A bit of Eden Prairie crystal-ball gazing in the early 1970s is proving more accurate than many might have guessed. When the city’s Major Center Area Task Force in 1973 concluded its work to guide future development of the area surrounding Eden Prairie Shopping Center, it hoped that options like personal rapid transit or what it called Computer Automated Transit Systems (CATS) would be part of the system to keep traffic moving. In fact, it said development of a CATS system in Eden Prairie by 1995 “may be practical.” Well, the forecasted date was off, but today’s construction of light-rail…
Author: Mark Weber
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Mark Weber
Mark joined the Eden Prairie News as a reporter in 1979, just five years after its start, and spent the next 34 years in various roles including editor and publisher, as well as general manager of the parent company, Southwest Newspapers. He also published Edible Twin Cities magazine. His encore career was serving the nonprofit Eden Prairie Community Foundation as executive director. Mark is now retired. He and his wife, Roma, have two grown sons and a daughter-in-law, as well as a grandson. They have lived in Eden Prairie since 1984. "I hope the many words I have typed over the years have helped people understand the world around them."
You can travel from the Southwest LRT construction project of today to the horse-drawn wagon days, more than 150 years ago, without a time machine and without leaving Eden Prairie. It’s possible because city officials have pinpointed and are preserving a portion of a long-ago wagon road along the Minnesota River. It’s a roadbed that in even earlier times may have seen oxcart traffic. It’s difficult to access, and could stay that way for some time. The road segment is barely discernible on the now-wooded bluffs in southeastern Eden Prairie. The area is also the subject of a preservation plan…
Lisa Toomey and PG Narayanan won four-year seats on the Eden Prairie City Council in the election decided Tuesday, with Toomey topping other candidates in 18 of 20 voting precincts. Unofficial totals from the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State had Toomey with 19,366 votes, Narayanan with 17,262 votes and Ryan Miske, who was not elected, with 15,056 votes. This was the first city council campaign for Toomey and Miske. Narayanan finished as a runner-up in 2018 but was later appointed to fill a vacant seat, making this his second run for council and first win. “I am extremely…
The word “couple” seems inadequate to describe Mary Jane and Basil Wissner. “Doting couple” would be closer, but not quite there. “Soulmates,” maybe? Married for 58 years, the Wissners were known for their community involvement and philanthropy in Eden Prairie, where they lived since the late-1960s. “They were joined at the hip,” says friend Gary Stevens. Mary Jane, he recalls, would admit she was the apple of her father’s eye and even a little bit spoiled before Basil, a Marine lance corporal who grew up in an orphanage, came into her life. Her dad wondered aloud if this new guy…
Eden Prairie photographer Kelley Regan has captured beauty. Experience her images here, watery jewels dotting the Eden Prairie landscape. Red Rock Lake hosts a majestic eagle and Trumpeter swans in a calm courtship, and sunset closes in on the wooded banks. There’s evidence year-round, but Autumn is a blunt reminder of Eden Prairie’s natural beauty. The community continues to grow and develop while holding fast to its lakes, hills, prairies, and woodlands. At Bryant Lake we see the power and calm of a windsurfer treading ripples and a lush green overlook with deep blue waters. We are enfolded into a…