Questions for the Council Member
I’ll be heading down to City Hall again Monday for another podcast interview, this time with City Council Member Diane Hofstede.
Once again I’d like you to submit your questions for the council member. Leave them in the comments section of this post, and I’ll choose a handful of questions I think are most interesting or important. The interview will be posted here to download or stream early next week.
Hofstede was elected in November 2005 to represent Ward 3, which includes the neighborhoods of Beltrami, Bottineau, Sheridan, St. Anthony East, St. Anthony West and Nicollet Island/East Bank. She is chair of the taxes committee and serves on boards including the St. Anthony Heritage Board and the Middle Mississippi River Watershed Management Organization.
Before being elected to the council in 2005, Hofstede served on the Minneapolis Public Library Board. She’s been a chair on the Neighborhood Revitalization Program and a vice chair with the St. Anthony West neighborhood.
Click the ‘comments’ link below. Please include your name and what neighborhood you live in, too. Deadline for questions is April 29. Dan Haugen
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Filed under: Beltrami, Bottineau, City Hall, East Bank, Government, Nicollet Island, Sheridan, St. Anthony East, St. Anthony West
I just went to a meeting with council member Hofstede about the Northeast Arts District.
Most of you know that the District was created in 2002 to support the artists who live and work in Northeast.
Since then the square footage available to artists has really expanded, including the Casket Arts Building, the former Northwestern Casket Company, which will be open for its first Art-A-Whirl this year.
My question for Diane is where does she see the Arts District in five years?
Some possible questions:
1.Last year the Housing Inspections Program created some distress among homeowners who could not afford required repairs…were any lessons learned about how this summer’s inspections could be handled?
Is there really a reduction in crime if all nieghborhood properties are up to code and in good repair?
2. As a former chair and current board member of the NRP, can she identify who at City Hall is driving the “Community Enagement Process?” Can she comment on the value of NRP, how it can be improved, and whether it should remain in its current form with funding guaranteed?
3. Since Nicollet Island is part of Hostede’s Ward…can she comment on the DeLaSalle stadium issue? Does she have any connections to DeLaSalle? (alum, parent of student, etc.) Does she vote to approve the school’s plans in City Council meetings? What is her opinion re the closure of Grove Street, astroturf and the very tall light poles…how will these effect the quality
of life on the Island?
4.As a former member of the Minneapolis Public Library board, esp. during 1994 when the funding issues changed…what is her view of the coming merger with HCL? Will Minneapolis citizens have any additional expenses for the merger other than having to continue to pay for the referendum which funded the new Central Library?
Does she have any thoughts on the Northeast Library and the old furnace that MPL admin refuses to replace?
Madeline Douglass
Kingfield