Welcome to April! Today we’re back to business here at streets.mn, but April Fools’ Day did happen here at streets.mn with posts (National Park-In Protest and Neighbors Embrace New Oil Refinery for Ford Site) where humor helps highlight the issues important at streets.mn. This week, the Minneapolis DFL holds caucuses for Minneapolis Mayor and City Council (find and register for your caucus here) and there’s a post about candidates’ views on housing below. streets.mn’s own election questionnaire will be heading to candidates after the caucus with results posted here as they come in. Finally, the streets.mn Board will be meeting on April 8; let the board know (in the comments or via the contact form) if there are any issues you’d like to have discussed now or in the future.
Election coverage
Where the Minneapolis DFL Candidates Stand on Housing is a handy guide with clickable spreadsheet with questions developed by MSPyimby and WedgeLIVE for the DFL candidates in competitive races; there are questions on how market rate housing development of the last several years has impacted Minneapolis, how candidates would ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing, how the current rewrite of the Comprehensive Plan could allow a mix of housing types and affordability, and whether they support small, neighborhood commercial spaces in neighborhood interiors (plus an open-ended question asking what other housing or zoning policies the candidate would like to highlight).
New ideas
Placemaking and Animal People: Why “Night in the Woods” Rocks is James Warden’s interview with the creators of the video game Night in the Woods, “a game that uniquely humanizes issues like economic development and transportation that are normally reserved for wonkier circles. Yes, Possum Springs has some residents desperate for any long shot that might save their town — but it also has lovingly crafted characters invested in helping the hardest hit succeed.”
Driving Yourself Crazy? Sell Your Car from new-to-us writer Amy Gage who says: “My purpose is not to suggest that you never drive again at all. Nor do I intend to sermonize or gloat. My hope is to convince you that driving less — and using alternative forms of transportation more often — is a calming, community-minded, Earth-conscious habit that, like mindful eating, becomes easier and more self-sustaining over time.” Commenters agree with some additional statements of the benefits – especially being more deeply embedded in communities and saving money — of not driving (much).
Harfest — one of many attempts to boost Possum Springs in Night in the Woods
Continuing stories
Little Canada’s “Other” Transportation Infrastructure: Transit, Part Two continues what started in Transit: Part One,; in Part Two Al Davison gives us “analysis of a study done regarding transit accessibility by the University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory, my personal experiences taking the 62 and 262, parking and sidewalk impacts, along with my proposed solutions to improve transit in Little Canada.”
Take another walk with Max Hailperin (and Jeremy Iggers) through Northern CARAG past many fabulous doorways, through history and by gardens.
More links to cool stories with National: Parking Industrial Complex, SXSW Complaints, and Rail to the Strip.
3300 Girard Ave S, Where John Dillinger’s Name is on the Door