Sierra Club letter to Park Board (7/15/05)
The members of the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the Sierra Club's North Star Chapter have agreed to join neighborhood and civic groups in questioning the DeLaSalle Nicollet Island Plan for a new athletic stadium. ...
The land was paid for by taxpayers and carries a covenant ppermitting only passive recreational use, not for construction of buildings such as stadiums.
Several neighborhoods along the river have protested the building. Considering the amount of condominium construction on the Minneapolis riverfront and the lack of accompanying open space to accomodate the growth, we believe even this small parcel is important to maintain as open space, as a visual break and bucolic counterpart to the surrounding urbanization.
The public owns the land but DeLaSalle would have control over access to it if a stadium is built. This strikes our committee as a bad precedent ...
(excerpts from July 15, 2005 letter addressed to members of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.)
