Rotary International is celebrating the 100th anniversary of it's Foundation this year. Our district's Foundation celebration will be on November 12th at the Double Tree Hilton in downtown St. Paul. Information on this event was sent to all members via email. Please consider representing our Arden Hills/Shoreview club and join in this celebration! Meanwhile, closer to home, our excellent weekly programs continue to inspire, we now have all three host families lined up for our exchange student Jiui Youn, it looks like we have two new members thanks to John Suzukida, and planning continues for our new fundraising event planned for next August 18th. Our busy Rotary year is well underway!
November is not a busy month for our club. Our fundraising committee continues to meet and we are making progress. Bill Klumpp and I visited the site to map things out. Remember to wear your Rotary pin and be ready to say something about Rotary when you are asked about the pin.
Whew! All the time slots for Salvation Army bell ringing have been claimed. I was a bit worried for a while, but Sandra Bahr volunteered her husband, Alan, and Ginny Lautgeb claimed two slots for herself, so the “dance card” is now full. I’ve always found bell ringing to be quite satisfying; it’s very encouraging to see the number of youngsters contributing on their own, and children getting into the tradition by helping their parents fill the kettle. Last year, we lucked out with unseasonably warm weather – one wonders if we’ll get back to our usual bitter cold, or if global warming will give us another break.
The Club welcomed visiting Rotarian Brian Bessler from the Apple Valley Club and prospective club members Bob Freed and Miriam Zachary. The guest speaker was Tami Moberg.
Tami Moberg indicated that she and her husband are graduates of Bethel University and they have lived and raised their family in Arden Hills. She is an active volunteer and worked closely with Marvin Sims on the STRIPES program She saw the needs of many children in the schools and wanted to create a safe place where children could go after school. In March, 2015 a home in Mounds View was purchased and named the Quincy TreeHouse. The Quincy TreeHouse is a place where at risk youth can go to receive one-to-one attention, mentoring, tutoring, job training, and practical life skills to necessary to building a brighter future. The have weekly scheduled group times for young men and women to discuss issues, and also provide weekly scheduled tutoring time.
The Club welcomed prospective club members Bob Freed and Miriam Zachary to the meeting. The Rotary on the Road meeting was held at the Shoreview City Hall and the program involved a tour of the new Ramsey County Library in Shoreview. Club member and Ramsey County Commissioner Blake Huffman introduced new Library Director Jill Boldenow and Property Manager Bruce Thompson to the club. Jill indicated that she had worked for the St. Paul Library system and was very excited about her selection as the new Library Director for Ramsey County.
Jill indicated that the Shoreview Library is the last piece in a major capital plan for the suburban library system and will result in the Shoreview branch being upgraded to a regional library. As a regional library, it will have expanded hours, additional programming and much larger children's, teens and adult areas. In addition, the new library will have a larger community room that can be used for a variety of programming. The Club then walked across the parking lot and took a tour of the new facility. The new library is expected to open in late January.
The Club welcomed prospective members Bob Freed and Miriam Zachary. It was announced that both Bob and Miriam intended to join the club followed by raucous applause from everyone in attendance. Kevin said that he would be responsible for teaching them the official Rotary handshake.
The guest speaker was Deputy County Manager Heather Worthington. She discussed the history of Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) site and recent County involvement with the property. She site was purchased by the Federal government in 1941 and used as a munitions plant from World War II through the Vietnam War. At its peak, the site employed more than 26,000 workers.
She indicated that Ramsey County purchased 427 acres on the western portion of the site in 2013 since it is the largest remaining undeveloped partial in the County. Most of the 2200 plus acres of the TCAAP property is leased to the National Guard. Since purchasing the property, there has been an extensive clean up occurring of the Superfund site. Much of the contamination was in the soil, but there were also many structures throughout the property that needed to be removed and abated for asbestos.
Heather also said that the first Joint Development Authority in the State was created with representatives from both the County and City of Arden Hills. This JDA has selected Alatus as the Master Developer for the entire site. Alatus is also partnering with Inland Properties for the commercial development and Tradition Homes for the lower density single family development. She also discussed the transportation improvements that are ongoing including the new interchange at County 96/35W and the interchange at County H/35W that is also under construction. The main road through the development site is currently scheduled to begin in 2017.
Heather discussed the plans for the construction of a solar field on the northern portion of the TCAAP property, along with the planned use of geothermal heating and cooling on the property. An Energy Resiliency Advisory Board has been created and is advising on the site.
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
