those opportunities too, so capitalize on them. Since this is a paragraph about a town being a good place to retire, if you agree that would be important to emphasize in your town, look at your housing stock and when you are here, look at our downtown condos, our patio homes scattered around the city, retirement communities where people can buy a home like sunflower, and our stock of mid-century ranches. Again, it's about options -- and I wish we had the hot springs around our area which you do -- I'd emphasize those and try and get a world-class spa facility.
How are the roads getting to Mankato? Both Bellingham and Fort Collins are accessible by interstate and we are very quick access to DIA here. I see you got to fly through Vancouver, BC rather than Sea-Tac on your visit to Bellingham. Do you get many Canadians from Manitoba or Ontario flying into St. Paul? Could Mankato become a recreation destination for Canadians? Does the State University there, in addition to regular summer school classes, have summer seminars for adult learners?
Business orientation, Mike. You forgot to post this well developed informative link when telling us about your town: http://www.greatermankato.com/ecdev/index.php
I was impressed with the site. We have some good things going here, but maybe your economic development folks could share some wisdom with ours.
Your schools look great! We have some great schools too -- check them out and compare -- including special programs at different levels, IB schools, science programs, music programs, bilingual (Spanish/English) program, Japanese classes, charter schools, and a special education program which starts with an inclusion and neighborhood school orientation. BTW, we are building an Inspiration Park: http://inspirationplayground.com/location.asp
I like the pics of your Old Town area. Of course, you'll have to visit ours and compare.
Religious and racial diversity and tolerance -- something to explore.
You'll want to look at our City of Fort Collins web site as it's very impressive and informative -- you could easily spend a couple of hours perusing -- especially if you linger too long at the library site: http://www.ci.fort-collins.co.us/
Consider changing your logo and getting a non-twin identity. Don't you think you are more than a small St. Paul? We are trying to figure out here how to brand our town and, also, how to further develop the area around the Poudre river where it goes near our old town area. What are you people doing along your Minnesota river front? Perhaps we could share ideas and challenges with each other?
BTW, our whole region is fabulous! We welcome those who can to bring along their families and combine pleasure with business on a longer stay. Welcome to our town -- and bring your good ideas to share with our leaders here too.
Cordially,
Nisperos
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« Last Edit: August 12, 2006, 05:48:56 PM by nisperos »
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Mike Laven
Newbie
Posts: 2
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Thank you nisperos,
First, if you read anything about natural springs and submarine races, that site is a hoax. A Minnesota State University Prof. put it together to show folks how easy it is to find false truths about something on the Net. The Chamber is willing to buy the site to remove it from search engines but the prof. isn't willing to sell.
Thank you for the Senior Center info. We are about to embark on a new building or reuse of a building for our SC. Of course with all costs funded by someone else. As if funding is only a Mankato issue.
I did forget the GMED link. Thanks for catching that.
You asked, "Does the State University there, in addition to regular summer school classes, have summer seminars for adult learners?"
Yes, year round programs are available to everyone, seniors and non traditional . The university is the second largest employer behind the Hospital so the impact is very much the same as Fort Collins, another reason to look at your city.
The city of Fort Collins website is great, I have been digging into it for months. We went through a multi-million dollar budget short fall in 2003. I understand the process you see unfolding. We were able to blend or minimize the impact by:
spend reserves (1/2 of solution) program cuts (1/5) , early retirements (1/5), fee inceases 1/5), and tax increases (1/5) (poperty taxes are our main source of tax collection, less volitale then sales tax).
We were able to fill staff positions by 2005, replenish cash reserves, maintain fess levels without further increase and reduced most property tax levels in 2004.
Our bond rating improved in 2004 becasue of how we handled this budget shortfall and again in 2005 because we were able to replenish reserves and staff positions. I'm very proud of that, as you can tell.
you also said,
Consider changing your logo and getting a non-twin identity. Don't you think you are more than a small St. Paul? We are trying to figure out here how to brand our town and, also, how to further develop the area around the Poudre river where it goes near our old town area. What are you people doing along your Minnesota river front? Perhaps we could share ideas and challenges with each other?
We did brand our communities "Greater Mankato" but The preception is that North Mankato is lost in the process, you see it in the chamber and economic development corp names, but it isn't embraced by all, hence the Mankato-North Mankato Envision 2020.
The river flooded the town three times between 1950 and 1960 and we have a large concrete flood wall that spereates us from the water. In 1993 and 1997, the water was within 12 inches of the top of the wall so it won't becoming down anytine soon. That all said, Mankato is developing a riverside park on the edge of town in a former industrial area, with trail connections, boat access and an amphitheatre planned. North Mankato is expanding its trail lines along the floodwall and contections via bridges to the other side.
I will be focusing on Transportation issues. One of the Key Performance Areas of the Envision 2020 process. All of us have been part of one or more of the KPA's so we will be maximizing our time in Fort Collins. Granted they are all tied together and I'm trying to get as much background information about FC in general so I have an idea about all the areas of study like reading the paper online and hanging out here.
Again, thank you for the welcome, looking forward the visit.
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nisperos
Newbie
Posts: 45
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Well that was fun...
Dang, I'm disappointed to learn that there are no hot springs near Mankato -- I got taken in because I never clicked on a link (just saw what Google gives you on a basic search). When you do click on the link, the spoofs are pretty obvious and amusing Well at least you have Minneopa Falls nearby -- with one cool ADA accessible cabin  Does the U have volunteer programs for archaeological digs?
Something else our towns seem to have in common is a history of flooding. Our last big one was in 1997 -- and that was a creek which flooded, but it was major. (And I see you have the Blue Earth and Le Sueur rivers there too). Here's a good library link on historical Fort Collins floods--and not just the most recent 1997 flood. Even parts of our university, have been flooded multiple times in different flood years.:
http://fcgov.com/oem/historical-flooding.php#1997
You'll want to scroll down and really look at the 1997 data. The flood discharge estimates around town were compiled by volunteers from local engineering consulting firms and local federal agencies using field forms, disposable cameras, flagging, and paint to mark the high water marks throughout the city. The unique thing about this effort was not only the amount of the data, but also the incredible quality of the data. This is probably the best documented urban flash flood in history according to info on the library site...
(If you've read about the Big Thompson Flood, that was in the canyon leading from Loveland up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.)
I actually didn't say too much about our senior center -- it's great but already needs expansion. I really told you more about Edora... but here's the best way to check out parks facilities... and it's sort of impressive what the city has done -- the Senior Center is on the West side of town, Edora is on the East side. Our two largest parks each with a lake are City Park on the North side and Fossil Creek on the South side... but we have parks and trails all through the city.
Good link here for parks in general:
http://www.ci.fort-collins.co.us/parks/trails.php
FC Senior Center: http://fcgov.com/recreation/senior-center.php
And, since you are looking at Senior Centers, you might also want to look at nearby Loveland which also has an excellent Senior Center: http://www.ci.loveland.co.us/parksrec/seniorcenter.htm
Also, take a look at our county parks:
http://www.larimer.org/parks/
And, the City of Loveland Parks and Rec:
http://www.ci.loveland.co.us/parksrec/PRmain.htm
But, another model is to mostly have space and programming at a Senior Center and then to use other facilities for additional programming like aquatics which is what the city of Bremerton Washington has done:
http://www.ci.bremerton.wa.us/display.php?id=636
Bremerton's aquatic center for example, is co-located with a family YMCA and an ice arena:
http://www.ci.bremerton.wa.us/display.php?id=637&bremcity=75af268edfc8d09b41e1bbb18cab1ae2
Thank you for sharing info on how your city dealt with a budget shortfall. There must be someone reading this who can better talk to these issues than I. Dang, every place we've lived seems to go through this -- and if it's not the city, it's the county, or the school district or the state itself 
I really like the name of your county; Blue Earth. Oh yeah, it's better than the meaning of the alternative spelling of the town, but is it true that your towns are actually in 3 counties (Blue Earth, Nicollet and Le Suer)?
Do you capitalize enough on your Native American heritage and reconciliation with nations/tribes? We could do more here in Fort Collins too. Our Larimer County Fairgrounds is host to a Spring All Nations Powwow.
The link for the Northern Colorado Intertribal Pow-wow Association is here: http://www.fortnet.org/PowWow/
Regional Transportation has been a big headache here, to say the least. Here's our RTD: North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO) (Their site includes links to coverage of issues in regional newspapers): http://www.nfrmpo.org/
And, from my file of places I've lived, here's an RTD which really has its act together (in a county which has 5 school districts; used to have 3 area codes, now 2; has to deal with routed buses, vans, commuter vehicles, ferries, and has won awards in the number of grants received and services provided by their Dial-a-Ride services): http://www.kitsaptransit.org/
P.S. When is Craig's List going to give Mankato its own site? Your town's people post enough on the Minneapolis and Rochester sites. (Fort Collins has their own site.)
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« Last Edit: August 13, 2006, 09:38:41 PM by nisperos »
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