Bob Nowicki's blog

POLICE CHIEF UPDATE ON TWO RECENT SHOOTINGS: Chief Roger Peterson gave the city council a brief update on the two recent shootings in town. Summary is that significant progress has been made on both and, though we are not able to discuss details for fear of compromising the investigations, you should expect to see results shortly. Keep tuned. For those who expressed concern about the shooting in Watson Field due to the close proximity to the condos and apartments well, for what it's worth this area was not a "turf" war nor is it a known gang hangout but was selected as a neutral area to have a scheduled fight. Go figure. Lots of room? Nice grass? Somewhat isolated? ???? Anyway, one of the gangs brought guns and apparently the other didn't so it was a one-sided affair to start with. No one said any of these guys are smart. The second shooting was not related to the first but does appear to have some gang tie in and the cops are on the trail. We have been assured that arrests are imminent and we will prosecute to the full extent of the law ... and we have done so in the past. The mayor is working with several community leaders to see what we might do to address the problem as well.

LITTERBIT BETTER: Well, the Litterbit Better Cleanup campaign has certainly cleaned up a good chunk of the 5th Ward thanks to many dedicated volunteers. I hope that we will all do our bit to keep it clean.

RNeighborWoods Tree Planting: I'm getting ready to plant some trees on Elton Hills Drive tomorrow, Saturday. Doing it as a board member of RNeighbors, one of the initiators of RNeighborwoods, one of the first certified Citizen Foresters, council member interested in making the city more tree friendly and beautiful, and all around sucker for a good cause.

Perhaps in your travels along Elton Hills Dr.in the last couple of days you noticed the holes dug in the parkways with trees sitting waiting to be planted. These 100 trees are to replace the trees removed due to interference with the power lines and trimming causing structural decay over the years. We're going to start planting at 9:30 on Elton Hills Dr. with a rally at the Rochester Lutheran School and wrap up at the same place with a picnic for all the volunteers. Kids and adults are welcome. Bring gloves, a spade if you have one or just come over to supervise.

The most frequent concern I hear from you has to do with drivers speeding in your neighborhood. This is extremely important to you and me because it affects our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones. It's also one of the most frustrating problems I (and the rest of the council) face.

SOoooo what can we do? A couple of years ago I announced a program which would be a collaboration between you and the police -- Traffic Tamers. The idea is that you and a couple of friends get to use a police radar gun to measure speed, log the time, speed, location, and vehicle tag number and turn all this in to Crime Prevention. They would then send a nicely worded letter (depends on your point of view) to the offender "warning " them that they have been observed driving at such and such speed in your neighborhood etc.

A FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY TO HELP OUR COMMUNITY

Imagine 2,378 three foot by five foot flags in the field behind the Veteran’s Memorial.

What a sight! … and for three very excellent reasons;

• the recognition of the sacrifice that 2,378 men and women made for us to protect the American Dream, our high quality of life,
Read the rest of this entry...

Ten years ago we lost two grandchildren to Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning – a loss that changed our family forever, made even more tragic because of the ease in which this tragedy could have been prevented. A simple CO detection device costing around $40 would have prevented this loss.

The governor just signed into effect a Carbon Monoxide Alarm mandate bill (HF1337 and SF1003) that would require CO detectors in newly constructed single family and multifamily dwelling units effective January 1,2007 and August 1,2008 for all existing single family and multifamily dwelling units.

Don’t wait until then to have them installed in your home. Do it TODAY!

One of the most frequently asked questions asked especially around tax time is,"Just what are you doing to keep our taxes down?" Asked or not, this is a very valid expectation that we should all have regarding our city’s operation.

Sometimes this is difficult for me to answer because on a day-to-day basis I think everything we (the city) does should be on a needs-only, efficient, and timely manner and to single out any particular functions among the many functions that our departments do boggles the mind.

Here is some good news. You should be hearing and reading about an energy cost savings project we’d initiated last year with Johnson Controls. At our May 8th COW (Committee of the Whole) meeting Johnson Controls outlined the results of their 6 month study and made recommendations that we will discuss and most likely approve at our next council meeting on May 15.

A newly formed Vital Aging Commission has been established in response to recommendations made at the November 2005 Senior Summit. The Olmsted County Board of Commissioners is accepting applications now until May 5, 2006.

Appointed members of the commission will:
• Advise the County Commissioners on issues affecting elders and their families.
• Advocate for the interests and needs of our aging population
• Serve a 2 year term beginning in June 2006
• Attend monthly meetings

You can contact me (285-0295 or bobnow@charter.net) for an application or submit one on-line at www.olmstedcounty.com

One of the most frequent complaints I receive has to do with traffic -- ignoring stop signs, stop lights, and most irritating and frustrating -- speeding and reckless driving in residential neighborhoods. It's especially troubling where there are wide streets, gentle curves, and downhill grading --- like so many streets in the newer sections of the city.

I'm very pleased to be able to announce that we are considering the adoption of a Neighborhood Traffic Program Handbook for the City. This handbook would describe the process and guidelines we will follow in responding to your concerns about traffic in your neighborhoods . It will address how the city will prioritize requests for assistance that involve construction of physical improvement such as speed tables, traffic circles, raised medians, and other potential solutions.

Monday, March 6th's COW (Committee of the Whole) would be a very interesting one to attend. It will start at 3:30 pm in Concerence Room 104 at the Government Center.

A presentation to the council will be made by Front Row MArketing Services, a sports and entertainment marketing company specializing in contracting revenue for sports facilities and otehr sports properties. They plan to present their analysis on the naming rights for MCC and discuss the revenue generation of these kinds of contracts in general.

We're a long way from seriously considering renaming MCC but do need to look at all options to add to our revenue income other than taxes. (Yes, we know that cutting spending in the first place would be a good idea.)

Good question. I ask my constituents this every chance I get. It’s important to know what they want and expect.

The PB has published numerous articles on the value of sports to the local area economy. “Ice time is nice time” , “Plenty of company coming to Rochester in ’06, ’07” on Nov. 28th; “Sports bring dollars” around the same time. “Athletes bring big bucks to the city.” on January 24th and even an editorial comment "Consider your tax dollars as an investment in the community".

The articles talk about the value to the local economy and especially to the hospitality business, our third largest employer. This IS important but is it our taxpayer’s responsibility to see that this industry or our local economy thrives at their expense? That’s the real question.