I know a woman who lives on Hague Avenue in St. Paul, within two blocks of the frenetic intersection of Selby and Snelling. She parks her car in the driveway that runs alongside her house, by the “Drive Like Your Kids Live Here” sign in the front yard. I asked her recently if she minded […]
My husband and I were not even married yet when a primary pet peeve of his revealed itself. He said we had to shovel our sidewalk “so the cement showed,” from edge to edge. I wrote it off as some masculine obsession, akin to wasting a lovely Sunday polishing a car, until I took up […]
Ask urban homeowners what they dislike most about living near a college campus and they likely won’t cite noise or partying but parking — especially the inability to park consistently in front of their houses when school is in session. Macalester College in St. Paul is sensitive enough to the potential town-gown tension that it is running a […]
A year or so ago, I was invited to a “greet your local legislator” gathering at the Minnesota State Capitol. A casual, brown-bag affair over a weekday noon hour, it seemed designed to draw working types from my politically progressive district. Surprising, then, that the otherwise detailed instructions included parking information only. Not a word […]
The young man and woman locking up their bikes across from Orchestra Hall looked respectable enough on Friday, June 9, an evening of Mozart, Debussy — and a 50 percent off coupon for a subsequent concert in downtown Minneapolis provided cyclists were sporting a helmet or other gear. The woman had thrown a jersey dress over her […]
I have structured my life so I can live without a car. That choice may seem impossible, and, at times, it is impractical. Like any counter-cultural behavior, it initially requires effort to adjust. I can attest, however, that car-free living is a healthful, fiscally responsible and even joyful pursuit in later middle age. When I […]