Sunday Summary - January 13, 2018

Last Week’s Posts

An Easy Way to Make Suburbs More Walkable: Sidewalk Shortcuts by Eric Ecklund. Even if the street network is winding, “there is an easy way to make the suburbs more walkable without requiring significant investment: simply adding a sidewalk connecting streets and neighborhoods can incentivize walking for more purposes than just recreation.”

Reclaiming Mississippi River Boulevard by Drew Ross links the death of a runner hit by a driver while crossing Mississippi River Boulevard (MRB) to the history of the boulevard and a lost waterfall, “Scott’s death brings attention to the need for a redesign of the MRB parkway, along its length as well as particularly in this area. A return to a recreational route would accomplish a number of improvements: 1) reduce the through traffic, 2) enhance the natural features of the gorge, and 3) anticipate developments such as removal of the dams (planning access from MRB to the gorge bottom) and the extension of the Midtown Greenway across the Short Line railroad bridge. Kavanaugh Falls is gone, irretrievably so, but the other springs and falls can be highlighted and made accessible.” The post is a new to streets.mn media rich format which seems to delight some readers and annoy others.

Handy sidewalk connection between neighborhoods

Robert Roscoe writes a Book Review: A People’s History of the Seward Neighborhood which focuses on what has not been included. As a resident of the neighborhood involved in saving the neighborhood, he writes, “Most importantly, completely absent in the book, is the astonishing and innovative design of Milwaukee Avenue. The construction project that converted former Milwaukee Avenue from a narrow inefficient street into a pedestrian walkway integrated within the city’s first planned residential district that combined existing houses into the overall four block area plan was hugely important.”

“Looking Back, Looking Forward” at Victoria and Dale is another post under the group byline Macalester Student Perspectives. Read the intro to the project here, then read Michael Wood’s post about the Green Line and the Victoria Street stations, “Every day Green Line trains stop at Victoria Street Station because of community organizing. The initial plan for the Green Line would skip Victoria Street, Western and Hamline Avenues. Each of these stations serve populations who are upwards of 50% people of color and have a median income of around $30k. In response, a massive coalition of partners from across the Twin Cities formed the Stops For Us! campaign. The organizers successfully secured funding for three additional stations along the Green Line.”

Symptoms and Causes of Car Dependency on Lake Street by Christa Moseng looks at the distribution of auto parts stores on East Lake Street (6 on that street), compared to the lack of other needed services like pharmacies, hardware stores, etc.

Brit Builds an ADU: the First $2,500 is the second post in a series by Brit Anbacht about building an ADU. Here’s the first, and this second post is about choosing an architect and why that’s needed.