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Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: June 30th, 2014, 1:20 pm
by Anondson
Minnehaha Watershed District posted some flood photos. Bunch of underwater golf courses, aerial shot of the falls...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 347&type=1

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: June 30th, 2014, 1:31 pm
by mister.shoes
Anyone else get the feeling that the Hiawatha Course might not open again this year? 90% of it looks to be under water in those photos. I golfed there on May 31st—it hasn't been open much since since then.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: June 30th, 2014, 7:14 pm
by Anondson
Apparently the courses are already not making money, I wonder how bad simply losing these prime weeks of golf season will hurt revenue, to say nothing of the clean up cost.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 8:34 am
by mister.shoes
I almost wrote "might never open again" given what we know about the Parks Dept considering shutting it down. But I couldn't bring myself to be that dramatic...

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 9:54 am
by David Greene
If it were up to me I'd close every damn golf course in the state. They're a tremendous waste of resources, especially water. At least close the public ones. Why should we subsidize the wasting of our most important natural resource?

I am of the Mark Twain faction of golfers.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 12:27 pm
by min-chi-cbus
Could many golf courses be self-sustaining (i.e. without additional water other than what nature provides)? Isn't this basically how the Scots played it originally?

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 1:01 pm
by MNdible
If it were up to me I'd close every damn golf course in the state. They're a tremendous waste of resources, especially water. At least close the public ones. Why should we subsidize the wasting of our most important natural resource?
I don't love golf, but I do think some of our current obsession with water management is a little overplayed, especially in Minneapolis where we're not pumping aquifers, but rather pulling some water out of the river, spraying it on the course, and letting it flow back into the river.

Of all of the sustainability things we could be worried about, this one seems pretty low on the totem pole.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 6:03 pm
by gpete
Mpls and StP use river water, but most municipalities in the state don't get their water from surface water bodies. Aquifer draining is an issue everywhere. Check out White Bear Lake (the lake).


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Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 6:23 pm
by Anondson
I would be surprised Meadowbrook (Minneapolis golf course out in St. Louis Park and Hopkins) is using the river for water.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 7:34 pm
by seanrichardryan
Both St. Louis Park & Hopkins are on Minneapolis water if I recall. That's not to say they don't have wells. Wells were once common throughout the cities. Perhaps someone should call the MPRB and find out.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 8:33 pm
by David Greene
I don't love golf, but I do think some of our current obsession with water management is a little overplayed, especially in Minneapolis where we're not pumping aquifers, but rather pulling some water out of the river, spraying it on the course, and letting it flow back into the river.
Much of it doesn't flow back into the river. It evaporates.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 8:35 pm
by David Greene
Both St. Louis Park & Hopkins are on Minneapolis water if I recall. That's not to say they don't have wells. Wells were once common throughout the cities. Perhaps someone should call the MPRB and find out.
You sure about Hopkins? They have several municipal water towers. I always assumed the water came from wells. Given Hopkins' history as a railroad town I would be extremely surprised if they got Minneapolis water in any significant quantity. The house I grew up in had an old non-functioning well from when it was built in the early '50's.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 1st, 2014, 8:37 pm
by David Greene
I would be surprised Meadowbrook (Minneapolis golf course out in St. Louis Park and Hopkins) is using the river for water.
Meadowbrook could use the creek but I don't know if they do.

Closing Meadowbrook could make for a really nice park along the creek and housing/retail along Excelsior Blvd, connecting the commercial strip in St. Louis park to the Hopkins commercial district to the west. Methodist just did a big upgrade to the park/wetland on their property and connecting that to a Meadowbrook park could be really amazing. We could extend the Minnehah bike trails and/or the Parkway all the way though the Methodist campus at least.

Fantasy: you could also extend the Como-Harriet streetcar line through the Methodist campus and meet up with SWLRT at the Louisiana station.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 2nd, 2014, 7:37 am
by gpete
This 2009 report from the DNR might be a little outdated, but it shows the sources of drinking water in the TC metro area. http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publicatio ... r_2009.pdf

Here's the relevant map that shows how much we use groundwater:
Image

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 2nd, 2014, 8:24 am
by twincitizen
We're getting off-topic here, but to answer the "Who does Minneapolis' water system serve?" question:

"People outside of Minneapolis get our tap water too. Our distribution area includes Golden Valley, Crystal and New Hope, Columbia Heights, Hilltop, Bloomington (which uses a mix of our water and well water) and Edina’s Morning Side neighborhood. We also provide water to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. About a half million people drink Minneapolis tap water every day."

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/publicwork ... waterfacts

Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 9th, 2014, 10:05 pm
by Anondson
More golf course news. Hiawatha greens are mostly recovered from flood waters but so much dead grass the entire course will be closed to try and repair it for next season.

Meadowbrook is still under eight to ten feet of lake water, obviously it will be closed entire season also. Layoffs.

Lost revenue and expensive green restoration in store.

http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=266529861&c=y

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 10th, 2014, 6:34 am
by mullen
how many courses does the city need? this is beautiful land that could be turned over to general parkland and attract more use, provide citizens amenities. we're a city of roughly 58 sq miles, not huge by any standard. are golf courses the highest and best use?

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 10th, 2014, 6:37 am
by mullen
i'm taking about hiawatha and columbia specifically. i could see keeping wirth. meadowbrook is in hopkins.

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 10th, 2014, 7:24 am
by talindsay
My opinion is that Hiawatha should go, Columbia should stay. The area around Hiawatha is ripe for growth; I think closing Columbia wouldn't be likely to do anything useful at this time but maybe in the future

Re: Minneapolis Park System

Posted: July 10th, 2014, 7:47 am
by mister.shoes
Having golfed both Hiawatha and Columbia, I think the latter should stick around. It's got a greater variation in topography and far more interesting and challenging play. Hiawatha is quite nice (and a mile and a half from home!) but it has nothing on Columbia in a technical sense.