Something fun you may not know

Duckstad’s first experiences in Eden Prairie involved flying lessons at Flying Cloud Airport after he got out of the Army. He said after three instructors were involved in serious crashes, “I never flew again. I took it as a message.”

By Karla Wennerstrom

 “I would like to believe I could make a meaningful contribution to the city as a whole,” Jon Duckstad said of running for one of the open City Council seats.

He said he believes he could help by improving the city’s tax environment and involving more residents in the budgeting process.

He said his goal would be to seek additional information from the community through an open process and make decisions based on strong fiscal policy. He thinks residents should be given more opportunities to speak up at workshops, to offer ideas to the council directly.

Duckstad, 72, said that an active dialogue with the business community should also continue, as businesses provide jobs and additional monetary resources to help fund government. He thinks the city should be more active with the Chamber of Commerce and work harder to retain businesses. He referred to Best Buy’s headquarters moving to Richfield. “Maybe that type of thing could be headed off at the pass,” he said.

Duckstad said he supports a more blended expenditure of city and private funding for arts and historic preservation projects.

As the city moves from a development stage to redevelopment, Duckstad said the city has grown up positively and well, but without a prominent downtown area. He said the city should continue to encourage development by the business community – and city government needs to “keep their eye on the ball and avoid unnecessary spending.”

Duckstad said he couldn’t say if city property taxes are too high. He said they are probably competitive, but everything is relative. “From year to year, the City Council needs to do a careful and sensible job.” He supports a measured look at priorities.

Duckstad said he is not in favor of light rail transit coming to Eden Prairie, yet. “I fear that one of the [routes] that may be used is the trail system,” he said. Since a bottleneck was just fixed on 494, opportunities to travel by road are adequate and there isn’t the immense focused population of a New York or Los Angeles, the cost for such a system isn’t justified, he said.

Duckstad said he would not favor the City Council lobbying for a statewide smoking ban. “I personally am against a total ban,” he said, citing state-of-the-art equipment to help restaurants accommodate smokers in a separate part of the business. “I don’t have that right to dictate what others do,” he said.

Should the city ramp up efforts to obtain open space? Yes, Duckstad said. “Eden Prairie is justified in its attitude toward open space,” he said. When land becomes available at reasonable purchase prices it should be looked at as a possibility. “That’s the Eden Prairie way. That’s the Eden Prairie trademark. Eden Prairie is open space.”

The Planning Commission member said the city has done a reasonable job of attempting to keep Flying Cloud Airport a small regional airport, working with the Metropolitan Airports Commission to limit noise and promote safety. The city doesn’t have the power to eliminate the airport, he said, so the two should work together. He said he supports the expansion of the airport, as long as it is done with the least harm and effect on residents.

He said the Bent Creek Golf Course issue “turns on the city’s continued policy toward open space.” He said he would support the city owning part of the golf course, if it were in the best interests of the city’s residents. He said the legal issues involved with the possible development of the golf course are in favor of the city.

A budget task force is a good idea for Eden Prairie, Duckstad said, as long as it consists of volunteers and residents appointed by council members.

He said plans in the Major Center Area and Golden Triangle areas are the result of “reasonably good planning.” He said he’s optimistic that as the areas are upgraded, the Major Center Area will have more of a special downtown identity.

“The Community Center is an important amenity,” Duckstad said. “I recognize that it’s too small,” he said, and improvements are a legitimate expenditure and it is proper to submit an expenditure like that to residents in a referendum.

However, he said, in his personal opinion, cost estimates that were off by more than a million dollars “offend residents.”

“The way they went about it was wanting in carefulness.”

The city shouldn’t get too worked up over minor encroachments onto city property that involve maintenance, like mowing, Duckstad said. “There are a lot more problems that are more important.”

“Previous councils on balance have done a very good job of guiding this city,” Duckstad said. “It’s just first class.”

Duckstad can be reached at 903-0274 or jonduckstad@yahoo.com.