I think I might be a better journalist than someone!
Recently, some car trouble (yes, Honda dealer, the alternator CAN go out on the '97 Accord, and in fact has. Twice on my car alone) left me stuck at my parents' house, and lo and behold, a copy of the Celine Dion Newsletter was there. You know what that means? It's time to check in on the city of Victoria/make fun of the local paper!
Due to her inability to create hyperlinks, the one interesting story (to me. I'm not a fan of human interest stories, but to each their own) I saw on the front page, one regarding a golf pro leaving the Deer Run Golf Club (where I used to work) to go be the Head Pro at Pebble Creek. Which one? There are several. I assume the one in Becker, Minnesota, but it could be the one in Cincinnati or New Jersey. Until Celine can figure out the art of the hyperlink, I'll never know. (Yes, it does bother me that I can't read about this but I can read all the personal mail she received in the past month).
I decided to poke around the paper a little more than I usually do, and decided to read the message from the editor. She mentioned the wildfires in California and wondered what she would save from the house if she were in the same situation. Her Catholicism, as ever, was pervasive, something I've grown to accept from the CDN, because frankly, Victoria is a Catholic town. What bothered me was that she slipped in another of her "I live on Park Drive and Victoria needs to do something to improve it" jibes. Today, she was complaining that it was her only way into or out of the neighborhood. Frankly, there is only one way out because there is one place to go. If you have a suggestion for another outlet, I'd like to hear it. I'm guessing she just doesn't wants something new because 5 and Park is so dangerous. (note: After searching the internet for reports of accidents, I found 1. Like, ever. (Additionally, while looking, I saw that some minutes from the Victoria Council meetings that said the Chanhassen Villager was the official paper of the city. Ha!))
Now, on to the traditional first part of the paper I read, the letters
Apparently, Celine's son got married. So it says in like 15 straight letters. Ugh. I'm glad my mom only talks about my achievements with her coworkers, rather than putting them in a newspaper with a circulation of a couple thousand people.
In another irresponsible bit of journalism, a writer wrote something informative and heartfelt about the affects of radon gas and how it causes lung cancer, and requested that Celine "help inform the citizens" of the dangerous affects. Sure! So she buried it on the 2nd page of her online letters to the editor page and didn't even provide a link to her attachment. Well, my circulation is the entire interwebs, so here's a link to something on the dangerous affects of radon. See? I can do something good sometimes.
The last pertinent letter was one that was actually sent to the mayor from the Lieutenant Governor regarding the Highway 5 bridge over the old railroad line, and the intended plans. It will get replaced, it appears, as Highway 5 is upgraded through Victoria in the coming years, but I was more intrigued that the letter ended up in the Letters to the Editor, and not the city hall news section, unless.... Yes, that's it. Celine thinks she's the mayor.
The first item of interest in the city hall section is a proposed ordinance to keep snowmobiles out of downtown. I have no problem with this. Why do you need to take them in town anyway
s, especially with a trail right there for you to use? Of course, this is Minnesota, and snowmobiles are important for people around here, so I'm sure this will raise the dander of a few people. Just take the sleds to Park Drive.
Another story that hits home for me is the idea of enforcing the speed in Kirchlelachen, my old neighborhood. While you're at it, why not make people stop at the stop sign at 81st and Trillium? I'm all in favor of having a squad car busting speeders in the neighborhood, however, I'm sure I'll get tagged on my way home sometime.
In a complete jerk move by a city resident in regard to the accrued vacation time of Steve Sarvi, Iraq War vet and City administrator, he said this:
Another responsible step taken by the Council was opposing the Met Council's move to have all cities in it's jurisdiction strive for densities of 3 housing units per acre, which for many places, especially on the outer fringe, is ridiculous. For one thing, people come to Victoria to space themselves out a little bit. Secondly, traffic in Victoria is already a nightmare. Let's straighten that out before we mandate high density suburbs, OK? (And how the heck do you do this in, say, Wayzata, where everyone owns a couple acres of lakefront property? Seriously.)
So that's it. Your look at Victoria. I apologize to anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, which I suspect is everyone.
Due to her inability to create hyperlinks, the one interesting story (to me. I'm not a fan of human interest stories, but to each their own) I saw on the front page, one regarding a golf pro leaving the Deer Run Golf Club (where I used to work) to go be the Head Pro at Pebble Creek. Which one? There are several. I assume the one in Becker, Minnesota, but it could be the one in Cincinnati or New Jersey. Until Celine can figure out the art of the hyperlink, I'll never know. (Yes, it does bother me that I can't read about this but I can read all the personal mail she received in the past month).
I decided to poke around the paper a little more than I usually do, and decided to read the message from the editor. She mentioned the wildfires in California and wondered what she would save from the house if she were in the same situation. Her Catholicism, as ever, was pervasive, something I've grown to accept from the CDN, because frankly, Victoria is a Catholic town. What bothered me was that she slipped in another of her "I live on Park Drive and Victoria needs to do something to improve it" jibes. Today, she was complaining that it was her only way into or out of the neighborhood. Frankly, there is only one way out because there is one place to go. If you have a suggestion for another outlet, I'd like to hear it. I'm guessing she just doesn't wants something new because 5 and Park is so dangerous. (note: After searching the internet for reports of accidents, I found 1. Like, ever. (Additionally, while looking, I saw that some minutes from the Victoria Council meetings that said the Chanhassen Villager was the official paper of the city. Ha!))
Now, on to the traditional first part of the paper I read, the letters
I invite you to interview a gardening and cooking expert who will be giving a free lecture at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Here's a press release and her photo is attached. She quite an interesting woman and gives thoughtful, insightful, and fun interviews.Can we perhaps read some of the press release? No? I didn't think so. So we know the location of this speaker, but not the name or time. Fabulous. Unless people read about it in the Villager, I doubt anyone was able to show up. Admittedly, if the writer of the letter had ever read the CDN before, she would know that she should have mentioned everything said in the press release in the letter as well, so it's not entirely Celine's fault. Well, it is for publishing the letter. That was just asinine.
Apparently, Celine's son got married. So it says in like 15 straight letters. Ugh. I'm glad my mom only talks about my achievements with her coworkers, rather than putting them in a newspaper with a circulation of a couple thousand people.
In another irresponsible bit of journalism, a writer wrote something informative and heartfelt about the affects of radon gas and how it causes lung cancer, and requested that Celine "help inform the citizens" of the dangerous affects. Sure! So she buried it on the 2nd page of her online letters to the editor page and didn't even provide a link to her attachment. Well, my circulation is the entire interwebs, so here's a link to something on the dangerous affects of radon. See? I can do something good sometimes.
The last pertinent letter was one that was actually sent to the mayor from the Lieutenant Governor regarding the Highway 5 bridge over the old railroad line, and the intended plans. It will get replaced, it appears, as Highway 5 is upgraded through Victoria in the coming years, but I was more intrigued that the letter ended up in the Letters to the Editor, and not the city hall news section, unless.... Yes, that's it. Celine thinks she's the mayor.
The first item of interest in the city hall section is a proposed ordinance to keep snowmobiles out of downtown. I have no problem with this. Why do you need to take them in town anyway
s, especially with a trail right there for you to use? Of course, this is Minnesota, and snowmobiles are important for people around here, so I'm sure this will raise the dander of a few people. Just take the sleds to Park Drive.Another story that hits home for me is the idea of enforcing the speed in Kirchlelachen, my old neighborhood. While you're at it, why not make people stop at the stop sign at 81st and Trillium? I'm all in favor of having a squad car busting speeders in the neighborhood, however, I'm sure I'll get tagged on my way home sometime.
In a complete jerk move by a city resident in regard to the accrued vacation time of Steve Sarvi, Iraq War vet and City administrator, he said this:
We've been very gracious to Steve Sarvi. By law, we didn't have to do that ... I'm getting tired of playing Santa Claus. I don't think vacation time should have been accumu-lating while he was gone ... and now he has political aspirations. You can't tell me he can run for national office and still put in full time here for us.Really? You don't think defending our nation earns someone a vacation? And almost everyone in a non executive or federal governmental elected position has a job, so why should that stop Sarvi? Relax pal. Tim "Neat Cool" Amundson had a good point, noting that people in the service definitely aren't earning a drastic amount of money, and are often just above the poverty line. Kudos, City Council for doing the right thing here.
Another responsible step taken by the Council was opposing the Met Council's move to have all cities in it's jurisdiction strive for densities of 3 housing units per acre, which for many places, especially on the outer fringe, is ridiculous. For one thing, people come to Victoria to space themselves out a little bit. Secondly, traffic in Victoria is already a nightmare. Let's straighten that out before we mandate high density suburbs, OK? (And how the heck do you do this in, say, Wayzata, where everyone owns a couple acres of lakefront property? Seriously.)
So that's it. Your look at Victoria. I apologize to anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, which I suspect is everyone.
Labels: Victoria News
posted by Ryan | 12:45 PM
1 Comments:
You get past the three houses per acre density in Wayzata by taking the average, I assume. For every house with five acres on the lakeshore, there's six houses on an acre not on the lakeshore. (I know nothing about the density of Wayzata. Maybe the lakeshore people count their boathouse and guest house and pool house as sepereate houses...kidding!)
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