streets.mn’s 3rd annual Writers’ Workshop is coming up fast. Saturday – yes, this coming Saturday – streets.mn is calling all writers – current writers, former writers, readers who might like to be writers — to the 3rd Writers Workshop on Saturday, March 25th from 11:30 am -2:30 pm in Room 445 in Blegen Hall on the University of Minnesota West Bank campus. There will be pizza, too. Click the link for more information and we hope we’ll see you on Saturday.
Timely stories
Metro Transit Fare App – A Review gives the new app a qualified favorable review – easy to use (especially for someone juggling multiple fares), but some issues with reliability and questions about fares (which differ from fares purchased in other ways): “Overall, I have been pleased. It’s easy to use and the drivers seem to like it. It is easier to purchase fares and use multiple fares than the Go To Card. The fare structure may be the defining factor for how useful it is. For the very infrequent rider, it is likely easier than purchasing a card or making sure you have cash. For the daily rider, a monthly unlimited Go To pass is probably cheaper.”
New writer Ian Young debuts with Local Business is a Two-Way Street (with Bike Lanes). Sparked by Minneapolis planning to add bike lanes on East 38th Street between Minnehaha Avenue and West River Parkway and the inevitable conversation about bike lanes “costing” parking space in front of businesses; “Right now the four businesses maintain that they support the installation of bike lanes, so long as it is on some other road and not 38th. I posit that this is not a compromise at all. This is demanding that it become someone else’s problem.” The post argues local residents support these local businesses because of their value to the neighborhood (not necessarily lowest price or greatest convenience) and asks the business owners to make a similar investment in the life of the community by building in people on bikes. Commenters continue the discussion with some additional examples from the public meetings and local knowledge.
Sean Hayford OLeary reviews some of the plans for much higher intensity development along I-494 and tells us why Cars (Alone) Can’t Sustain Interstate 494, saying “For an auto-oriented strip, 494 has reasonably good transit options. In addition to express routes to downtown and the future Orange Line near 35W, 77th/76th St and American Blvd both have all-day local bus options. But the streets are not set up for the walking and biking needed to actually use transit. And development often turns a blind eye to people walking or arriving from transit. As a result, even achieving the live-work mixes we hope to add in the strip, few would choose to use transit if they have the option to drive their own car.”
Regular and irregular features
Walking: Continuing the alphabet walking of Minneapolis neighborhoods, this week you can enjoy Max Hailperin’s visits to Bryn Mawr, Day 3: Areas 3–5 and Bryn Mawr, Day 4: Areas 6 and 7 including a visit to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary on a beautiful August day last summer.
Riding: Totem Town Trek is another Saint Paul bike ride lead by Wolfie Browender. This one is a “long ride to the eastern reaches of Saint Paul, which started with some quick stops, first on the West End. Today’s plan was to reach and explore Boys Totem Town, Ramsey County’s live-in program for boys 14 to 18 who have been found to be delinquent by the Juvenile Court” and an interview with Pete Parilla who worked at the facility and went on to become a professor of criminology and sociology at Saint Thomas. Plus, as always, many sights and stories along the way.
Linking: National Links: Bike Deliveries, McMansions Over, and Printing a House from The Direct Transfer.
View South From the Camden Bridge
And that’s the week on streets.mn – have a great week!