ROBBINSDALE, Minn. — For at least 65 years, a siren at the Robbinsdale water tower would sound.
City Manager Tim Sandvik says initially it was used as an emergency paging system but its purpose eventually changed to alert young people of citywide curfews in place.
"There was a rhythm to it," Sandvik said. "It was about in the 10-15-second range."
Sandvik says, over the years, curfew ordinances came and went. Currently, there is no curfew ordinance. Even so, the siren rang out every day at 9 p.m., and people got used to hearing it.
"Sometimes, communities hear the church bells and we know it's noon," Sanvik said. "Nine o'clock curfew siren was [the way] Robbinsdale residents knew it was 9:00."
On Aug. 22, the city stopped the alert because its power and technology systems were housed in a facility scheduled to be demolished.
"At that time, staff went to the city council and said, 'Hey, listen, this thing is coming down. The technology is obsolete,'" Sandvick said. "As time went by, more people recognized. 'Oh, I'm not hearing that at 9:00.'"
Robbinsdale is getting a new, 750,000-gallon water tower and the old one will stay up as a landmark. As for the siren, the city manager is gathering feedback and the city council will discuss the issue at a future council meeting.
"More recently, there's been a little bit of social media chatter of an effort to bring it back," Sanvik said. "For that new technology, set the power back up to get something up and running … maybe $6,000-10,000."
Sandvik says, so far, some residents are fine without having the extra noise and some feel the money could be used elsewhere. However, he says many people miss it.
"I think this is a circumstance that it's a bigger question of value and not of cost," Sandvik said. "I got to hear a lot of fun stories of people that have been here for their entire life, generations of, 'I've got this funny story. I've got this – you know – how we've observed it for years and years.' ... How important something like this is. It's a unique charm to a lot of people."
To provide feedback, contact city manager Tim Sandvik at tsandvik@ci.robbinsdale.mn.us.
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