Why is The “Bridges” Proposal Harmful?

The Bridges proposal is fundamentally flawed for three chief reasons:

It is out of synch with the character, beauty, and history of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul.

The Mississippi River in Saint Paul is unlike the Mississippi anywhere else.

In the entire 2,300-mile length of Americas river, nowhere else does the Mississippi undergo the transition that it does in Saint Paul. As it passes through downtown Saint Paul, the Mississippi River opens out from a scenic gorge to an immense plain that characterizes the rest of the rivers run to the Gulf of Mexico.

This transition point won the admiration of Native Americans and early European explorers alike. On the famous 1854, Grand Excursion of former President Millard Fillmore up the Mississippi, the St. Paul Daily Times described the presidential partys first view of the city:

The morning of the 8th [of June] the excursionists were summoned to the decks to catch the first glimpse of wonderful St. Paul, the city of the Upper Mississippi. On rounding a point the town appeared in all its beauty at a distance of about four miles. Expressions of surprise and admiration were universal.

Stretched along on the bluff bank of the Mississippi for nearly two miles, gleamed dome and spire, white houses, gardens and shrubbery, and extensive, well built blocks. No town East or West shows to better advantage from a distance. Magic had done its work, and St. Paul stood out….

The character of the river in Saint Paul is more than just interesting scenery. As this shows, it has historical significance. Saint Pauls development originated in the 19th Century because the location was the head of navigation on the Mississippi River, the disembarkation point for travelers heading upstream to investigate what would become the Twin Cities and beyond.

Today, the setting is regarded as one of Saint Pauls greatest assets, recognized nationally. In 1988, Congress created the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) in part because of the rivers course through Saint Paul. Here the river changes more than it does anywhere else along its 2,300-mile length, says the National Park Service. The Saint Paul river corridor is also part of the Mississippi River Critical Area, established in 1976 by the State of Minnesota to protect the natural, scenic, cultural, historic and economic resources of the river.

Rather than propose a development that complements this unparalleled resource, proponents of the Bridges of Saint Paul propose to dwarf it with a series of high-rise buildings, reducing both direct public access to the rivers banks and cutting off panoramic views of the river and the bluffs.

Thats not good for the river — or the community.

It privatizes a public resource — the shores of the Mississippi River.

Part of the communitys and nations heritage, the Mississippi River corridor is also a public resource that belongs to us all. But the Bridges of Saint Paul would change that. Although technically open to the public, land along the river consumed by the development would be in private ownership and access would be subject to time and other limitations.

While this may seem a minor point, in fact it is quite significant in the context of the communitys vision for the river as a connecting point and a link for neighborhoods and downtown, as a commons open and available to all.

The Bridges of Saint Paul would privatize land along the river, thereby limiting the sites potential to provide public space that will be of benefit to the entire community. The link below provides an interesting perspective on Lifestyle Centers (i.e open outdoor malls) and how they are depriving us of of true commons.

Slate Magazine: The Mall Goes Undercover: It now looks like a city street by Andrew Blum

It is disrespectful of the community processes that led to an alternative vision of neighborhood development for the West Side Flats.

When citizens devote countless hours to a public planning process designed to create a common vision of community development, they have a right to expect that their work will be respected and honored.

But if the Bridges of Saint Paul is approved, that work will be discarded.

In 2000, tens of thousands of volunteer hours culminated in the West Side Flats Master Plan, an economically viable, low-risk plan that calls for phased-in, sensitively-scaled, mixed-income residential and commercial redevelopment in the Flats. Coordinated by the West Side Citizens Organization (WSCO), the master plan was the result of an open process that included many stakeholders, including the developer behind the Bridges of Saint Paul proposal.

Additionally, the Bridges proposal conflicts with the City of Saint Pauls Comprehensive Plan and Critical Area Plan, also developed through a public process.

At all levels — from local to national — public planning bodies have reached the same conclusion: the community is best served by protecting views of and from the river by limiting building heights in the corridor.

That vision is still valid. It must be respected — if not by the developer, then by public officials.

Organizations that have expressed opposition to the Bridges

Many other groups are opposed to the Bridges of Saint Paul as currently proposed. In fact 12 of 17 District councils and nearly a dozen other groups have passed formal resolutions in support of developing the West Side Flats in accordance with the community- and city-approved West Side Flats Master Plan.

1. Alliance for Metropolitan Stability
2. Capitol River Council
3. Daytons Bluff Community Council
4. District 1 Community Council
5. District 2 Community Council
6. District 6 Planning Council
7. Fort Road/West Seventh Federation
8. Friends of the Mississippi River
9. Friends of the Parks & Trails of Saint Paul & Ramsey County
10. Frogtown/Thomas Dale Community Council
11. Hamline Midway Coalition
12. Lexington-Hamline Community Council
13. Macalester Groveland Community Council
14. Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
15. Mississippi National River & Recreation Area — National Park Service
16. Neighborhood Development Alliance
17. Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
18. Riverview Economic Development Association
19. Saint Paul Audubon Society
20. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) State Council
21. Sierra Club North Star Chapter
22. St. Anthony Park Community Council
23. Summit Hill Association
24. Sustainable Saint Paul
25. Transit for Livable Communities
26. United Food & Commercial Workers Local 789
27. Westside Citizens Organization