Metro briefs: TED event comes to Fridley on Oct. 30

City officials, community members and the local school district are organizing a TEDxFridley event on Oct. 30. Six speakers will share stories tied to the evening's theme: "Belong."

Organizer Kathy Kraemer, a K-12 instructional technology coordinator for the Fridley Public Schools district, said every speaker will incorporate the theme into their talk.

"It's going to be a great time," Kraemer said. "People can expect to be inspired by the talks, meet new people and community members."

"TEDxFridley becomes a hub for generating fresh perspectives. It gives local residents a chance to share favorite aspects of their region, and people from points farther out to experience the richness of the Fridley community," according to the website.

This is the second TEDx event in the city. The first was held at the Fridley school district.

The event, hosted by U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, will take place from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Passion Event Center in Fridley. For more information visit http://tedxfridley.com.

Karen Zamora

The owners of Travail Kitchen, the Rookery and Pig Ate My Pizza are planning to grow everything from fruits and vegetables to herbs as soon as next spring after the Travail Collective's request prompted a city ordinance change this month to allow agriculture and greenhouses in residential neighborhoods.

Chef and co-owner James Winberg said the collective hopes to get city approval for a conditional use permit and the purchase of a vacant lot off 45th Avenue N. and Orchard Avenue N. by the end of the year. The land is owned by the city. "The long-term goal is to have a functioning agricultural center," he said.

That could include garden beds and a low-impact greenhouse as soon as next spring. The lot is on a high water table so developers have abandoned efforts to build a house, City Manager Marcia Glick said. She added that the city doesn't expect many other commercial greenhouse requests since there aren't many vacant lots left in the city.

KELLY SMITH

Officials are imploring residents of nine northeast metro suburbs to weigh in on what they think of Comcast's cable products and services, and local community programming.

The North Suburban Communications Commission includes the cities of Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, Roseville and St. Anthony.

The topic overall is your vision for local media in the north suburbs, "now and for the future."

The 5- to 10-minute online survey is found at http://tinyurl.com/q8tubna or www.ctvnorthsuburbs.org.

Staff report

The West St. Paul City Council will review several potential locations for a new water tower Monday evening.

"An additional water tower is a very important addition for all residents and businesses in the community because it reduces the exposure to losing water service if the community lost power for an extended period of time," city documents state.

The additional tower is expected to cost $2 million. St. Paul Regional Water Services will fund the new infrastructure using fees paid by its customers.

City officials are looking at sites near the ice arena, in Garlough Park and on private property at 1641 Oakdale Av.