roger b hess jr
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On the article Roseville Council Names Trudgeon as Interim City Manager
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On the article A Roseville Welcome for Wal-Mart
roger b hess jr
8:05 am on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Replyi seem to remember the police chief saying that he expects at least 700 police calls to this new walmart store each year. yet, he asked the council to reject a proposed, 2nd pawn shop in roseville based on increased police calls. i do not believe the current roseville pawn shop generates even a fraction of 700 police calls a year, plus the pawn shop pays a fee to the city for every pawn transaction to make sure items have not been stolen, so the city may actually make money off of the pawn shop, but walmart will be a drain on police resources.
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On the article New Wal-Mart Store Should Spur Other Development, Says Real Estate Exec
roger b hess jr
11:14 am on Saturday, May 4, 2013
Replyfor some reason, the developer received an awesome deal from the city. he sold some of the walmart land to the city a few years ago, so he did not need to pay property taxes or have any other expenses for the land for those years, and then the city sold the land back to him when walmart decided to buy the property, for basically the same price the city originally paid for it.
i know a lot of roseville property owners who would love to get the same deal from the city. have the city buy property that they are trying to sell until the property owner finds a buyer, and then buy the property back from the city and turn around and resell it. i bet a lot of people who own houses that they can't sell would love to sell the house to the city and have the city hold it for them until they can find someone to buy the house, when the market place improves.
the developer received a wonderful deal that i doubt anyone else will ever get! i applaud the developer for his business skills, having been able to make a deal with the city that no one else could ever possibly make.
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On the article PHOTOS: Roseville Firefighters Give Old Home a House Warming
roger b hess jr
8:16 am on Monday, April 29, 2013
Replysadly, yes, local history does not seem to warrant much attention from roseville government. for example, even though the city is spending millions on the parks and rec program, and thousands on consultants, there is no plan as to where to permanently house the roseville historical society. it would be nice if a new home for the society would be part of the parks and rec renewal plan, but alas, that is not the case. i have heard the society could possibly move into the space at city hall that the fire department will be vacating, or in the fire station on fairview. unfortunately, without the final location of the historical society becoming part of the formal park and rec renewal plan, i fear the society will be left out in the cold. myself, i think at least some display of roseville's history should be at the nature center, so when individuals, families or school groups visit the nature center, they could also learn about roseville's history.
i hope that soon the city council will insist that the final location of the roseville historical society become part of the formal discussions with city staff as the parks and rec renewal plan is developed and finalized, and that a permanent location will be decided upon very soon.
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On the Blog Post Roseville Hotel Occupancy Hit Notes in 2012
roger b hess jr
12:33 pm on Friday, April 26, 2013
Replyi often wonder if roseville eliminated the lodging tax, if occupancy would increase??? myself, if i was deciding between two hotels that are very similar in quality and price, and at one i had to pay a lodging tax and one hotel i did not have to pay a lodging tax, obviously i would choose the hotel without a lodging tax. myself, i feel that by eliminating the roseville lodging tax and having roseville hotels advertise that they do not need to charge a lodging tax, would fill up hotels much more than any lodging tax supported marketing efforts.
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On the article More Than 600 Students Going to Roseville High School 2013 Prom
roger b hess jr
8:10 am on Friday, April 26, 2013
Replyand, generations of roseville students can thank the kellogg pta for getting prom out of the school cafeterias back in the early 1970's. up until then, prom at kellogg and ramsey was held in the cafeterias, but my mom and a few other pta members got together and organized prom so that the pta took over sponsorship of the kellogg prom and the first prom outside of a cafeteria was held at the old ambassador hotel in minneapolis. it was such a success that ramsey started holding their prom outside of the school building a few years later. if it wasn't for those hard-working, dedicated women, prom might still be in the high school cafeteria!
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On the article Single-Sort Recycling May Be an Option in Roseville's Bidding Process
roger b hess jr
11:46 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Replyi can see why they could possibly have a bad work comp record. there are two ways to collect recyclable materials: have employees sort it out in the cold, snow, rain, etc. and place the materials in the truck manually as eureka does, or have a large cart like little canada does and have a driver stay in the recycling truck, pick up the cart mechanically and place the contents into the truck, and then have employees separate the material back in a nice, climate-controlled building. any company that cares about their employees would choose the second method of recycling. i understand that single sort recycling may cause a small amount of the material to be unuseable, but the safer, better working conditions for employees and the vast increase in total tonage recycled, i believe more than makes up for the small increase in material that can not be reused.
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On the article Single-Sort Recycling May Be an Option in Roseville's Bidding Process
roger b hess jr
8:15 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Replyalso, if the city truly wants to maximize recycling tonage, then why aren't businesses able to participate in the recycling program??? businesses have tons of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, etc. that could be recycled. why can't businesses be part of the recycling program?
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On the article Single-Sort Recycling May Be an Option in Roseville's Bidding Process
roger b hess jr
8:04 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Replyit always amazes me how limited we are in roseville as to the variety of items that we can recycle. when i go to a place like whole foods they have recycling bins for many more categories than we can recycle. we should be able to recycle any plastic item marked with a "1", but we can only recycle those items which have a "neck".
since many retailers place our purchases into plastic bags, we should be able to recycle plastic bags. the list goes on and on!
we should be trying to maximize the tonage that is recycled, and according to both minneapolis and little canada, single sort is the way to do that.
finally, the recycling program should be self-supporting. that is, profits from the sale of recycled materials should be enough to pay for the program. property owners should not be billed for recycling. we are providing free inventory to a private company that then sells the material. this is as if the citizens of roseville provided free merchandise for target to sell, and all target needed to do was drive by and pick up tvs, diapers, food, etc. if the recycling program can not be self-supporting, then the model needs to be changed to become self-supporting, or we should just stop recycling.
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On the article Roseville Residents to Guide Fire Station Redevelopment
roger b hess jr
8:36 am on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Replythe HRA does have a director and other staff who are paid a salary. the HRA's levy was doubled this year so they need to find ways to spend all that money. hopefully in the end the HRA will be able to sell the fire department property and the property that they purchased south of the fire station at a profit.
roger b hess jr
8:03 am on Friday, May 17, 2013
instead of doing a long and possibly expensive search, i would have allowed a current city employee to be promoted to the position of city manager for two years. if they worked out - great, if not, it would only be two years. i don't see how an outsider who knows nothing about roseville is a better fit than someone who has worked hard for the citizens of roseville for years, and can be up to speed on day one.
in my opinion letting city employees know they can work their way to the top is good policy. telling employees that no matter how hard working and dedicated they may be, they will never make it to the top, is bad policy.