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[PLEASE NOTE: This is a truncated program simulcast on television live from St. Paul Neighborhood Network where our audio connection was unreliable a fair share of the time. Please bear with us.]
After a half-dozen years or more of public scrutiny and controversy over community demands for constituent services along the light rail corridor soon to break asphalt in St. Paul and Minneapolis, many of those communities' continue to voice frustrations with decision-makers treating transit-dependent populations as second in line for the resources necessary to make the revamping of this umbilical cord between the two downtowns actually serve them. Coalitions of groups have seen themselves marginalized in a billion-dollar process that promises much but guarantees far less as the state and Metropolitan Council vie for federal transit funds, argue over local and state matches required for completion and, especially the important issues of sufficient station stops, business loss mitigation along University Avenue during construction, and the loss of parking to accommodate small retailers, among other.
TTT's ANDY DRISCOLL and LYNNELL MICKELSEN talk with several community leaders deeply engaged in advisory committees and other efforts trying to affect ivory tower decisions that separate political leaders from neighborhood representatives. GUESTS: • ANNE WHITE - Chair, District Councils Collaborative of St. Paul & Minneapolis (DCC); member, Central Corridor Advisory Committee (CCAC); • VERONICA BURT - Community Organizer, Aurora-St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corp; • VIC ROSENTHAL - Executive Director, Jewish Community Action; member, Campaign to Add Transit Stops Along Central Corridor; • LARRY PETERSON - Attorney; Executive Committee, University Avenue Business Assn • MILFORD JOHNSON - Community Stabilization Project (CSP), St. Paul
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