We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first investigating its merit. It is this standstill that Josh Barro argues in How Republicans Made Both Parties Stupid On [...]
Tag Archives | minnesota
All the ways we subsidize growth
A few weeks ago, I attended the ULI Minnesota program “Kicking the Habit: Unsustainable Economic Growth” that featured streets.mn contributor Chuck Marohn delivering his Strong Towns message. A brief plug – if you’re not a member of ULI, I recommend it. It’s one of the few professional organizations in the land use field that tends [...]
Lowertown’s Parking Challenge
This map sparked a few disparaging tweets, including a small #twitterwar with a City Council member. As it turns out, people get riled up about parking. It is as if they feel they are entitled to parking and the benefits thereafter. These blue spaces represent off-street surface parking lots and parking garages; but do not [...]
The Streets.MN Rundown
I’m going to steal a little something out of the Strong Towns Playbook (e.g.: Friday News Digest). Sorry Chuck, I’m stealing your idea! How does the saying go? Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery? Here we go … Sidewalk sales? Yes, please!, on Star Tribune Minneapolis is looking to change an ordinance to [...]
I love Minnesota accents
The nasal vowels, the multifunctional but monosyllabic ya’s and sure’s, the rs so deep they threaten to suck in the entire sentence… I love Minnesota accents. We’re not supposed to be ironic on the I Love series, and I’m not even going to try to defend its aesthetic merit. But whenever I return to the [...]
I Love Rice Park
“This week (Valentine’s Week), we have challenged ourselves at Streets.MN to be positive, which is really much harder than complaining (you see, already I am complaining about having to not complain). So we have a theme, about which we are not entitled to be snarky, What I love about Minnesota.” – David Levinson, I Love [...]
Do stroads cause more accidents?
FYI: You can read this on Strong Towns! The word “Stroad” has officially made it into the Urban Dictionary. “Noun. Portmanteau of “street” and “road”: it describes a street, er, road, built for high speed, but with multiple access points. Excessive width is a common feature. A common feature in suburbia, especially along commercial strips. [...]
Shipping Container Housing is a Terrible Idea
I bumped into an article on how Detroit will join some European nations and build America’s first shipping container building. It got me thinking: shipping container housing is a terrible idea. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Why? Because it’s the “same shit, different day” and “experiment on the poor” urban planning faux-avant garde-ism that [...]
Better balance in transportation possible as legislature swings to DFL
Just two years after the Minnesota State Senate and House of Representatives came under Republican control in the Tea Party wave of 2010, both houses flipped back to Democratic-Farmer-Labor majorities in the election this past Tuesday. This was a big surprise to local news outlets, who had expected Republicans to retain the upper hand. The [...]
Five Years After the Bridge Collapse, Transportation Priorities are Even Worse
Today is the five-year anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse, and stories about it are all over the news. Entrancing tales of plummeting, accidental heroes, and seemingly random acts of engineering whirl about. But I’m interested in something else: what have we learned from the bridge disaster? Short of a Hollywood apocalypse, the image of the [...]
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The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure
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Three Half-Assed Freeways That Nobody Will Miss
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Rails to Trails…to Rails
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No Parking and De-Signing Streets
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Free transit? A thought experiment.
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Three Half-Assed Freeways That Nobody Will Miss
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The Cases for (and Against) Public and Private Networks
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Podcast #36 – East Side Better Block with Andrew Howard
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Water for our future
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In a West End town, a dead end world
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Froggie: Most of the Hiawatha freeway fight wasn't in thos...
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Bill Lindeke: My crazy vision with half the Hiawatha Avenue ROW ...
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Bill Lindeke: 1) Bike path + freeway for cars = FAIL
2) Live ...
From the network
- All the Best US Cycle Tracks are Street Level: There has been a lot of discussion in the local bicycling scene about cycle tracks lately. “Cycle track” is a bit of a generic term. It may refer to a one-way or two-way facility. It may r...
- A Timeline of Los Angeles Transit Agencies: This timelime and diagram of Los Angeles transit agencies is impressive. It presents an honest history of transit agencies in Los Angeles and doesn't promote the false idea that there was some type of...
- Are Minnesota craft breweries doing enough to market themselves differently?: Communications Conversations Last week, I attended a great event at a craft brewery here in Minneapolis named 612Brew (hosted by Minnesota PRSA). I had a great time catching up with...
- The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure [Revisited]: We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first...
- The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure [@ Streets.MN]: We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first...
- The Zoning Battle Over Al’s Breakfast – A Form Based Code With a Side of Bacon: “Why would anybody ever eat anything besides breakfast food?” – Leslie Knope “People are idiots, Leslie.” – Ron Swanson When I heard Al’s might get redeveloped, I thought the end of the...
- What is the Constituency of a Local Land-Use Decision?: cross-posted at Streets.mn In the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, a local entrepreneur put together a proposal to develop a surface parking lot into a 5-story condo building with retail s...
- If Washington Ave doesn’t deserve bus lanes, what does?: According to Hennepin County, around 7,500 bus riders will travel on Washington Ave at peak hour (4:30-5:30 PM) between Hennepin and 35W on an average weekday in the year 2035. For some perspective, t...
- Reading the Highland Villager #86: [Basically the problem is that the best source of Saint Paul streets & sidewalks news is the Highland Villager, a very fine and historical newspaper. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its no...
- Greenways as a road to gentrification (happy hour Q and A): Who: Dr. Melody Hoffmann, bicycle advocacy researcher Where: Honey, 205 E Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55414 When: 5:30 pm on Thursday June 27th (program at 6:00pm) At this happy hour Q&a...
- Water for our future: Over at streets.mn I have a new post on the importance of water supply planning for the next regional plan. What does all this have to do with Minnesota? We have tons of water, right? Well, on the...
- Heart of Midtown threatened by widening of I-94 [in Detroit]: Opinion: Heart of Midtown threatened by widening of I-94. I read this headline to my students, who started laughing. Detroit, yes Detroit, Michigan is looking to widen a major highway, because presuma...
