| 7/22/2009 4:28:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| See what we see: Click here to view the flyer circulated around the stanich Highlands area. |
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City officials and residents say flyer falsifies facts
Derrick Knutson
Review staff
A flyer circulated around parts of Maplewood last week makes false claims about the impacts of planned street improvement projects near Holloway Avenue and the Stanich Highlands area, some city officials and residents say.
Maplewood resident Joan Miller, who lives in the Stanich Highlands area, a neighborhood just south of Goodrich Golf Course, presented the flyer to the city council last Tuesday. Miller said she spotted a man on a bicycle distributing the flyer, and in a follow-up interview with the Review, she asserted Mayor Diana Longrie's husband, Kevin Berglund, was the man distributing the flyer.
John Panian, who also lives in the neighborhood where the street improvement projects are slated to take place, said Berglund biked up his driveway while he was putting his car in the garage, handed him the flyer and said, "Hey John, here's something for the meeting tonight." Panian said Berglund then turned around and biked away.
When asked last Thursday if she had seen the flyer, Longrie asserted that she had not. She added that the city had received letters both for and against the street improvement projects. She also said that Berglund's father is 85 years old. When asked what the age of her father-in-law had to do with the street improvements she said, "I certainly don't have any idea with regards to the flyer."
She added that she had not discussed the flyer with her husband.
A call to Berglund seeking comment was not returned.
The flyer, dated July 13, 2009, makes numerous claims, one of which is that the project is targeted at "driving senior(s) from homes to apartments, etc."
Miller, who is a senior citizen, said she didn't believe that was the case, and she asked City Engineer/Deputy Director of Public Works Michael Thompson to address that claim at the July 13 city council meeting.
Thompson contended that the flyer's claim was false, and in a follow-up interview with the Review, he said seniors on fixed incomes can actually defer assessment payments for street improvement projects for as long as 15 years, although that deferment eventually will come due with interest.
If the senior citizen sells his or her home during that time, the assessment will serve as a lean against the house, and the payment of the assessment will have to be addressed between buyer and seller at the time of the purchase, Thompson said.
Miller also asked Thompson to address the flyer's claim that the street improvements will not improve homeowners' properties.
Thompson again told her that wasn't the case; because street improvement projects typically increase the value of a residential property, not decrease it.
Project background
According to information provided by Thompson on the street-improvement projects, it's proposed that 146 Maplewood residential properties be assessed. The typical rate for a single-family home is $6,990. Townhomes will be assessed $1,500 to $2,500.
The majority of the streets in the area are slated for full street construction with concrete curb and gutter, new storm sewers, water main replacement and sanitary sewer improvements.
Pavement rating for Holloway Avenue and streets in the Stanich Highlands area is in the 30s and 40's, on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being a new street, according to information from Thompson. The project description states that streets and utilities in those areas need to be repaired or replaced.
Council and city staff reaction
Thompson said he took some time to look at the flyer and "got a good laugh out of it."
One part of the flyer refers to Thompson as a "29-year-old chief engineer."
That was not a fact he refutes.
"Somebody got it right," he said, chuckling. "They did some research."
City Council members Will Rossbach and Kathy Juenemann also took time to address the contents of the flyer.
"It's unfortunate that this 'flyering' has become a very popular way in Maplewood here in getting misinformation out about all kinds of information," Rossbach said at the meeting. "I would just caution you; if you receive anything at your house that does not clearly indicate who it came from - throw it away."
Juenemann then chimed in, "No, don't throw it away, recycle it. Don't waste the paper."
Derrick Knutson can be reached at dknutson@lillienews.com or at (651) 748-7825.
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