Podcast #58 – Minneapolis Conservation Conversation with Robin Garwood

sotw15cThe podcast this week is a conversation with Robin Garwood, the aide to City Council Member Cam Gordon who represents Ward 2, the Seward and Prospect Park neighborhoods of Minneapolis. Robin and I sat down the other day at the Seward Café to talk all about the city’s proposal for conversation districts, which close readers of the site might recall was a recent hot topic of debate between the two of us. I wrote a post called “Minneapolis Conservation Districts are a Terrible Idea” and Robin replied with one titled “Conservation Districts Can be a Tool For Smart Growth.” Despite the debate on the site, I was happy to get the chance to sit down with him to discuss the issue in depth.

We talked about the history of the proposal, the vagaries of the conservation district process versus the historic district process, and what the hurdles and next steps for the proposal might be at the City Council this year.

The link to the audio is here!

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.