We’ve now observed Thanksgiving, Black Friday or Opt Out Friday, Small Business Saturday and perhaps you now have a minute to sit down and read this week’s posts before Cyber Monday. Also mark your calendar to join streets.mn on December 1, 2016 for our fundraiser; meet streets.mn board members, other streets.mn readers, win prizes, and have mystery guests revealed.
Macalester student perspectives
Two more posts this week from students in Macalester’s “Bicycling the Urban Landscape” course. Zach Moore’s Get on the Path to Happiness looks to promote cycling for its mental as well as physical health benefits saying, “So get outside and take a bike ride, whether it’s a ride through the park, a commute to work, or a community event. Join the movement towards a happier, healthier lifestyle. With the known physical and mental benefits of biking and the increasing safety and accessibility of bike lanes in the twin cities, we should all be thinking about putting down our keys and picking up a helmet.” Hamzah Yaacob’s post observes how Danger Lurks Around the Corner at Summit Avenue for people on bikes trying to turn left; he suggests Summit is a good place to trial Dutch-style intersections.
Attempting to make a left-turn from Summit Avenue onto North Fry Street
More bikes
A Grander Rounds Loop and the Regional Bicycle Transportation Network is Steve Elmer’s first post which continues the discussion begun in Grander Rounds last week. Steve agrees it’s a good concept which “may fit well within the Met Council’s designated Regional Bicycle Transportation Network . This article provides information about this regional network and how it could be used to implement a “grander rounds” or similar concept” and points to opportunities for input into future planning.
In An Unlikely Success: The Dismantling of the Northside Greenway, Nate Hood reviews the recent removal of the temporary Northside Greenway bike project and says, “This might feel like a failure, but it’s not. It’s a success story; a testament to the value of tactical urbanism” where Minneapolis can learn from this low-cost experiment. Commenters raise additional questions about what can be learned including thinking how to better engage community residents so as not to increase division, privilege, deep cultural resistance to non-car infrastructure and more.
Walking
Here’s a listicle of 20 Reasons Americans are Rediscovering Walking from Jay Walljasper covering inspiration from health, economics, and healing political divisions.
Photo by Dan Burden/Blue Zones
So much for November here on streets.mn (kick off December with the streets.mn fundraiser!) – have a great week!