►
From YouTube: Bloomington Today: August 10, 2011
Description
On this week's episode of Bloomington Today, we'll answer the question: What's up with the brown grass outside Civic Plaza? We'll also talk with City Senior Civil Engineer Schane Rudland about an upcoming improvement project to a main roadway within the South Loop District.
A
Welcome
to
bloomington
today,
I'm
kailyn
real
thanks
for
joining
us.
Anyone
who
travels
around
the
nicollet
avenue
in
I
494
area
will
need
to
adjust
their
travel
routes
as
of
August.
First,
the
Minnesota
Department
of
Transportation
has
closed
the
nicollet
avenue
bridge
spanning
I
494
until
late-september.
The
closure
will
allow
for
bridge
rehabilitation,
work
which
includes
resurfacing
and
curb
gutter
and
sidewalk
replacement.
A
marked
detour
will
be
provided
using
lyndale
avenue,
west
77th
street
portland
avenue
and
american
boulevard.
A
The
work
is
expected
to
prolong
the
life
of
the
bridge
while
improving
safety
and
usability
for
motorists
and
pedestrians
alike.
This
city
would
like
anyone
who
lives
in
works
or
visits
bloomington
to
know
before
you
go,
become
a
fan
or
follower
of
the
city's
Facebook
and
Twitter
pages,
or
sign
up
for
a
subscribe
to
receive
email
alerts.
Road
closures
are
frequently
posted
among
other
City
news
and
events.
A
A
If
you've,
driven
by
City
Hall
lately,
you've
probably
noticed
several
areas
of
brown
grass
outside
Civic
Plaza
and
the
Public
Works
building
today
will
let
residents
in
on
why
the
grass
looks
this
way
and
fYI.
It's
not
a
lack
of
watering.
Take
a
look.
These
large
areas
of
crisp
brown
grass
don't
look
very
good
to
the
eye
right
now,
but
city
maintenance
crews
had
an
environmentally
and
financially
friendly
plan
in
mind
when
they
stopped
maintaining
the
grass,
let
it
dry
out
and
ultimately
die
off
well.
C
A
Grass
is
eliminated
in
the
areas
where
naturalization
will
occur,
so
the
new
vegetation
won't
have
to
compete
with
Assad.
Crews
are
now
mowing
the
brown
grass,
as
short
as
they
can
in
order
to
till
the
existing
sod.
Once
all
the
brown
areas
are
mowed.
The
next
step
of
the
naturalization
project
is
seeding.
The
soil,
which
has
been
disturbed
from
the
close
mowing,
will
hopefully
take
to
the
seed
much
easier.
Not
only
will
the
beautiful
grassland
provide
a
treat
for
the
eyes,
it'll
save
money,
our.
C
A
A
Today,
where
we'll
take
a
look
at
crews
working
on
the
final
phase
of
the
naturalization
project,
here
at
Civic,
Plaza
we've
been
covering
news
of
rich
fields:
south
education
center
alternatives,
collaboration
with
bloomington
public
health
nurses
and
their
national
first-place
win
for
the
healthy
school
lunch
alternative,
porcupine
sliders
one
requirement
to
enter
first
lady
Michelle
Obama's
recipes
for
healthy
kids
challenge
was
to
have
a
chef
assist
in
the
process.
Now,
let's
meet
the
chef
who
helped
make
that
all
happen.
A
D
A
D
Their
core
they
had
a
they
had
one
idea
right,
and
that
is
whatever
it
is.
We
came
up
with
had
to
appeal
to
students
and
kids,
and
so
the
recipe
that
we
settled
on
evolved
out
of
porcupine
meatballs,
which
I
had
never
heard
of,
but
a
lot
of
people
I
know
grow
up
eating
meatballs
with
rice
in
them
and
they
call
them
porcupine,
either
with
tomato
sauce
or
a
cream
sauce
and
and
again
the
idea
of
taking
those
and
putting
them
in
a
package
that
kids
would
be
likely
to
eat.
D
A
D
A
D
Got
a
lot
of
a
very
positive
attention,
and
this
time
this
day
and
age,
there's
a
lot
of
things
going
on
that
are
less
positive,
and
this
is
where
was
really
kind
of
a
feel-good
sort
of
cinderella
story
I
mean
the
South
Education
Center
is
not
a
big
school,
it
doesn't
have
some
giant
powerhouse
culinary
program
like
some
of
the
larger
city.
Schools
do,
and
so
it
was
really
a
chance
for
some
students
who
may
not
have
ever
thought
this
could
happen
to
them
happen.
D
A
Bolton
says
that
turkey
porcupine
sliders,
will
remain
a
permanent
menu
item
at
both
of
the
good
earth
locations
in
Edina
and
Roseville.
The
group
was
lucky
enough
to
meet
the
White
House
chef
Sam
Kass,
while
in
Dallas
they're
still
waiting
to
hear
if
they'll
get
a
trip
to
the
White
House
to
meet
first
lady
Michelle
Obama.
Now
there
are
two
reasons
to
visit
the
Bloomington
farmers
market.
It's
a
great
resource
to
find
locally
grown,
fresh
fruits
and
veggies,
but
soon
you'll
have
a
chance
to
learn
more
about
a
major
Bloomington
improvement
project.
A
A
E
A
City
staff
will
be
available
to
answer
questions
and
take
comments
during
the
open
house.
If
you're
interested
in
learning
more
log
on
to
the
city's
website
keyword
search
self
loop,
it's
there,
you
can
find
more
information
on
the
overall
vision
of
the
south
loop
district
sustainability,
details
and
photos.
It's
now
time
for
a
short
break.
When
we
return
we'll
be
joined
by
senior
civil
engineer,
Shane
rhuddlan,
who
has
big
news
about
the
South
food
district,
don't
go
away.
F
G
A
Welcome
back
everyone
we're
now
joined
by
senior
civil
engineer,
Shane
rhuddlan
welcome,
Shane
glad
to
have
you
on
the
show
today.
Thank
you.
It's
nice
to
be
here
well,
a
major
improvement
project
on
Linda
Lane
in
East.
Bloomington
is
moving
forward
for
those
of
those
people
who
don't
know
where
can
Linda
Lane
be
found
lanell.
B
B
Are
a
number
of
changes
that
we've
been
planning
for
while
doing
the
south
loop
district
plan
and
for
those
of
you
who
may
not
know
south
loop
is
the
rebranded
name
of
the
area?
That's
around
the
mall
of
america,
but
the
lyndale
corridor
projects
will
improve
lindau
lane
in
its
existing
portions
and
extend
it
to
the
east
in
areas
that
it
doesn't
currently
exist.
So
there's
an
alignment
that
we
will
extend,
lend
a
lane
to
the
east
with
in
south
loop.
Ok,.
A
B
The
reason
to
change
the
road-
the
reasons
are
many.
First
of
all
that
far
west
early
portion
of
linda
lane
is
the
city's
highest
accident
intersection,
and
so
we
will
improve
that
intersection.
Many
people
may
know
that
you're
not
able
to
take
a
right
turn
into
the
Nordstrom's
entrance
at
the
mall
America,
if
you're
coming
from
trunk
highway,
77
and
through
willful
violations
of
that
turn
restriction,
there's
a
number
of
accidents
that
occur
there.
B
B
A
short-term
basis,
the
job
or
excuse
me,
the
project
will
create
a
number
of
construction
jobs.
Hundreds
and
it'll
be
spread
out
over
years,
and
it
depends
on
how
you
want
to
measure
a
job,
of
course,
but
there'll
be
hundreds
of
construction
jobs
created
and
that
will
leverage
a
lot
of
private
development
to
occur
in
the
district
too.
So
there
you're
talking
about
more
construction
jobs
and
then
permanent
jobs.
On
top
of
that,
absolutely.
A
A
B
Our
timeline
right
now
is
we're
currently
working
with
the
state
to
understand
the
process
to
use
state
bonding
money,
which
is
one
of
the
funding
sources,
and
that
as
soon
as
we
exchange
information
with
the
state
will
know
better
exactly
what
our
time
timeline
will
be.
But
in
our
intention
is
to
start
some
construction
in
late
2011
and
be
building
these
projects
through
2012,
13
and
cleaning
them
up
in
14.
There's
49
million
dollars
worth
of
work
here,
and
so
that's
a
lot
of
lots.
A
lot
of
projects
or
project
to
design
and
build
absolutely.
B
The
city
had
identified
about
two-thirds
of
the
funding
before
applying
for
a
tiger
grant
federal
grant
in
2010,
which
we
were
unsuccessful
in
getting,
which
is
not
surprising,
because
there
was
a
lot
of
competition
for
that
for
that
money.
We
did
go
to
the
the
legislature
this
year
and
asked
for
that
same
amount
of
money,
14
or
excuse
me,
15
and
a
half
million
dollars
in
funding
from
state
bonding
and
we're
successful
as
part
of
the
government
shutdown
compromise
in
getting
that
funding
from
the
state.
B
A
B
Certainly
the
mall
America
is
is
a
is
a
primary
beneficiary
here,
I'm,
the
the
biggest
sub-project
of
the
lyndale
corridor
projects
is
directly
related
to
the
mall
America
expansion.
But
beyond
that
bloomington
central
station,
our
marquee
development
out
east
of
the
mall
centered
around
the
light
rail
station
I'm
stands
to
benefit
also
because
some
of
their
infrastructure
gets
built
and
then
between
those
two,
the
city
has
purchased
two
parcels.
There's
five
buildings
that
exist
today
and
we
will
be
repackaging
those
and
remarketing
those
for
sale
to
private
developments
through
a
competitive
process.
B
A
B
South
loop
is
the
area:
that's
east
of
trunk,
highway
77
in
Bloomington.
It
has
the
mall
American
it
for
four
geographical
reference,
but
currently
it
has
a
number
of
large
suburban
scale
blocks
that
are,
and
that
are
kind
of
out
of
size,
for
an
urban
place
and
somewhat
because
of
the
Mall
of
America
is
so
massive.
It
kind
of
puts
things
out
of
scale
out
there.
B
A
Yeah,
we're
excited
to
see
the
the
changes
that
that
occur
with
that.
Well
we'd
like
to
thank
senior
civil
engineer,
Shane
run
for
being
with
us
today.
If
you'd,
like
any
information
on
this
project
or
South,
Loop
district
log
on
to
the
city's
website,
keyword,
search
window
lane
or
south
loop,
and
you
can
find
all
of
that
right
there.
It's
now
time
for
a
short
break,
we'll
be
right
back.
G
30
minutes
a
day
of
physical
activity
can
improve
your
health
and
decrease
your
risk
of
heart
disease.
So
start
walking
for
yourself
start
walking
with
your
family
start
walking
with
your
friends
start
a
movement
in
your
community
start
walking
start
something
to
join
the
movement
log
on
to
start
walking
now
org
and
help
start
something.
Now.
H
Travel
advisories
to
small
business
loans,
student
loans
to
taxes
online,
whether
you
have
information
to
get
or
ideas
to
give
us
a
gov.
Is
the
official
place
to
connect
with
your
government
from
surplus
car
auctions
to
finding
a
new
job?
Our
new
mobile
apps
will
keep
you
updated
on
the
go
so
check
out
usa.gov
because
the
country
runs
better.
When
we
stay
connected,
you.
A
Welcome
back
to
bloomington
today,
one
non-native
pest
is
making
its
way
around
the
metropolitan
area,
including
the
city
of
Bloomington,
and
the
number
of
insects
are
growing
from
years
past.
This
is
a
Japanese
beetle.
These
dime
size,
metallic
green
insects
can
be
seen
feeding
on
ornamental
shrubbery
and
trees,
linden
trees
and
rose
bushes,
which
are
some
of
their
favorite
foods.
The
city
of
Bloomington
maintenance
team
is
receiving
a
number
of
inquiries
about
the
insect
and
they're
directing
residents
to
one
University
of
Minnesota
website.
That
is
offering
aid
to
help
residents
ward
off
these
hungry
pests.
A
To
find
this
helpful
site
log
on
to
the
city's
website,
keyword
search
beetle,
a
link
on
the
page
will
then
direct
you
to
information
about
beetle
identification,
the
lifecycle,
pesticide
application
and
more.
If
beetle,
numbers
are
low,
the?
U
of
m
site,
directs
people
to
simply
remove
the
beatles
by
hand
and
dispose
of
them.
The
presence
of
beetles
on
a
plant
actually
attracts
more
beetles.
The
site
also
lists
several
insecticides
that
can
be
used
to
keep
your
plant
and
trees.
Japanese
beetle
free
calling
all
Bloomington
veterans,
Human
Services,
is
seeking
photos
for
its
2011
veterans.
A
Photo
wall,
bring
a
photo
of
yourself
or
a
loved
one,
along
with
the
individuals
name
rank
and
years
of
service
to
civic,
plaza
or
Creekside
community
center
for
submission
to
the
collection.
This
year's
photo
wall
will
be
displayed
at
creekside
and
civic
plaza
during
the
entire
month
of
November.
The
photo
wall
began
in
2003
and
has
grown
every
year
since
highlighting
men
and
women
from
all
service
branches
going
as
far
back
as
World
War
1
a
veterans
appreciation.
Lunch
will
also
be
held
in
November.
A
We'll
have
more
details
on
that
right
here
on
Bloomington
today,
as
that
event
gets
closer,
exciting
news
for
residents
who
use
the
city's
many
biking,
hiking
and
pedestrian
trails.
One
major
trail
restoration
project
is
now
complete.
Bush
lake
trail
is
ready
for
action.
Now
that
major
changes
are
finished,
the
wood
chip
paths
on
the
southeast
side
of
the
lake
have
been
paved,
trees
were
realigned
and
the
old
trail
surface
was
completely
replaced.
Heavy
rain
and
some
exceedingly
hot
temperatures
cause
some
conflict
for
crews,
but
civil
engineer,
Julie
long.
A
A
Well,
that's
all
the
time
we
have
for
today
to
get
more
information
on
city
projects,
parks,
road
construction
and
events
visit.
The
city's
website
to
check
out
past
bloomington
today
shows
or
other
city
productions
visit,
bloomington's
youtube
channel
accessible
right
from
the
city's
homepage
that
so
much
more
is
online
right
now
at
wwc,
I,
bloomington,
MN
us
if
Facebook
or
Twitter,
isn't
your
thing
sign
up
for
a
subscribe
to
have
updates,
sent
right
to
your
email
or
cell
phone.