- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(gentle music) - "R-Town, the Show About Rochester" learns about the North Broadway Park and Ride Project, and we hear about a food truck that has just found a permanent home for their acai bowls.

All that and so much more coming up next on "R-Town, the show about Rochester."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town."

(upbeat music) - We are joined today by Mike Collins, Transit Project Manager with the City of Rochester, here to tell us about the North Broadway Park and Ride Project.

Welcome to "R-Town," Mike.

- Yeah, thanks for having me.

Pleasure to be here.

- So, the North Broadway Park and Ride will be the city's first parking structure dedicated specifically to park and ride services.

Can you tell us why this park and ride service is needed in the community?

- Sure.

So, this park and ride facility will replace the North Chateau Theater Park and Ride.

And so the North Chateau Theater Park and Ride is leased.

This will be city-owned, as you alluded to.

It also gives us an opportunity to provide heightened amenities to our passengers.

The North Chateau Park and Ride is currently just a surface lot that's serviced by buses.

The new park and ride will have upgraded amenities.

There's gonna be security cameras; there's gonna be heated shelters; on-time signage, so you'll know when your bus is coming.

And, of course, it's gonna be a garage instead of a surface parking lot.

So then your car can be protected from the elements during snowy days and things like that.

In addition, its proximity to the rec center and 125 Live will provide a valuable resource for both of these businesses while also allowing us to use it as a park and ride during the day.

- You've walked us a little bit through some of those amenities.

Can you give us more of a specific look around what it will look like?

Like, how many vehicles will it accommodate?

Will there be space dedicated for commuters with bikes and other vehicles?

- We are expecting it to be a 203-stall parking structure, and it will have a bike room.

It'll also have driver bathrooms for our drivers, which is very important.

There's gonna be other sort of amenities that we're gonna hook up for the future.

So we're getting ready for the future.

Part of that is we're gonna have an electrical hookup for future charging infrastructure, if it's needed in the future.

There will be eight EV parking spots as well in the structure, for those who drive electric vehicles.

- How many buses are gonna be serving that site?

- So right now it's going to be served by the one 150X, which, again, is the current bus route that services the North Chateau Theater, the park and ride.

But it's also gonna be served by the 101 and 102.

So the number of buses, not really entirely sure on a daily basis.

But it will be served by three routes, one of which will be a direct route downtown, and that's the 150X.

- Do you have some estimates as to how many commuters will be using this on a daily basis?

- Sure.

So during peak times, our North Chateau Theater Park and Ride usually has between 80 to 100 riders.

And so we would expect, with this proximity to downtown and a little bit closer, a little upgraded amenities, we can expect a little bit more than that.

So we're expecting probably just above 100, at least to start, but hopefully it grows over time.

- What areas are gonna be impacted by the construction?

And are there gonna be any permanent changes that people can expect to the streets surrounding this area?

- Sure.

So the areas gonna be affected by the construction are primarily the entrance to 125 Live coming from Broadway as well as the entrance to the rec center coming from Broadway.

So that is the kind of the area of impact.

There will be some effects on, such as the retaining wall for the neighbors at Rochester City Lines.

But I think the biggest permanent altercation will occur for the access off 19th Street.

- [Nicole] Okay.

- So the intersection across Broadway from 125 Live or from rec center right now, in our proposal, that will be closed off.

So that'll be a dead end.

It'll be kind of a dead end by just closed off with boulevard.

And the reason for that is, because with the increased traffic we're expecting in and out of this site as a result of the park and ride, during our traffic study, it was identified that if those intersections didn't line up, it could cause a traffic hazard, with cars going both directions.

So the recommendation was to close off that entrance to 19th Street from Broadway.

- How will the project be funded?

And how much will it cost to build and operate the park and ride facility after it's built?

- This project is funded from a variety of sources.

We've received a over $7.5 million grant from the FTA, the Federal Transit Administration.

That is a bus and bus facilities grant.

We've also secured state bonding.

And there's some 2013 tax levy that's also going into the budget.

The total project budget, we're estimating to be just over $12 million.

- I'm assuming there are sort of the timelines before the project.

But now that you're sort of here today, what does the timeline look like moving forward?

- Sure.

So we've just wrapped up our schematic design phase, which is really just we're visioning, is kinda painting our vision for the structure.

So we've just completed that.

We're currently going through the environmental requirements.

So we have to go through...

This is federally funded, so we do have to go through the NEPA process and then the SHPO process, which... SHPO is historical preservation and NEPA is some environmental documentation that's required.

That's where we are right now.

Once that's completed, we're gonna actually start composing the construction plans, which we hope to have completed by the fall.

And at that time, we would go out for bid and actually start to work.

- Are there other things that you'd like people to know about the park and ride facility and, yeah, what to expect?

- So we do expect this to, once we start construction, we expect it to last for a little over a year.

So a year to 18 months is kinda the timeline once we get started.

And so what to expect during that period.

Obviously there's gonna be some changes to the entrance to 125 Live and the rec center.

There's also gonna be those altercations on Broadway Avenue that I alluded to in regards to the entrance on 19th Street.

So that'll cause some traffic congestion around that particular area.

But really what folks can expect is they can start to see this project come to life.

And so, you know, it'll start to look like a parking garage.

But also we've kind of incorporated a few very unique ideas.

So we've, safety is of paramount importance, and so we've incorporated a see and-be seen kinda design for this, so there's gonna, you're gonna see a lot of glass.

You're also gonna see a lot of security cameras and things of that nature.

So we really want people to feel safe when they're using this parking garage.

But then other things, like the exterior of the building is going to replicate kinda the exterior of the rec center.

So we want it to blend in with kinda the surrounding area.

And we think we've done that.

We think we found a, you know, a nice design for this facility, and we're excited for the public to see it.

- As we mentioned at the top of this, it's the first of its kind.

What is the sort of thinking about it being a model for future facilities of this kind in other parts of the community?

And is there a need for that?

- There might be.

A lot of these things are always contingent upon funding.

So this is the first park and ride structure that we're building and that the city will own, but it is the second park and ride that the city owns.

We just completed 75th Street Park and Ride, and we began servicing that this summer.

And so, yeah, I think it's part of a kind of a broader way that the city's meeting the needs of commuters.

And just as in 75th Street we have heated shelters and we have a comfortable place for people to wait for their bus, this will be the same.

This will actually be slightly elevated than that 'cause we'll have ETA signage here as well.

And then, of course, it's proximity to downtown, it's proximity to 125 Live, the rec center, other shops and businesses off Broadway makes this a very attractive location.

- I'm sure this is one of the many projects that you're working on.

Can you tell us just a little bit about your role in the city?

- Sure.

So I'm the Transit Project Manager with Rochester Public Transit.

And so what that means, in kind of a broad sense, is many transit-related projects would come through me.

I'm also very heavily involved in operations.

And let me just specify.

When I say transit-related project, the Link project has its own project team, so that's a little bit separate.

- [Nicole] Sure.

Even though it's about transit.

- Exactly.

Yep.

And so I'm also heavily involved in operations.

So I kinda work very closely with our planner and our mobility coordinator, and they provide planning services for our fixed-route service and then our paratransit service.

So I would coordinate with our contracted operators a lot on operational issues.

We recently made a technology update to our fleet.

So riders might remember a few months ago we rolled out the Transit app.

And so that kind of looks like a small project on the surface, but behind the scenes, we had to upgrade all of our bus equipment.

We had to upgrade all of our software that our staff are used to using on a day-to-day basis; that's how we collect all of our data.

So it's things like that.

We're making these small incremental improvements to our transit center.

But over time, people are really gonna notice a big difference and they're gonna notice that the reliability of their buses and the reliability in sort of what they expect from our system will be improved.

- Excellent.

I know we're not talking specifically about that Transit app, but how has that been going?

- It's been going well.

Yeah, so we rolled it out over the summer.

And even since then, we've done another service change.

It's a great resource for people to know when their bus is arriving.

You can do trip planning on that.

And so if you're new to the city, you can just pull up the Transit app and type in where you wanna go.

It'll show you how to get there.

It'll tell you when you're going there.

It'll also show you other modes of transportation.

So if you're a bike rider and you don't have a bike in Rochester, the Lime bikes show up on the Transit app as well.

So there's active transportation means that are also displayed on the Transit app.

So it's really a multimodal tool for people to get around the city.

- As you see the community and the city grow, are there kind of... You know, you talked a little bit about how the new park and ride is going to have some amenities there that are kind of future-facing, in that, you know, if there's more of a need for electric vehicles and things like that, it'll sort of have that integrated in there already.

Are there other things you're sort of thinking about in that kind of future-facing, I guess, approach?

- We're always thinking of future-facing things.

Anything specific, at the moment, we have a pretty big project on our plate with with Link Bus Rapid Transit.

So we do have a lot of, there's a lot of planning going into that.

So we're getting 12 electric vehicles with Bus Rapid Transit.

They're due to arrive towards the end of this year.

We have to do some testing and commissioning with those.

But those platforms are also gonna be elevated.

They're gonna be ETA signage, there's gonna be cameras, there's gonna be all these systems.

So, really, we just have to make sure, at this particular stage, that what we're getting works and it works well and it's reliable for our customers.

And I think we're starting to see that.

And certainly as BRT comes online, you'll start to see that with that mode of transportation as well.

- How can community members stay up to date with what's going on sort of in your world and specifically with this park and ride and beyond?

- Yeah.

So one of the great resources that the city has is we have a project portal.

So if you type into Google City of Rochester, MN, projects, it should pop up.

And you can scroll through the variety of projects that the city has.

There's a lot of street reconstruction projects, there's a lot of park and ride, this park and ride facility.

But there's other things, like our Bus Stop Improvement Project, which is another one of the projects that I'm working on.

If you're interested in any of those, that projects page will have a link to each project.

And when you click on those links, it will provide you the timeline, questions, resources, a contact person within the city, if you have any questions.

So, really, for this project and any others on the city, I would definitely encourage folks to visit that project website page, and that'll get you all the information you need.

- Excellent.

Well, I'm gonna throw you a bonus question since we have a little bit of time.

You mentioned this Bus Stop Improvement Project.

What is that?

- Sure.

So we're improving over 100 bus stops throughout the city.

The main goal of that project is really to make our transit system more accessible.

So what we've discovered is we have a lot of bus stops in boulevards, in grassy boulevards.

That's difficult for folks with mobility needs to get on and off the bus.

And so the objective of this project is to identify our highest ridership stops and make them accessible.

We're also improving over 26, I believe, shelter sites.

So if you're driving around Rochester, you might notice a couple of our shelters are a little outdated.

These will be updated, there'll be nice shelters, and then the concrete around there will be fixed, again, making this an accessible system for our entire city.

- Excellent.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Mike.

Thanks for all you do.

And we hope to stay up to date with all that's going on with this new park and ride.

- Great.

Thanks for having me.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town."

We learn all about a food truck that has just found a permanent home for their acai bowls.

(calm music) - On a trip to Arizona, and we were, Nancy and I were in Sedona, looking for something to eat for breakfast, and we saw this place that was an acai place.

And so we went to it 'cause we had never had it before.

And her son had raved about it when he was in Florida, so we thought we'd try it.

And we went there and each of us had a bowl and liked it.

Went back the next day.

Then we were in Phoenix the day after that and the same place was there.

So we went there the next two days after that as well, so... And then, like, the third or the fourth day that we were in, eating, I looked at Nancy and said, "This would be something that Rochester should have."

- Well, I've had a couple of businesses of my own in the past as a physical therapist, and so this isn't the first business that I've started.

But we just wanted something completely different than what we're currently, or were currently doing as a teacher and a physical therapist.

I still practice physical therapy.

But we wanted something kind of fun and less stressful.

And this just kinda popped up and it sounded interesting, so here we are.

- We went the food truck route to start with, just because we couldn't find a place that was to rent that was suitable for us as far as size and the cost of it.

And so we went and found a truck and converted it and started as a food truck in June of 2023.

Last August, I was looking on Facebook and saw that this place had come up available.

And it was approximately the right size, it had some of the things we already needed for, to open, so we decided to look into it more.

And we signed the lease papers in August for it.

(cheerful music) (cheerful music continues) (cheerful music continues) (cheerful music continues) (cheerful music continues) (cheerful music continues) (cheerful music continues) - So we have the fortune of working with a couple of gentlemen from Arizona, where we first encountered acai ourselves.

And so we worked with them.

We kind of took their menu, with their permission, and we've added to it.

And some of the things that we've added, they've now added to their menu in Arizona as well.

We're not franchised; we own this business.

But they kinda helped us get started, so we have a bit of a partnership with them.

Our bowls are similar to theirs in what's in them, but we renamed them to be more Minnesota, relative to Minnesota.

So we've got a Boundary Waters Bowl, we've got a... Well, the Indi Bowl is because of Indigo.

We've got a Superior Bowl.

We've got a Skol Bowl that we developed when we started going, we went up to a couple of Vikings games by request of them.

- The location, we like it because there aren't a lot of food places in this area of the city.

And it's nice to bring another option to this area of the city, and a healthy option at that.

- I like talking to the people that come into the store.

I like talking to the people that followed followed us in the truck.

You get to know people.

Some of our people, we know what they're gonna order before they walk up because they've been following us for two years.

I like working with the mostly teenagers that work for us.

It's just, it's a fun atmosphere.

(playful music) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) - [Interviewer] Does the llama have any significance?

- [Announcer] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KSMQ #RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - Hi, I am Danielle Teal with R-Town Spotlight.

We're here with Jon Allen at the Rochester Public Library.

Gonna chat about kids and activities.

Thanks so much, Jon.

What do you do at the Rochester Public Library?

- So I'm a youth services librarian.

And so, you know, we work with kids from 0 to, you know, 18, basically, so all ages.

And, you know, I do programming and some collection development.

And then we have special programs, we have special performers, things like musicians or magicians, or, you know, even animal, you know, people bring in animals from different, like, RAD Zoo or the Eagle Center, so, yeah.

You know, there's a bookmobile that kinda looks like our bookmobile that they can, you know, use imaginative play and interact with other children.

And there's a post office that they can deliver these letters to, that, you know, they have to have these, like, literacy skills to use their imaginations with.

What I like to see is just the kids that don't even know each other kinda of working together- - I know they love it.

- And building together.

Yeah, yeah.

- They really love it.

And my kid really loved the post office.

I mean, she took it seriously.

She was like the post person and, you know.

(playful music) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) (playful music continues) And story time occurs here too?

- Yeah, so we have our story times, you know, on Wednesday mornings.

There's kind of like a baby story time and then a toddler story time, where, you know, one's more gentle story time, where you're kind of, it's more of a lap sit for the younger children.

But, you know, all ages are welcome, like, with siblings and families.

And then the toddler one is a little bit more active.

- And expressive.

I've been to those with my daughter, and we had so much fun.

In fact, "Llama Llama Red Pajama," I read it the way that I saw it at story time because I was like, "Oh, my goodness."

Totally engaging and interactive.

And, okay, the final question is: what is your favorite kid book?

- Oh, I just read it today three times, actually.

- Did you?

- Yeah, so there's a book called "Bark, George," which is a picture book that... Basically it's this dog makes all these incorrect animal sounds, so it's like an animal sounds book.

And it just cracks the kids up because it's the wrong sounds.

And then there's kind of like a twist ending, but...

So you have to read it?

(George meows) (playful music) - No, George.

- I'm here with Kim Edson.

And what is your role at the Rochester Library?

- I am the deputy director of public services.

So, the library is a place to connect and learn and grow, and we do that in a lot of different ways.

We have a lot of interactive activities for adults and intergenerational activities.

Some really good examples are we run a number of book clubs, you know, the very traditional library thing, where people read books and talk about it.

What I love about that is we have people from all socioeconomic backgrounds coming together around a common theme and sharing conversation and discussion.

- I love that that is the continuous focus as we talk between you and John, is that community and connection.

Can you share a little bit more about, you know, what else is offered here in the atmosphere and environment for adults?

- Well, we also have your traditional things, right?

I don't know that you can function much in this culture without access to a computer.

So if you don't have one, we sure do: computers, printers, fax machines.

Oh, and if you have some of that old media laying around, like your VHS tapes that you'd like to digitize, we can help you with that too.

- [Danielle] Oh, my goodness.

I didn't even know that you all did that.

- You know, the library has things that people don't expect.

- Okay.

- We help our community with food insecurity.

Do you know how we do that?

- I did not know that.

Well, through seeds, right?

- Through seeds.

- Okay.

And I love that part, yeah.

- We have a seed library.

And we check out thousands of seeds free to the public.

We ask people plant them.

And we also provide related programming to help them give back their seeds when they're done with their harvest so that the next generation can enjoy them as well.

- Anything else you'd like to share?

- Well, you know, we're not just a building, right?

If you are interested in reading or listening to audiobooks, our collections are available 24/7 anywhere you have internet connection, with a library card, through our Libby app, which provides full content to thousands of books and audio books, and magazines.

- [Danielle] I have Libby, and it really is wonderful.

- [Kim] She's my best friend, totally my best friend.

- I mean, mine too.

Where can people get more information?

- rplmn.org.

Our website: rplmn.org.

Something for everyone is here at the library.

- Something for everyone.

That is a good way to sign off.

That is wonderful.

Thank you so much.

This is Danielle Teal with R-Town Spotlight.

- Thank you for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and the wonderful people making it happen.

For more content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town, the Show about Rochester."

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(birds chirping)