Summer has been heating up and, as always this time of year, the streets of downtown Northfield (and perhaps near your neighborhood ice cream shop) are dotted with tasty puddles of melted ice cream (or so my dog tells me).
News: The Green Line is still news (after being running for 2 whole weeks) and streets.mn writers provide context, criticism and commentary: The Green Line is Wonderful but a Challenge to Access on Foot (this week’s comment winner), and Podcast #66 – Riding the Green Line with David Levinson. The Blue Line, however, has not been forgotten and is compared in Twins Game Shows a Difference Between Blue and Green Lines and its opening remembered with the short video Hiawatha Line Grand Opening (10 year anniversary).
Short video: Minneapolis Pride is a colorful time-lapse video showing the I-35 Bridge getting all lit up for the Twin Cities Pride Celebration.
Long video (50+ minutes): Architecture critic Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (1972).
Charts of the Day of the Week: Global Average May Temperatures 1880-2014 (yes, May was warmer), Employment Automation & the Changing Workforce, CTIB Grants Awarded vs. Revenue Generated (that would be the Counties Transit Improvement Board sales tax district), and Bicycling Rates by Age Group (older folks are riding more). Plus a map: 1939: A Neighborhood and Its Grocery Stores.
Bicycles in Europe: Padova’s (Italy) Cycling Potential is the latest post in the European Union Bicycling Information Collection Initiative series (read the others here); Thoughts from Copenhagen about cycling (and more) in the Danish capital (but does not discuss the Copenhagen Left).
Particular places, Twin Cities edition: Saint Anthony Village – Jekyll and Hyde Design analyzes this town and/or suburb (you can assign the Jekyll and Hyde labels to whichever bit you like); Imagine a Dinkytown Pedestrian Mall on 14th Ave SE; and Call for Action on the Bottleneck revisits the Hennepin-Lyndale bottleneck (last addressed on streets.mn in March plus some of the bottleneck streetscape – Walker Art Center – was considered earlier this month) by posting an open letter to Mayor Betsey Hodges and the City Council about a “shared stakeholder vision for the Hennepin-Lyndale project” signed by neighbors (like Walker Art Center and St. Mark’s Cathedral), neighborhood groups, and other interested parties.
Particular places, Greater MN: Tourism Urbanism in Park Rapids takes us down Park Rapids’ Main Avenue and asks about what makes great (small) downtowns.
Crash data: A Plea to Drivers looks at some of the messages about we get about driving and safety while A Crash Lesson in Crash Causes comments on bike infrastructure, maintenance and safety.
Not otherwise categorized: Naming our Highways asks whether giving a highway a local name enhances community identity (or perhaps help make highways feel more local when they run through the middle of town) with examples around the area.
Enjoy the streets and the fireworks this week!