nora the mayor of maplewood the city recently launched an updated city of maplewood website the site has a new look and many additional features it was designed to make it easy for you to find information and services you need it will be a valuable new tool for our citizens as part of the website updates the city's u r l has changed to a dot gov address the new web address  men dot gov also the e mail address is also changed the old ones will continue to work for a few more months as part of the rebranding process the city has also updated its logo after input from the public the city council and staff a graphic designer created a new look the old city logo will gradually be phased out and residents will soon start seeing the new logo throughout the community one new feature of the website is a community menu with links to resources and organizations in our community the business and development menu has links to projects and resources such as our programs to encourage business growth in maplewood the city of maplewood supports economic development through maintaining a high quality infrastructure ensuring responsible land use and providing our services to our business community our staff is working with xcel energy on a program called energize maplewood maplewood is a second city and minnesota to participate with x l as partners in energy the city's track record of leadership and sustainability made a strong candidate for this program we invited our business community to meet with xcel for breakfast and then formative program local business leaders share their stories and learned how to take advantage of the energy saving programs the four hundred eighty thousand square foot facility is nearly complete the new building demonstrates a significant investment by three m into maplewood three m is also remodelling an existing building for a new design cent these new facilities will help to attract the best and the brightest professionals to work for three m and help our economy grow the city recently built a new fire station and police substation near the three m facility on land that was donated to the city by three m they were really excited to be here today for the groundbreaking of the new south maple wood fire and police station it's been a long time in coming it's been over three years now since we made some of the changes to the fire department and decided to build one station in the middle of the south leg to cover both of those land that they were doing the groundbreaking and to move forward and it's going to be outstanding this station is going to replace two that we exist in lee have and put us more in the center as well as give us the opportunity to better serve the community we're also adding a police station portion of it which will help better serve the south and i'm a poet at the same time so it's a win win for all of us and we're really thankful to all those who've been great partners with this three terror the construction companies as well as all of our legislators and partners in our council and mayor and everyone else who's been so actively involved in making this come to where we are today and our goal is to be in to in november one everyone for coming this morning for the ribbon cutting of the new south fire station and so police substation this is a very very important new addition to the maple wood fire department actually do maplewood as a whole our city was awarded to grants in conjunction with the safe routes to school infrastructure program the ass r t s project completed a major segment of the county road b corridor trail the new segment connects the existing trail that leads to the maplewood community center provides a safe route for students walking or biking to john glen middle school and weaver elementary school residents will have a safe route to walk or bike to the m c c and all the way to the kalar lake regional park the opening celebration was held at weaver school because really you know if you don't actually go for a walk so before we get going we have a couple people who just want to say a couple words just to thank everybody for making this happen and everything else thank you thanks kid this is a really great journey are you ready to have a new side walk lee first of all the city of maplewood really believes in china else and keeping our kids and our family safe and giving them a place to ride their bikes or walk their dogs or just enjoy being outside so we're happy to have this project come to fruition and we're really pleased way over that way all the way down to city hall in our community center so we're really happy about that but this is a really exciting project for us we know you're going to enjoy the new trail and we're really pleased to be a part of it today and go on the first walk with you all thank like to invite superintendent christina sorry all to come up and say a couple things thank you i am so excited to be here this morning and i want to extend a huge thank you to the city of maplewood because you live in a really special community here and we have a wonderful partnership between our city and our school district and our county and we have a whole community that believes in safe and healthy kids and i'm so excited that we have expanded our walking and biking space for all of you to enjoy and keep everybody safe and healthy so just so proud to be a part of this community and thank you so much for all the collaborative efforts that went into mak of our streets and the clearing of sidewalks and trails are the street divisions highest profile job here is michael thompson our public works director with a few reminders for this winter season maplewood has one hundred eighty miles of city county and state roadways within its borders city staff is responsible for plowing one hundred thirty five miles of those streets remember to be prepared for winter driving and possible delays due to the weather don't crowd the snow plow give them room to work city crews can use your help don't throw or plow snow from your driveway onto the street please keep children away from curbs and boulevards when snow plows are working also please discourage and snow piles on the boulevards plows throw tons of heavy snow during heavy snowfall that can quickly bury a child or cause a tunnel to collapse the city will use salt in other d i sers when there is hazardous ice or other slippery conditions we are very concerned about the effects of such chemicals on the environment and use only what is required for the road conditions you can help by keeping fire hydrants clear of snow so that the fire department has quicker in recent years from the living streets policy and initiative i two major work on highway thirty six in english street in white bear avenue the city continues to move forward transportation infrastructure makes our city a better and safer place to live you can learn about these and other projects on our website under the business and development manual the infrastructure projects in transforming maplewood sections of the website feature future planning and projects that will keep maplewood among minnesota's leading cities the minnesota transportation alliance recently presented mayor norris lawak with a twenty fifteen transportation advocate award this award is given to an individual who has shown outstanding leadership and commitment on behalf of improving minnesota's transportation infrastructure mayor norris lawak is recognized as a regional leader on transit initiatives serving on the rush line tas task force has been holding public meetings and working to determine the areas future transit needs and feasibility of the transit way the economic development potential of this is good news for maplewood there have been numerous events and open houses held to inform area residents and get their input one of the potential routes runs within the group's vento corridor some residents have expressed concerns about trains or buses that may use that route the bruce vento trail core was a freight rail line right away the ramsey county regional rail authority purchased the corps or to preserve it for future transit use they made it clear that the trail would remain no matter what option is chosen and saying that there is room for both and a trail within the corps or city staff will be working closely with the rail authority staff to ensure that all public concerns are addressed and additional routes are explored and we look forward to additional public meetings as the planning thanks for watching we'll see him next time