I contacted City Council members prior to the final council vote on an appeal for a demolition permit at 2320 Colfax in Minneapolis’ Wedge neighborhood, much-discussed in posts here and here. Council Member Glidden sent me a detailed response explaining the reasoning behind her vote, which she has given permission to post here. Thank you very […]
I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about how to advocate at City Hall for good urbanism. We spend a lot of time writing good posts on Streets.MN and debating in online chatrooms, but does that really move the needle at City Hall? Meanwhile, those of a preservationist mindset are always emailing […]
The sad story of Mike Crow Mike Crow has owned 2320 Colfax Avenue South and the house next door for over 20 years. Recently, he’s had health crises and says it’s “impossible” for him to do the work that’s needed to run the rooming house. “Rooming houses are much more labor intensive than other types […]
Alex Schieferdecker • January 15, 2021 Because I have a lot of important things to fill my time, I recently tuned in to a meeting of the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. There was just one item on the agenda: the proposed demolition of a low-slung downtown office building at 17 N Washington Avenue, which would then be replaced by a 27 […]
I recently wrote about the rezoning that’s under consideration for Minneapolis’ Lowry Hill East neighborhood. After a few more weeks of thought, these are my big-picture concerns. Downzoning is Forever The city’s proposal has been described as interim protection that gets us through until the next update to the Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan (the process for which is currently […]
The year is 1995. A landlord is renovating his triplex when a concerned neighbor appeals to the neighborhood association for help. The organization comes to the rescue, deciding¹ that “because the building has been vacant for over a year, the nonconforming use expires and the building should revert to a duplex.” The neighborhood was Lowry […]
This post is authored by various streets.mn writers. Please donate to streets.mn for the “streets to the max” day! Thank you for your support. Cities are subject to the observer effect, the observer cannot observe the city without changing it. So, as we approach our 4th Birthday, what have posts on streets.mn done to change the […]
You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Thought Experiment Zone! A few months back I made the case that Minneapolis’ zoning code keeps us from building the type small-scale infill most people say they want (I’m […]
The “D word.” It makes for a great pickup line, but that’s (sadly) not how most people use it. There are likely many blogs and articles written on population density and its complex relationship with transportation energy use, economic growth, how smart you are, etc. I’m not here to discuss those; I’m aware that many readers […]
Hello, capitalists. Good to see you here, I guess. My little brother and also the economy says things are going well for you. I’m doing okay. People used to work in factories screwing caps onto bottles of toothpaste, I hear, so pushing pixels seems easier and less dangerous than, say, being a longshoreman or coal […]