i want to welcome you to the river stewards recognition luncheon a name that just rolls right off the tongue the river stewards say it with me the river stewards recognition luncheon ye you know i was i was well paging through a copy of the convenience store monthly before the program began and if you haven't read it yet it's a fascinating read but it reminded me of a few things that are very important to this institution and first let me introduce myself my name is don shelby hold on no that's not right i'm tom middlebrook and i'll be at table five sorry about that and on behalf of the board of directors of the james j hill reference library i would like to welcome you to our humble home  as i was saying reading through convenience store monthly kind of reminded me that our institution is at a turning point right now where because the world started carrying the library around in their back pocket we found it necessary to reinvent ourselves and part of that reinvention was some of the music that you just heard we have a monthly show here called the real phonic radio hour with eric koskinen and frank the real phonic show as a celebration of poetry and literature and americana music that we do every third thursday so we have one coming up this coming week on thursday night with haley binary and it's a two hour show and thanks to the support of people like our very own mayor chris coleman we've had a wonderful first year and we're very appreciative of that we are also engaged in a project called studio which is an entrepreneurial workshop where we working with business leaders from all across the country in four day seminars to develop entrepreneurial thinking in their businesses and to develop a greater sense of creativity in the workplace so essentially we found that the library isn't tied to the medium of a book instead it's tied to the idea of creating communities and building content out of those communities and then that we're very pleased to be working with the riverfront corporation as well and i get to say this now because patrick see been i have been working on a project the last few months called conversations on the city and because i beat him to the punch now i can drop the whole project in his lap so thank you very much for that and to all of the honorees here today congratulations and thank you for your work in developing our community and now i'd like you all to enjoy a lunch that i got up very early and prepared especially for each one of you thanks so much for  good afternoon everyone it's a good you're ok i have been told that this is a very very difficult crowd to kind of gather there at tension and so if you could bear with me for just a few moments i was a jim bradshaw as my name i serve as the current chair of the same power riverfront corporation i was sitting next to david lowly and i said to david i said well maybe we can get ourselves back on track time wise because when we were all trying to be seated i noticed that we might be about ten minutes off here so i will try and i'll try to stick to the script as i told you i'm currently the chair of the riverfront corporation  behalf of the entire board and staff i'd like to welcome all of you here today what started as a very modest idea a few years ago has grown into a very important part of our tradition so we gather here during this holiday season as friends and partners colleagues and collaborators to tip our hat into recognize a special few who have made extraordinary contributions to our field of work i can imagine a more worthy trio than the three who will be acknowledged today i will turn to several board members to assist me and help me with this moment and that will come up very shortly but before we do that i want to call out some very important guests in the room i know everybody's important in the room here but these are folks that have been and continue to be city builders and community builders first i'd like to are grateful to all of you for all of the work that you have done and all of the work that you continue to provide to this community i saw really special you know i look around the room and i mean these are you all are people that make a difference in this community and what is great to see is the food the conversation that is happening prior to us being seated today so again thanks to all  st paul river front corporation is blessed to have strong relationships with so many individuals organizations in the community is sort of collaboration with the city st paul with foundations and corporations and with fellow  nonprofits that we're able to do our work briefly highlight some of the work over the past year together with our city partner st paul we have reaffirmed the work of the design cent positioned it to serve not only the downtown and river central corridor and other parts of the city as well and neighboring communities we're currently we're growing the great river gathering as the same paul's annual town dinner and this past year we worked with more than a dozen organizations to incorporate the weeklong community dialogue known as the charles landry residency are assisting the pain maryland partnership in his vision for a new multi purpose community center on the city's east side and we're growing our knowledge and reach through our work beyond the city of st paul as a host to the rose architectural fellow a massachusetts based program as a leader for the midwest regional session of the mayor's institute for city design a washington d c based training institute and  work with wise that does lake front and minneapolis river first grader stillwater chamber is also called upon our staff to discuss their riverfront as it develops and to learn from us as we look forward to two thousand and thirteen we continue these traditions and look forward to new practices again our work is done in partnership and and with so many others too numerous to mention but today today we are going to be recognizing three very well deserving people but before we do that i'm going to introduce all of you to and invite on stage and introduce michelle barnes she's a visual theatrical and spoken word artist who a share her interpretation of why individuals matter and she is known as so if you google it you'll find her listed as michelle be so please welcome michelle  ok can everyone hear me clearly all right good morning good afternoon it's twelve thirty right ok city building city planning urban design investment analysis finance management the vel revitalization the commonality is work work the definition of work the product of an applied force moving an object through distance work the product of an applied force moving an object through distance formula work equals force over time formula work equals force over time force over time working overtime to achieve the next deadline working overtime to accomplish the specified goal work the product of an applied for moving an object through distance from one place to another from one place to another moving the plan from one place to another moving the idea of moving an entire business moving an entire organization from one place to another machine a device that changes of force a device that changes the size distance and direction of a force machine a device that changes a force machine a person that changes a force a person that changes the size distance and direction of a force machine changing the size changing the capacity expanding expanding changing the size changing the size of one's work expanding the space expanding the surface area over which one's work is felt machine changing the distance changing the distance changing the distance over which a force x machine changing direction changing direction changing direction realizing that this way is no longer working realizing that this way takes too long changing direction realizing that this way is simply inefficient changing direction realizing that this way deciding that this way is the direction we should be moving work they applied force moving an object through space time from one place to another when can one feel that their work has truly been powerful efficient enough can one ever feel that their work has truly been enough acknowledgment is here acknowledging the power of one person with several hands busy moving busy moving putting things together busy moving separating rearranging busy moving all hands on deck busy moving every single part of the brain on deck busy moving working working working working while awake working through sleep working while awake working through sleep working working working working rebuilding working when can one feel that their work has truly been powerful when can one feel that their work has truly been powerful when they are busy moving at a constant busy moving at a constant rate work not often recognised busy moving details of their work not widely publicized but quietly there providing offering still working providing offering producing when can one feel that the product of their applied force over time has truly been powerful when can one feel the product of their applied force over time has truly been farfel acknowledgment is here now with us the acknowledgment is here now with us are the ones who transcend to new dimensions of success with us are the ones who transcend to new dimensions of success wow what a delightful piece let's give this young artist michel be another round  hunt i'm the environmental policy director for mayor chris coleman and i'm here today as a member of the board of directors of the st paul river front corporation i have the distinct pleasure to be able to introduce our first of three tonight paige coles is well known in our community for her work at the children's theater at planned parenthood at a great wealth press pages always elegant poised and engaged i know her as a go to person on river issues just last fall when interior secretary ken salazar was here to visit the mississippi national river and record river recreation area not to say that said to us the mississippi national river recreate and recreation area the national park service wanted the community leaders to gather with the secretary of interior along with governor dayton and some other dignitaries and they were going to be on a pontoon boat tour the mississippi page was bundled up with work boots on and gloves and she enthusiastically showed off our great river valley to all the people there with a knowing guide that she is page's also earned her so she earned her spot on that boat for years a balance touring with the trust for public land she was a founding member of trust for public lan minnesota and she was instrumental in formalizing that the charter here in minnesota would be focused on the mississippi as well as the north woods and city parks for those two program areas the river in the city there were expressed in t p l's most recent work with the blue spencer nature sanctuary in the work paige role the person leaves and assisted others namely the lower failing creek ject as well as the dayton's blah blah neighborhood  their vision it's not to say the page is not a visionary herself she is with the idea of the gateway park connecting downtown minneapolis to the river is now commonly concept page was encouraging community leaders to consider this years ago when the concept of a small park in front of the new minneapolis public library it was first discussed page it in my eyes is think globally and act locally she has risen to the national prominence as the chair of the san francisco based trust for public lands where she has influenced national conversations about the mystery about rivers and she applies that work to here and st paul most recently page has been set for  us is that the word we want to say yes very formidable advocate for the frogtown farms project here in st paul which will be fully recognized yes we should clap for five time f when that project is fully recognized it will connect that neighborhood to the mississippi river along the victoria park or street for these and many unmentioned contributions the same corporation i want you all to join me and recognizing page calls as the two thousand and twelve river st the small token comes afterwards apparently i have to sing for my supper before i get my small token happy to do it thank you all so much for this honor i teased patrick saying i'd cut down my twenty minute speech to a fifteen minute speech and i knew he wouldn't mind he gave me a minute so this will be brief i really feel so privileged to be able to work with so many others in this community to protect the natural assets that are so much a part of minnesota and who we are as a state and we're protecting them not just for ourselves but also for our children and current generations as right future generations where the current generation future generations there is nothing more important than we could be doing and other a lot of and porton things to be doing but for our future and the future of our children to protect our natural assets is a very worthy endeavor and i have as i've said to several of you already today the work itself is the reward of the mississippi river and its watershed our treasures for our city our region our country the world and you know the mississippi river is one of the things you can see from space it really is a world renowned spot i consider myself so lucky to be able to live in such close proximity and to have the opportunity to act as a steward in this way thank you very  hello everyone can you hear me all right good i'm delighted to be among my fellow supporters of the mississippi river it's just a great place to be and you're wonderful people to be with and i'm very honored to introduce our next recipient you know long before the recent joint effort between minneapolis and st paul to establish the greater m s p and to be for a shared transportation agenda and submittals for daschle events such as the republican national convention and even before the mayors of the two cities had each other's phone numbers j coles was advocating for regional approach to the mississippi river i remember when jay first described the opportunity for the mississippi river becoming the central park of the twin cities and he's been working towards that and ever since it's difficult to say precisely when jay began to make his mark on the mississippi river perhaps it was in the early one nine hundred ninety s when he chaired the waba shah bridge task force its purpose was to study design options and financial feasibility but its greatest accomplishment we have may have been the end veiling of the pent up demand for our reclaiming the mississippi river j was swept up in a flood of enthusiasm becoming a leader in what someday will be known as our river area era in his own wonderful style he lad and i can speak to this personally the same fall river fr corporation to new heights sometimes by gentle nigerien and sometimes by not so very gentle nudging but always leading as he chaired our board and co chair the fund raising campaigns for harrie island landmark plaza and the lighting of the stone arch bridge now jay's commitment to the grand excursion two thousand and four may have exceeded all others he spent five days on the mississippi queen and hannibal missouri i'm sure there is many stories from those times jane but they were awaiting high waters to recede so the mighty queen could pass under this very very low bridge when jay's ten year on the riverfront corporation board came to an end he quickly put his energy toward the itasca project and he as you know that's made all kinds of inroads in our greater metropolitan amazing effort and he co chaired among other things it's transportation initiative today he's a friend of the st paul public library and on the board of the st paul public schools foundation but his heart has always been with the river no doubt influenced by page's passion for new urban green space today he co chairs the gateway committee to create new park space connecting downtown minneapolis to guess what the mississippi river does that sound a little bit like landmark plaza but perhaps the best evidence that he hasn't given up on the idea of the mississippi river as the central park of the twin cities jay is become an active member of the mississippi river fund an organization whose mission is to build support just think of it for our seventy two mile stretch of the mississippi river from coon rapids to hastings for all that he has done and for all that we know he will do the same paul riverfront corp is very very proud to call a j calls our two thousand and twelve river well i resent the fact that this is occasionally referred to as a lifetime achievement award it ain't over yet i also must say with with every word that is directed at me i find myself thinking of everyone in this room and so many others who are there with me at every moment of accomplishment and so i want to just recognize that as much as  i i can appreciate that i have had some wonderful successes personally this really for me is an opportunity to remember the whole community the whole collaboration that led to our successes over the past two decades that i've been involved i also want to very specifically i've lived in st paul about twenty years and when i moved into my neighborhood getting to know the neighbors i asked one of my neighbors who my i respected and and wanted to hear from david lilley sr what he thought was an important thing to focus on  st paul what was a way to get to know st paul and and to contribute to the future and he very quickly and without a lot of explanation just said the mississippi river and it was one of the great pieces of advice i've ever gotten for me the mississippi is our most powerful resource here in st paul it is an endless source of stories it has shaped our commerce it has shaped our recreation it is the source of our  bonds with this piece of land with this place and as we've come to appreciate at least i have one develops very powerful bonds with the geography that one know and we have one of the great stretches this great s shaped bend in the river is a spectacular renewable resource it brings joy to me and i hope to you i look forward to this work continuing for many years to come thank you thank you very much that's just tree so great to see both of calls today well deserved but we have another recipient and i'm going to enter do is board member dan mcguinness to introduce the recipient and so dan has been on the riverfront corp board for some time and i think we all know him as being a huge advocate of the river  virginia it's been a very great honor for me to serve with virginia and our other fellow board members here on the board of the st paul or a front corporation that's not where you usually find me  these days i'm usually out on the river in my john boat and one day this summer i was sitting out on my john boat right out here in the middle of the river kind of between the street bridge and the high bridge and it was a real calm day and i looked into the water and reflected back at me was a mirror image of st paul and its waterfront a panorama that started at the  highbridge swept around through downtown lower town gaines bluff then across the open water to the airport barge terminals the west side harriet island and back to the high bridge again in that reflection of our city i saw not only a diverse landscape a mix of natural and urban but a truly global diversity of people bringing their families and cultures to this place we call home and i began to appreciate one of the great strengths of st paul the diversity of its people which increasingly is being reflected in the diversity of its leadership so i'm really pleased from the bottom of my heart i am pleased to honor one of those leaders women lou who is early vision and persistent leadership initiated the rejuvenation of st paul's riverfront in lowertown in the bruce vento nature sanctuary way meaning grew up in an architect's family in john high and nanjing china his studies practice took him around the world before he finally launched a three decade career in st paul as leader of the newly established lower tone redevelopment corporation that was in one nine hundred seventy nine arguably arguably his visionary work river garden spawned a whole generation of work along the entire mississippi river that resulted in a new way of thinking about how the downtown river should be treated as one and bruce gunter nature sanctuary is but one manifestation of this concept without his passionate voice we would not be celebrating the renovation of the union depot he envisioned its potential long before others and fought off plans to turn the venue into a trucking facility for a us post office representative betty mccollum once said about wade being that he is quote a master who understands that the human connection to space and place is what defines a living city that makes community and shapes urban life unquote perhaps it's fitting that i conclude with some words from way maine himself in a recent writing he said seeking a balance between new and old east and west economic development and environmental protection thus may we build a creative livable and sustainable world thank you thank you so much one can never predict when slifer and and then when i first got the job to come back to same paul this was a street to a sick yes oh possibility of a job but never and expect to stay for twenty six years thank you so much i never expected to receive this kind of honor because there's so much is imo to so many people  that this gives me an opportunity to sink the many partners that we are in death to it was most heartening to be at the union depot last week and seeing the beautiful restoration and of the smiley crowd without the story doesn't nation stopping the post office expansion on the river front a certain point and the ramsey county post office depot would never be restored of course riverfront corporation and low town together we also co host the visit of the amtrak president one year and i think patrick still remember that happy and now we can see that amtrak will be back next year so behind every rehab rotation in a lower tone there is a story and many partners i couldn't really tell them all of the city the artists the art space and even after three thirty or we never gave up then the first ottis housing was created and the rest is history today not on parking lot in the late seventy's so to finish up the city building really never never have a completion date as one thing phrase is finished another already begun so i do hope in the will be built as a great place for us nature and cultural activity saying polo would be an ever more livable creative and sustainable city thank you very much well good afternoon everyone it's good to see you here first of all let's give a thanks to the board of the hill library and time and everybody for allowing us to come into this beautiful state artist this is going to be great and one of the things i really want to do is to have this room turn people away on those nights because it's just it has become such a thing so if you haven't been to a show if you've been to a show you know you want to come back if you haven't been to one come this there is if you can michel be asked the question how will one know when their work has truly been powerful so i want to rephrase that just a little bit and answer that how will we know when our work has truly been powerful will know our work truly been powerful we do know that our work has truly been powerful when we can gather here at this beautiful space on a beautiful day to honor people that have given so much time and so much service to this community in so many different ways we know that our work has truly been powerful when folks like page and j who have so many different places that they can give their time so many different ways that they can contribute to this community decide that the most important thing that they can do is be a part of the revitalization of the riverfront in the city of st paul in minneapolis we know that our work has been powerful when someone like waving lou can stand like a proud father looking at the tens of thousands of people that came into the depot last weekend for the for the rebirth of that incredible facility and just stood there with a smile without a need for recognition it was so proud of that because he knew that he had been there at the beginning of that effort we know our work has been powerful when a hockey guy from the side named jim mcdonough can send so much of his time and energy to devoted to restoring that beautiful facility in lowertown that took its place among the great buildings of the city of st paul we know our work is powerful when someone from minneapolis comes to st paul for dinner and not just because they couldn't get a reservation at le bel v we know our work is powerful when we can tell generations that we have preserved the river we have connected the river and we have done what we could to ultimately make st paul in this community a better place but i think the way that we most will know that our work has been powerful when it no longer matters who is in this room when it no longer matters whether page or j or waning or any of the others of you that have been honored as were seward's we will know our work is powerful when the work is carried out by future generations when the same level of commitment that we bring to this effort is brought by our children our grandchildren and future generations for many generations to come and ultimately we know that our work has been powerful when we look at what is happening in the city of st paul and we know that the resurgence and the renaissance of this city the articles in the paper that talk about the different sense of what is happening in this community is taking place before one person rides the right right light rail line into downtown before one pitch is pitched at the new regional ballpark before one bag of groceries is bought at lund's and yet we have created something where those new buildings have a firm foundation upon which to be built this is an amazing effort that we have undertak people before us people that are with us and people yet to come our work is powerful because we had a vision we had a dream and we knew that we could do better by a river that we could do better by our community and we could do better for all generations to come thank you for being stewards of the river we honor three today we've honored many in the past we are all stewards of the river we all are protectors of this great asset but we are all builders of the future of st paul our work is powerful we have much work to do thank you very much and have a great day mr mayor and thanks to all for being here today and enjoying the opportunity of honoring those that have really really made a difference in this community so again there will be music that will close  with a real fine excess and thank you tom middlebrook and all of the folks from the james j hill reference library again have a great day and thank you much