After a brief hiatus, Here to There is back with two new episodes. In episode ...
My first and second days in Columbia Park covered nearly all of the streets east of University Avenue. Therefore, on my third day, I focused on areas further west, although not as far west as the neighborhood extends. (From St. Anthony Parkway north to 37th Avenue, the neighborhood goes all the way to the river, […]
One of the more popular ways for progressive candidates to excite a crowd or for pro-housing advocates to frame their arguments is to assert “Housing is a human right.” We should stop saying this, and call out candidates when they say it. It’s a lie. Housing isn’t a human right—at least not in practice. I […]
The Riverview Corridor study made news last week, after planners revealed the six alternatives that have survived the study’s analysis from which a final recommendation will be chosen. At the Pioneer Press, Frederick Melo has a good summary of what remains, and the paper ran a separate article on the absence of light rail from […]
Maryland Avenue is currently in the midst of a 4-3 conversion trial. You can read more about what led to the trial here and here. Part of the trial includes pedestrian refuges at two intersections. At these locations people walking across have a safe space to wait while drivers notice them and stop their vehicles. […]
The Dawn of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) Previously I covered the cobrahead streetlights of the Twin Cities. Well, they’re almost gone. The thousands of high pressure sodium MnDOT lights on the freeways have been converted to LED (light emitting diodes) and the 90,000 Xcel energy lights are in the process of being converted. So it’s […]
The podcast this week is a conversation with Leif Pettersen, a travel writer and tourist public relations professional who lives in downtown Minneapolis. We sat down a few weeks ago in the Minneapolis skyway system to chat about a recent op-ed he wrote in the Star Tribune, calling for the creation of pedestrian-only streets downtown. We […]
By the next Sunday Summary, the annual picnic will be over and I can summarize what you missed. Wouldn’t it be more fun to join us at The streets.mn Summer Picnic is July 15! (and the short, informal meeting with the board beforehand) than just read about it later? A short holiday week means a smaller haul of […]
Although this walk covered about the same number of miles of street as the previous one, it covered several times as many square miles of area. That’s because I walked the perimeters of two large, roadless areas. The northern part of this walk looped around Columbia Park itself, that is, the park (largely a golf […]
In a recent post, Jason Brisson highlights the conflict between “top-down” planning, where experts provide the direction for a project, and “bottom-up” planning, where community members drive (ha, ha, drive, get it?) the project. I do not think this is an either/or issue where technocrats tell a community what it needs versus a community, no […]
This question is implied or encroached upon in nearly every modern planning conversation, but is not as often discussed directly. I think we should acknowledge it and talk about it openly. I will discuss this question in the context of the model city planners refer to as “bottom-up” city planning, give an example and then briefly […]
President Trump has a plan to pay for $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements over the next 10 years through various pseudo privatization schemes. There are still a lot of unknowns but the basic gist is; a private corporation is given rights to build and maintain some bit of infrastructure (or given existing infrastructure to care […]
The streets.mn Summer Picnic is July 15! which means it’s getting closer. streets.mn will provide grill-ables (animal and vegetable); you bring conversation, food you’d like to share, and your friends. streets.mn board members will also host an informal meeting for about an hour before the picnic with updates on the organization and giving you a chance […]
Efforts are underway to preserve existing “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH) in Minneapolis. A $25 million loan program created by the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF) will provide non-profit housing organizations with low-interest loans in order to purchase and preserve existing NOAH properties. What is a NOAH property? The GMHF site puts it this way: […]
This week, Here to There takes on flexibility. Both users and providers benefit from flexible mobility solutions that adapt to changes in needs, schedules, weather, or, at a more macro level, demographics or resources. Flexibility is enhanced by choice in mobility options, and last year the Twin Cities lost one transportation option that many regarded as […]
Last summer, I witnessed a pedestrian being struck by a vehicle. I knew it was going to happen, but there was nothing I could do as it all happened in an instant. The driver immediately jumped out of his car and started yelling that he wasn’t on his cell phone. He repeated this over and […]
This is part of a series of posts about a study on Little Canada’s transportation infrastructure for people who take transit, walk, and/or bike. In Transit: Parts One and Two, I discussed my motives behind my study along with some information and statistics about transit ridership in Little Canada. This part has an analysis of Little Canada’s pedestrian […]
A few weeks ago while picking up flowers for some new neighbors, my son was insistent on my getting flowers and cookies for the police officers. He really wanted to give the police officers flowers and cookies because in his words, “they help us.” We live blocks away from the Minneapolis 4th Precinct. The precinct […]
National Summit Showcases Health, Economic and Social Justice Benefits of Walkable Communities Many things leap to mind when someone mentions walking: fitness, fun, fresh air, relaxation, friends and maybe your most comfortable pair of shoes. But a word that rarely arises is “power”. That will begin to change after the 2017 National Walking Summit (held […]
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Saint Paul has a weak tax base. Compared to every sizable city in the state, a huge portion of Saint Paul’s city land is occupied, not by taxpaying residents or companies, but by state and county governments, colleges and universities, and non-profit institutions. For this reason, so the logic goes, […]
Using the Metropolitan Council’s Travel Behavior Inventory, which is data from surveys of trips people actually make in this region, we can look at how travel differs based on housing type – and there are noticeable differences. This chart looks at all trips (not just a commute) made by residents of the central cities – […]
