North Hennepin News

Area entities with an interest in riverfront development are debating the potential of Commissioner Mike Opat's wishbone-shaped walkway over the Mississippi River located in downtown Minneapolis. 

The Hennepin County native official's vision includes a three-quarter-mile-long promenade, which would incorporate St. Anthony's infrastructure and connect the opposite banks of the river. 

In an interview with the Minneapolis Post, Opat said that if Minnesotans were to dream big about the plan, they could come up with something spectacular. 

Opat's proposal has received mixed reviews. Several approve of the idea, including local Native American communities and downtown business groups, who call the idea an ambitious plan that would open up the riverfront and hail more people into the downtown area. 

On the opposing side, members of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board aren't so sure that the wishbone plan is the right approach to revitalizing the downtown riverfront industry. 

Parks and Recreation Board Commissioner Brad Bourn told the Minneapolis Post that there were other visions for the river already in the works. 

"The park board and other stakeholders have been working on a vision for the river for a generation, and this plan looks interesting but it just sort of dropped out of the sky," Commissioner Bourn said to the Minneapolis Post. "It will take some time to reconcile the two visions."

Another Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Steffanie Musich, told the Minneapolis Post that Opat's proposal "fell real flat with the board of commissioners."

Minnetonka-based Commissioner Jan Callison told the Minneapolis Post that "she catches the energy and excitement of the project's supporters, but she needs more specifics on its cost and source of funding before she can make a full evaluation."

Opat said he hopes that a feasibility study will be conducted before his retirement at the end of this year, in order to provide the commissioners with a more specific price tag and other details.