On October 4 2025, Move Minnesota’s Livable Lyndale campaign hosted a “Stroll & Roll” rally to showcase what the experience will be like if Lyndale is reconstructed with a shared use path, as the current county design calls for. Here is a collection of testimonials from people in attendance.
Links
Transcript
[00:00:13] Elliott: My name is Elliott and I live in the Whittier neighborhood. I’m a Whittier renter and pedestrian and public transit user.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
I feel it’s a really good display of just how crowded and uncomfortable this new redesign plan is wants to make our public spaces and our walking spaces and our cycling spaces especially for me as a mobility aid user as a person with limited mobility. It’s an uncomfortable walking experience and I definitely don’t want to have that when I’m trying to just do my errands, walk around my neighborhood and just exist in the area I live in.
Would the shared use path design affect your likelihood of visiting businesses on Lyndale?
It would which is unfortunate because my grocery store is that Aldi. I moved to Whittier because it’s a very walkable and accessible space for me to live in and Lyndale Avenue as it is now is a huge part of that. I really would love it to be a place that I think would make things even more accessible for people like me and my neighbors and unfortunately right now the current redesign plan is taking things in the opposite direction.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
My ideal Lyndale would be a space for everyone that is both a path for low speed traffic like pedestrians especially those of us with mobility issues and space for higher speed traffic like bikes separate so that we aren’t running into each other or risking crashes and space for buses as well. We need a Lyndale that works for everyone.
[00:01:45] Oliver: So my name is Oliver Calder. I live you know around here in South Uptown and I like to go to businesses along Lyndale but it’s like often so hard to get to them because I just like don’t know that they’re here because I’m not driving or I’m not biking along this very often and when I’m in a car I just like can’t see these local businesses you know as well as I’d like to. So yeah and like imagine all the people who just like can’t bike at all in Lyndale right now, myself included, who would be then more more open to seeing these these local businesses and being part of this this more vibrant community. It seems like we clearly need a better solution than just squeezing bikes and pedestrians all into one one shared use path like what we’re doing right now this is a bit you know crowded chaotic so I’m hoping that we can get a better solution that’ll you know keep us all safer and make us more more welcome to but I’ll be biking around in this this this hopefully vibrant community.
Would the shared use path design affect your likelihood of visiting businesses on Lyndale?
I mean about as like as I am now we’re just like very you know selective like I must go to Aldi on my bike so I’m gonna stay on some other street until just like that one corner or I get flowers in the local flower shop for example but it’s so hard to get there that I actually like bike a few blocks north of south just to get to that location safely so it would be much more likely to be biking here if we were actually a safe and pleasant way to do that but it wouldn’t much better than this with a shared use path I think.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
It looks a lot like the new Hennepin where we have a nice protected raised bike path separate from cars separate from pedestrians and then like rumble strip kind of areas between pedestrians and bikes or grassy areas and that way there’s it is clear what is what is safe for pedestrians it’s clear what is safe for bikers everyone’s aware of what’s going on around them and they have the opportunity to see and take part in the local community a lot more more easily. This is like the most pressing thing in my mind recently is like making sure that this doesn’t get consent and that we can move forward with a better plan so so thank you.
[00:03:34] Sylvie: My name is Sylvie Hyman I’m a candidate for city council in St. Louis Park and I am very passionate about – whoa, that’s that’s close okay – very passionate about making Lyndale more livable I personally avoid Lyndale a lot of the time because of how toxic it is for people biking and walking right now and I was very hopeful in the early stages of this project that we were gonna do better with Lyndale I really liked the Orange option and I’m very disappointed that the current option does not reflect what the community desires with the street.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
Well, part of me is joyful just because I love people and I like when there’s a lot of people around and presently I’m not in any hurry so it’s okay but it’s also very crowded and if I was trying to get somewhere or just out for a walk and all these people came by and were all crushed into this space I would probably be a little bit peeved but I’m generally an agreeable person. We should set ourselves up to not be a-holes to one another and a 12-foot shared-use path for all of the non-car and non-transit traffic is kind of setting us up to be kind of mean to each other.
[00:05:18] Will: My name is Will I live like two blocks from Painter Park, I just bought a house in this area because this is my car I bike I bike to work in Edina like three times a week and so like having connections like this are important to me I mean I go to places on Lyndale and currently where I have to ride there’s not even a shoulder and like this half measure won’t even start near my house like it starts at the Greenway for some reason so this is very important for me and I wanted to be here so.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
Get rid of some parking to put in a two-way bike lane just like they did on Hennepin that’s what my ideal Lyndale would look like I currently go to the Pizza Luce a lot there’s not even like a way for me to cross there safely I have to like dodge cars so just more walkability more bikeability less half measures.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
It’s not fun, it’s like 90 degrees out right now and we’re going like two three miles an hour according to my bike you know people walking or having a hard time getting around the mass of bikers like it’s not an experience I would really want to do again yeah. Maybe a better ramp on the Greenway while Nicolette is closed that’s pretty they’ve closed it and they’re apparently not gonna open the first one until 12 fall 2026 which is ridiculous but other than that no nothing on my mind.
[00:07:14] Mel: Hi my name is Mel Bernstein I’m a resident of South Uptown which is like pretty close to Lyndale I can walk here in 20 minutes so I would say I live nearby.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
I mean if I’m walking here by myself it’s fine but if I have another person it’s okay but then when one other person tries to cross the other way it’s too tight and then we’re having people walk our bikes today to show that there is not a safe way to bike on Lyndale Avenue right now it’s extremely it’s extremely crowded and if I was a pedestrian trying to go around us right now I would have a hard time clearly shows that we need more space for people not in cars. And just one other thing like people say oh no like what about the cars I just want to say to that like car drivers when they park their car and step out of their car they magically turn into pedestrians so if we consider that every car driver is also pedestrian they’re really supporting us or they should be at least.
[00:08:24] Brent: My name is Brent I live super close to Lyndale, live on Harriett and 24th ish so yeah just walk over to frequent a lot of the businesses like Aldi, SK Coffee, yeah a bunch of them all along Lyndale and there all the time.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
Yeah I think it’s way too crowded it really illustrates like there’s gonna be a lot of conflict between pedestrians and bikes and you know I think it’s just really ridiculous that cars they get most of the space on the street and kind of pedestrians and bikes are just left to be in conflict with one another so I just really think there should be kind of an equal allocation of space especially because you know bikes and pedestrians they’re climate friendly they’re not dangerous to other people like cars are responsible for a lot of fatalities that occur in the city on the streets so yeah it just feels really unfair because like we’re in this conflict the cars get all this space really feels like there needs to be something better for us.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
I think my ideal Lyndale would look like like dedicated bus lanes in both directions that are 24 hours you know a bike a bike path obviously and then plenty of sidewalk space plenty of patio space for businesses as well so they can have customers you know I think we really want everyone to thrive and yeah by just having all that space for all modes of transport that’s really what that would do. Yeah I mean I think the design as is is just it’s already a bit of a compromise we were in favor of the orange option it wasn’t perfect there aren’t you know bus lanes along the entire length of the corridor but you know it was really great to have that bike lane that two-way bikeway so I really think we’re just it was already a compromise and I think we should go back to that this is a new option that wasn’t even on the table so let’s go back to something that at least you know gives us a little something with having that bike way and all that kind of stuff.
[00:09:57] Meg: My name is Meg and I’ve lived in Uptown I lived in Uptown for a few years and I’ve lived in Minneapolis since then and my partner is Julie and she’s kind of running this whole thing and that’s how I got involved with Livable Lyndale but I think that biking and busing is super important something in that I try to do more and I think the accessibility should be it should be for everyone and be made more accessible and yeah walking here right now is really uncomfortable and I feel like I’m gonna get run over and we’re all even walking together so I can’t imagine everybody coming in different directions and people sitting on patios and everything like it was just it just doesn’t work it doesn’t make any sense.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
Ideal Lyndale would have like less parking to make room for a dedicated bus lane and a dedicated bike lane so that people can commute and use these businesses by ways other than driving a car.
[00:10:51] Derek: My name is Derek I actually live over near the U of M but I come down this way often to see friends and go on bike rides and go to concerts and things in this end of town so yeah I’m through here probably once a week or two.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
This is absolutely terrible really really dislike this big two thumbs down from me I’m shocked shocked that this was even thought of as an acceptable you know use of this seems like this should have been thrown out on first concept first pitch shouldn’t made it through to another round of even discussion let alone being a final possible or you know final plan.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
You know space for every all mobility users so you know people biking walking rolling using transit you know kind of dividing it up more evenly so that everybody can use it how they need to and yeah I mean right now it’s and even with the plan it’s mostly going to be dedicated to cars and parking and even if we have a bike lane there’s going to be a lot of parking so I would just like to see it so we don’t have to you know fight over the same space.
Would the shared use path design affect your likelihood of visiting businesses on Lyndale?
I would be much less likely I would probably be choosing a different path so I wouldn’t be happening upon like I said I don’t really live in this neighborhood so a lot of these businesses I don’t really know about your think about until I’m going by them and then I’ll go by him and I’ll see something that looks cool and I’ll just pop in because it’s easy enough to hop on and hop off a bike so but if I’m over on another street I’ll be you know going by houses and I won’t be going to businesses there because those aren’t allowed there. I’m excited for it but they’re making it harder to be excited for it than it should be this should be such a you know exciting like once in a lifetime thing and it’s going to be a once in a lifetime thing so I just really want to see it as good as it possibly can be not only for right now but for you know for the next several decades that we’re going to be using it and that I want to be living in the city and frequenting these businesses.
[00:12:51] Anna: My name is Anna I just moved back to Minneapolis a year and a half ago and I have a lot of friends who bike on Lyndale so this is it’s become a big part of my social life to bike over to Lyndale.
How does it feel being on a sidewalk that’s this crowded right now?
It’s very chaotic I feel like you can’t walk and have a casual conversation you always got to be watching out for who you’re running in for it just doesn’t want to make you take like a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood.
What does your ideal Lyndale look like?
My ideal Lyndale would look like a design that takes everyone into consideration that has proper spaces for bikes and buses and walkers so that people have plenty of space for the mode of transportation that best suits them
Would the shared use path design affect your likelihood of visiting businesses on Lyndale?
I think it just would make it less likely because again it’s not like a comfortable space to just meander down I really like areas where I know I can bike to comfortably I know I’ll find bike parking and so I want a design that accommodates everyone.