The area around the Metrodome oscillates between two lousy poles: it’s either packed with cars and football fans, or it’s deserted. On Sunday evening, catching a ride back into town after visiting family, I had my first experience with the former. We made the mistake of taking the Washington exit off of 35W, and immediately found ourselves in traffic.
I sort of enjoyed it, from an anthropological remove. A large purple RV (“The Hürd”) tried to nose out of a parking lot in front of our vehicle, almost ramming the front bumper. They honked at us for about a minute straight. Life in the big city!
Two days later I revisited the old Dome for the groundbreaking of the Peoples’ stadium, or at least, I tried. I got there a half hour late and everyone was already gone.
I can’t remember where I read this, but whether or not it’s true, I like the metaphor. On a farm, when a dog kills a chicken, the chicken is tied around the dog’s neck and allowed to rot, in order to dissuade the dog from killing anymore chickens. Well, Minneapolis is kind of like a dog that loves rotten chicken. What can you do?
“Minneapolis is kind of like a dog that loves rotten chicken.” Metaphor of the year!
Obviously building a three acre park close by will fix the problem.
Talk of the Metrodome always makes me think about how to give people directions from there to points in the West Bank neighborhood. It’s not easy for someone on foot — you can’t walk in the trench that connects to the Washington Avenue Bridge, and the Hiawatha LRT Trail angles across in the wrong direction for many folks. It’s easiest to tell people to take the bus or go up to Washington Avenue. It shouldn’t be that difficult.