Dear Friends of Patrick Eagan Park,

Good news!

After Tuesday's elections, the Eagan City Council now consists of at least three proponents of Open Space and the Eagan Core Greenway. This figure represents a majority of the Council!

Peggy Carlson was re-elected. Peggy has been active with Friends of Patrick Eagan Park this year in working with partners to apply to the DNR for a planning grant for the Greenway. As many of you have read in recent Eagan Sun Current and Eagan This Week articles, our application was successful and a matching grant of $8,000 was awarded.

Mike Maguire was elected to his first term on the City Council. He too will be an advocate for the Greenway.

As fate would have it, Meg Tilley returns to the City Council and is also a supporter of Open Space and the Eagan Core Greenway.

And at the very least, Eagan's newly elected Mayor, Patrick Geagan, has underscored the importance of establishing an effective dialogue with Patrick McCarthy over the status of his land. Lets hope that Peggy, Meg and Mike will have his ear on the subject and that he will listen to their advice.

These developments leave us cause for optimism regarding our efforts to preserve the remaining pieces of the Eagan Core Greenway. In brief, these include the properties adjacent to Patrick Eagan Park: the McCarthy parcel, the Anderson parcel, and Caponi Art Park.

As a result, we will be interested in getting the City Council to do three things in the short term:

1. Recognize the Eagan Core Greenway, acknowledging its significance to the environment and to the community;
   
2. Indicate that one of its goals is to secure much or all of the remaining parcels of land in proximity to Patrick Eagan Park which is currently unprotected;
   
3. Announce this it is seeking partners to assist with the acquisition of this land (assuming each is available).

This may take a concerted effort among our membership, so please be prepared to play a role in this initiative.

Meanwhile, we will try to help educate the Council about some of the potential partners. These include:

1. The Trust for Public Land
   
2. The McKnight Foundation
   
3. The Sierra Club (North Star Chapter)
   
4. Minnesota D.N.R. (Metro Greenways)
   
5. Dakota County
   
6. Friends of Patrick Eagan Park
   
7. The School of Environmental Studies (The "Zoo School")
   
8. The local YMCA (looking for summer programs in the park)
   
9. The Audubon Society of Minnesota
   
10. Friends of the Minnesota River Valley

More news soon,

---Jack Conrad