East Side resident Franklin Meath picked up his older sister, 90-year-old Phyllis Jensen, outside Mears Park on Tuesday, Aug. 14, to take her to the voting booth at Central Presbyterian Church, behind Minnesota Public Radio at 10th and Cedar Street. They never arrived.
Construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line has not made the democratic process easier at 10th and Cedar. The view from a pedestrian walkway over Cedar Street, extending from the McNally Smith College of Music to the Central Presbyterian Church. A "Vote Here" sign outside the church at 500 Cedar St. directs voters to a primary polling booth on Aug. 14, 2012.
“There was no way we could get to it,” said Meath, who spent a frustrated stretch of his morning driving up, down and around downtown construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line.
“She has never missed an election — she couldn’t get in there,” Meath said. “They even had the sidewalks blocked off. We couldn’t even get near there.”
Cedar Street becomes impassable at 7th Street, where crews are working on train tracks up to the State Capitol building.
Meath said the voting booth should have been moved to Galtier Plaza or another location in light of light rail construction, and the area’s large senior population. “This construction is not a surprise,” he said. “They’ve known for months it was going to be plugged up like that.”
Ramsey County Elections Manager Joe Mansky said elections officials did, in fact, plan ahead. Downtown residents in Ward 2, precincts 9 and 10, were issued a letter with a map showing how to get to the church’s 9th Street entrance, as well as voter parking on Minnesota Street.
In addition, the Scoop spotted a sketchy-looking pedestrian walkway that traverses Cedar Street from the McNally Smith School of Music on East Exchange Street to the church’s backdoor.
Lauren Allen, head election judge for the 500 Cedar St. polling place, said downtown has many senior residents, but light rail construction is hardly new to them. He was still sympathetic, and said he, too, sometimes had to scratch his head at detour signs that give no indication as to where they lead off to.
“Because we’re drawing most of the people from the immediate area, they understand that light rail is going through,” Allen said. “It’s not a surprise that there are many detours. But that doesn’t make it easier for them. It’s difficult to do by car. It certainly isn’t easy to navigate the detours.”
Here’s the letter and map that Ramsey County sent out:
letter to voters in 2-9 and 2-10 on light rail construction – 2012 (2)