The Streets.MN Rundown
What’s happening around the Twin Cities and Minnesota … Bipartisan support for I-94 Expansion between Maple Grove & St. Cloud [Star Tribune] You know what we need? More lanes on I-94 to St. Cloud. “Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, backed by a bipartisan cohort of about three dozen lawmakers, local elected officials and business folks, … Read more
The Next Big Thing …
Note: Also on the Strib … (I corrected a lot of the spelling errors there, but not here -didn’t have enough time) One of the few podcast I’m still listening to on a regular basis is NPR’s Planet Money (it’s one of the few NPR shows that doesn’t put me to sleep). They have some … Read more
The Benefits of High Speed Rail [Parts 1 & 2]
[V150 train, modified TGV, conventional World speed record holder at 357.2 mph from WikiCommons] Over at Streets.MN, guest writer Matt Sindt has written two solid pieces on high speed rail and its potential in the United States. I recommend heading over there and checking out both [Part 1] and [Part 2]. Here’s a sample: For over … Read more
Urban entertainment districts @ Salon.com
You can read a few quotes from myself over at Salon.com in a great piece by Will Doig. Will writes about cities in Salon and has some really stellar pieces (e.g.: Rust Belt chic: Declining Midwest cities make a comeback and Whole Foods is coming? Time to buy). Here are a few excerpts from the … Read more
Urban success stories: St. Louis Park’s transformation
[There is a tendency while blogging to dwell on the negative. I’ve done this in the past, but I’m going to attempt to concentrate on the positives for this post. Good things do happen, and I think they should be highlighted] 36th Street west of Highway 100 probably looked like pretty rough 10 years ago. It almost … Read more
More bikes, healthier cities (and advocating with statistics)
The Star Tribune ran an article recently regarding the benefits of biking more (“More bikes, healthier cities“): If half of all short trips during the summer months were done on two wheels instead of four, the Twin Cities would prevent nearly 300 deaths each year and save $57 million in medical costs, according to a … Read more
Watching the 2010 Tour de France in Spin Class …
For the first time in months, I went to the spin class at my local gym. Prior to the start of the class, the instructor put on a DVD of the 2010 Tour de France. I proceeded to break a sweat while being barked at with generic, but encouraging, statements (e.g.: “Keep it up!” and “You can do … Read more
Starter homes: Re-working the dialogue
[Author's Note: We need to change our cultural dialogue on housing (e.g.: treating houses as homes, not short-term investment properties). I'll be testing out here what will hopefully be a small series on the topic.] Starter home. Apparently, I need one. In theory, starter homes sounds like a good idea: a smaller, cheaper home for someone (or … Read more
Why new buildings typically ignore the street
The River Crossing Apartments in St. Paul are pretty good. It’s probably St. Paul’s largest project in recent memory; and it’s an infill project, dense, nicely landscaped, moderately well designed, connected to transit and near the great biking and walking paths along the Mississippi River. It can be a little bland, but all-in-all, it ain’t … Read more
Connecting the Dots …
I wonder if parents in Eagan were reading the Strong Towns blog last week? KSTP reported yesterday that they were contacted by concerned parents in Eagan about pedestrian safety at a local school [Walk Score: 29]. [NOTE: I can't embed this video, so you'll have to make due with this: http://www.kstp.com/article/12303/?vid=2948385&v=1] It’s like we’re starting to connect … Read more
