March 30, 2014 14.7 miles – Highland Park, West End, Downtown Saint Paul is a beautiful place but like any city fighting its way out of winter’s lassitude, finding its charms is more difficult at this time of year. Winter clings in the form of dirt crusted snow banks, grit lined roads and potholes of […]
I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about how to advocate at City Hall for good urbanism. We spend a lot of time writing good posts on Streets.MN and debating in online chatrooms, but does that really move the needle at City Hall? Meanwhile, those of a preservationist mindset are always emailing […]
There’s no better way to get to know your neighborhood than on a bike. Faster than walking, but still out in the elements, riding lets you soak everything in at a brisk, but leisurely pace. The bicycle combines the best in accessibility with the best in mobility. As fans of the streets, we owe it […]
One highly trafficked intersection in Minneapolis was layered with interstate lanes in 1971. Although the freeway was buried below, ramps and merging lanes complicate the streets above. This historically influential neighborhood was transformed into a transitory space for the automotive world. Minneapolis can regain this missing district with one driving modification: ‘turn, instead of […]
This “Social Composition of North Side Neighborhoods” provides a window on urban planning in Minneapolis in the 1920s. The primitive diagram shown here was drawn by a researcher associated with the Women’s Cooperative Alliance, which assembled an encyclopedic analysis of moral conditions in the city in 1925. The Cooperative Alliance was a consortium of women’s […]
Call me inconsistent, but I’m conflicted regarding the Southwest Moratorium. Considering my previous positions and ideology, it seems hypocritical to support a freeze on all new construction permits in the five neighborhoods that Linea Palmisano represents. I had an uneasiness with my immediate supportive reaction after news of the moratorium broke, especially since so many of my […]
Summarizing a busy week on streets.mn as the snow melts quickly: Audio: Last Week in MPLS Episode 6 is a wide-ranging recap while Podcast #60 – The Pros (and Cons) of the Move MN Bill continues coverage of MoveMN and its proposed legislation. Visual: How to Bike in the City: Tips for the Bicycle Curious is a video intro to […]
If you oppose density, don’t be surprised if you don’t gain any of the benefits of density. In Blaine, there has been a very suburban kerfuffle: Within a large, multi-builder housing development, there were several commercial plots. Despite the housing boom in the area, no one would step up to develop them as commercial, because […]
The most valuable trait that a neighborhood can have is people. This statement may sound obvious, but to paraphrase Jane Jacobs; people are drawn to other people. Our culture, unfortunately, has mostly forgotten or shunned this universal truth. This is the reason that Washington Avenue will still carry 6 lanes of traffic after an $8 million […]
On December 3, 1920, the Secretary of the Minneapolis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People penned a letter to her organization’s headquarters in New York City. She was writing to request any literature available on “residential segregation. Especially court decisions.” Two weeks earlier, this small chapter of the national civil […]
