Let’s End “Entertainment Districts”
I spent a weekend visiting a friend in the Old Market Warehouse District of downtown Omaha. Believe it or not, Omaha has some good urbanism. There is a solid urban form, nice architecture and it’s all intertwined into a historic fabric. Minus the excessively large one-way streets, most urbanists would be very pleased to replicate … Read more
The Missing Ingredient – [ St. Paul, Minnesota ]
The photo below was taken at about 6pm on a beautiful weekday in Highland Park, St. Paul, Minnesota [Google Maps]. Trees? Check. Decorative lighting? Check. On-street parking buffer? Check. Building that addresses the sidewalk? Check. Health food cafe with outdoor seating? Check. Bricked sidewalk design enhancement? Check. Nice weather? Check. People? … If you were … 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
Answering a few comments on “Entertainment Districts”
My last Strong Towns post was cross-posted in Better! Cities and Towns (formerly New Urban News). This is great, and I’m happy that I was able to get the article out there. There were a few comments on both sites and I wanted to take some time to respond. The first comment: “this article had … Read more
Urban success stories: Good things can happen
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. I thought the best place to start off would be the area of downtown Minneapolis … 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
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
Retro Post: Small towns and ugly schools
[___ Original Link ____] Here’s the frontage of a newly built high school in a small town (pop. 3,800) in the south-central Minnesota River Valley. It’s a suburban-style high school placed on a cornfield outside town. This particular building was probably built to “accommodate growth”. New construction, sub-divisions and empty lots leap-frog around the sprawling … Read more
Open space as wasted space?
Note: You can read a slightly more updated version of this post over @ Twin Cities Streets for People [Here's the link]. ___ I follow a lot of development proposals in my local area and the most common concern (other than parking) is that of open space. The phrase evokes images of rolling prairie lands, … Read more
Historic Downtown Nostalgia
Like so many American towns, Mankato dropped the ball. It went from what seemed like a vibrant place, from the postcard and historic photos above, and it transformed into what you see below: When you Google Image Search “Mankato Minnesota Downtown” – this is the first image that pops up. To reassure you, yes, it … Read more
