It’s not too late to come to the streets.mn Members Summer Picnic July 27, 2014 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM Minnehaha Park
Conversation starters 1: Streets.mn writers have been making headlines in or on other publications lately. Eight Steps To Improve Urbanism appeared in the Strib; last week’s post How to Blow $20,000,000 on 1,100 People was picked up by streetsblog and now there’s the Follow Up: How to Blow $20,000,000 on 1,100 People.
Conversation starters 2: Big topics thoughtfully considered with (1) Urban Freeways: A Question of Value and value sacrificed when “Minneapolis gave up over $23 million in property taxes to ram freeways through itself” plus discussion about freeways vs. local streets, public health, speed and more, and (2) the provocatively titled The One Where I Pick on the Disabled really doesn’t pick on the disabled, but presents some analysis of disabled parking with some great commentary including a disabled and very knowledgeable reader’s perspective and some thoughtful replies.
Conversation starters 3: Not otherwise classified but interesting posts include The Subpar (Public!) Land Uses of Downtown East imagining some possible improvements to publicly owned buildings in the Vikings’ new neighborhood and How Much Energy Could Minneapolis Get from Solar? crunches the numbers, but the short answer is 773,000 megawatt-hours annually.
Conversation continuations: Two very different series continue this week with Transpo Convo with Bill (read the first installment, too) and the next post from the EU BICI series is Dutch Cycling around Delft and The Hague.
Parking: Coupon Parking for Minneapolis and Saint Paul was followed quickly by some charts in Fixing Permit Parking (with Econ 101). The author of The One Where I Pick on the Disabled really doesn’t. There’s also a Chart of the Day: Distribution of Parking Revenue.
Transit: The North Minneapolis-Southwest LRT Connection focuses on the importance of the Royalston station and while it is too late to attend the meeting mentioned in Make a B-Line to the Metropolitan Council, you can follow the issue of (no) BRT from downtown St. Paul to the airport/Mall of America starting here and, of course, don’t hesitate to contact Metro Council officials.
Cycling: Dutch Cycling around Delft and The Hague gives another glimpse of Dutch infrastructure (and politics) while Where do Bicyclists Fit in this Picture? takes the question of streetcars’ interaction with cycling (and other modes) to St. Paul Council representatives as well as streets.mn readers.
Pictures and Charts: Photo Friday: Richfield Bus Co and Charts of the Week: Beauty, Quiet, Happiness on Walks, Councilmember Zimmermann’s Plan for Personal Rapid Transit System for Minneapolis, MN, Distribution of Parking Revenue .
Audio and video: Two videos from London this week with Romford Cycle Crash and a longer video about London’s failed skyway plan The Pedway: Elevating London. And another Podcast #68 – The Art and Science of Crosswalks with Toole Design Group.
I’m looking forward to the streets.mn picnic today! Have a wonderful week as we ooze toward August, but don’t forget the primary election coming up (Election Day is August 12 – but you can vote anytime with “no excuse” absentee voting, so take care of that before you leave on vacation).