Kristina Heili

Twin Cities communities are seeking a brand for Smith Avenue to help create a plan to invigorate the tree-lined, residential, commercial corridor that stretches from High Bridge in St. Paul to Dodd Road in West St. Paul. The plan is meant to help guide business owners, residents, public officials and other stakeholders to make much needed decisions over the next 10 to 15 years.

The new plan will replace St. Paul’s initial Smith Avenue Task Force Report. The latest draft highlights objectives for housing, transportation, vitality, land use and more. The current task force is made up of residents, business owners and community leaders. The force was formed last year by the Riverview Economic Development Association, West Side Citizens Organization, Neighborhood Development Alliance and the cities of St. Paul and West St. Paul.

There is a great mix of community members who are really focused. They have helped make it possible for St. Paul to pledge an initial $30,000 for planning, while Dakota County’s Community Development Agency and West St. Paul’s Economic Development Authority contributed $6,300 each.

Plans for short-term objectives:

* Create a community festival that both cities can share

* Encourage businesses to become members of REDA

* Explore creating an independent business association

* Recruit more food establishments near the Avenue’s main intersection and Doddway Shopping Center

* Market available building and frontage improvement programs

* Initiate a branding strategy

More objectives have been lined out for the long term, such as looking at bike routes, funds for revamping homes and commercial buildings and addressing parking limitations. These are many great plans that will put the Twin Cities on a beautiful track.

Lenders are looking at a wider range of your personal data in determining whether you're a good financial risk. And it's all under a cloud of secrecy they'll never share with you!

A would-be borrower may be denied a mortgage based on "stuff" they never know were relevant when applying for a mortgage loan. Federal regulations that will go into effect sometime in July 2011 will require lenders to disclose which factors they used, however, they will not be required to disclose the results of their underlying data and formulas. No one knows what the models are and how they are being used to calculate your financial health.

We're all familiar with FICO scores . . .

BUT WHAT ABOUT THESE?

• Deposit Behavior Score?
• Employment History Score?
• Job Security Score?
• Property Values Score?
• Income Levels Per Your Zip Code Score?
• Unemployment Rate Per Your Zip Code Score?
• How Often You Switch Jobs Score?
• How Often You Switch Your Phone Lines Score?
• Checking Account Managing Score?
• Overdrafts Score?
• Riskview Total Solutions Score?

And dozens and dozens more!

A FICO score is largely based on a person's payment history and the size of his debts.

FICO scores can be monitored for accuracy and can be corrected if errors occur, but the secrecy that surrounds these new scores makes it impossible for borrowers to know why they were denied credit. Mistakes can go undetected and, therefore, uncorrected. According to John Ulzheimer, the president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com, "Consumers have no clue how many times they're being scored."

Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, states that "These scores are like black boxes...No one knows what the models are and exactly how they're being used, but the information can have a tremendous impact on people's lives." You can read the entire article here, "Cloud of Secrecy Surrounds New Credit Scores."

So, where will this 1984 Big Brother attitude stop in determining one's credit worthiness? Will they soon include my medical history in case I have a condition that might pose a credit risk? Will they monitor how many times I flush the toilet or how long my showers take to determine if I'm a conscientious environmentalist in conserving water? Will they check with my waste management company to see if I participate in recycling? Will they monitor how much junk food I buy at the grocery stores as my cravings potentially may pose a health risk? Heck, maybe they're already doing these . . . and, I'm sure, you can think of a few ludicrous "models" on your own.

Oh, Brother! I think I'll go take a cold shower now." A short one though!

Under a new three year plan, Twin Cities families will lose some ability to bus their kids all over town, but will gain some new programs. The new plan divides the city into six areas and will restrict students to the area in which they live. Dozens of changes in school programs and their locations will be affected. On March 15^th, school board members will discuss the new plan and are expected to vote on it.

Some families currently enrolled at a school would be kept under the old rule until they complete their programs. Community schools will offer busing in their area, but not city wide. Expo is now city wide but will soon have a smaller area to bus from.

Over a three year period, let's see the proposed changes.

* A Mandarin Chinese-immersion kindergarten will be added at Benjamin Mays Elementary, with a grade to be added each year.

* Creative Arts High School and grades 7-12 of Open World Learning Community will move to the former site of Wellstone Elementary .

* Both Ames/Sheridan and American Indian/World Cultures add 7th grades, with 8th grades to come the next year.

* The sixth-grade classes at Adams Spanish-immersion and Highland Park Elementary will move to Highland Park Junior High.

In 2012-13:

* A new K-5 program will move into the former Roosevelt Elementary.

* The former Sheridan Elementary will add a special-education program.

* The former Ames Elementary will take grades 3-5 of Nokomis Montessori, with Nokomis keeping K-2.

* L'Etoile du Nord French immersion school will move to the former Open World Learning Community building and a new program serving grades 6-8 moves into the French immersion site.

According to the Census Bureau's latest look at the Twin Cities, we are more diverse, well-educated and graying. Minneapolis is no longer the most diverse city in the metropolitan area. Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park are now the most diverse places in the Twin Cities.

The American Community Survey, which is a poll of 3 million households a year across the nation, provides estimates about housing, income, and social statistics from 2005 to 2009. In previous years, this survey was done once every 10 years in the census.

Latest Findings:

* In education attainment, Minnesotans rank high.

* Local suburbs have become more diverse over the past ten years.

* Several suburbs in the area are aging rapidly.

* Around 10% of the residents of St. Paul, Minneapolis, Woodbury, Brooklyn Park, Bloomington, Eagan, Plymouth and Eden Prairie were born outside the U.S.

* The College towns of Wis. and River Falls are among the most transient in the area.

There is clearly a migration pattern. You can even see it in the school district's student population, which has gone from 65% nonwhite to 75% nonwhite now.