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Author Archive | Janne Flisrand

Minneapolis’ Secret 2040 Sauce was Engagement

By on December 10, 2018 in 2040 Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan, Planning

Around the country, people advocating to build abundant homes are asking how Minneapolis did it. Why is Minneapolis the city passing a comprehensive plan that ends exclusionary zoning and allows triplexes everywhere? There are a multitude of reasons why. We’ve long had an active urbanist community, fostered by discussion on streets.mn, a nationally recognized bike […]

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Extended Deadline: Opportunity to Apply to streets.mn Board Ends Wednesday

By on November 12, 2018 in Announcements, streets.mn

The streets.mn Board Development Committee is extending the deadline to apply for the streets.mn board by 48 hours to 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Express your interest here: Deadline 8am Wednesday, November 14  We’re working hard to make sure our board looks more and more like the people who live in Minnesota’s communities. We’re building our capacity […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Downtown Minneapolis

Hidden Priorities, in Plain Sight

By on November 1, 2018 in 2040 Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan, Development, Downtown, Infrastructure, Neighborhoods

A friend compiled this series of Google Earth images. I scanned them, and intended to get on with my work, but I just couldn’t. I went through them again. And then again. I found myself rethinking the city I live in. Most people think Minneapolis looks like this: Or this: But, when you step back, […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Yes to Homes, But I’m No “YIMBY”

By on October 1, 2018 in Development, Housing, Land use, Planning

A couple weeks ago, I packed my bags and headed off to Boston for an annual gathering called YIMBYtown. I’m no YIMBY. I want everyone to have a safe, affordable place to live, and for that to happen we need to build enough homes to go around. (Yes, that includes apartments, like my own apartment-that-is-a-home.) […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Franklin Avenue Can’t Be Everything for Everybody

By on August 7, 2018 in Streets, Walking

This post was written by Will Delaney, Associate Director at Hope Community, Inc. It is cross-posted from the Our Streets Minneapolis blog. Our Streets and Hope Community  have been working together to make Franklin Avenue a safer street since 2008. This June, the rebuilt Franklin Avenue bridge over I-35W re-opened after being closed for more […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Does ADA Even Apply to Sidewalks?

By on April 17, 2018 in ADA, Sidewalks

I live just off Franklin, and have regularly bussed and biked along it for decades. One day many years ago, I was surprised to see someone rolling down the east-bound traffic lane in a wheelchair. It was on that particularly harrowing section of Franklin between Portland and Chicago. I immediately wondered what was so wrong […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Map Monday: Hennepin County Sidewalks & ADA

By on April 2, 2018 in ADA, Maps, Sidewalks

I’ve been learning about what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires when it comes to our sidewalks. Here, I want to share my single favorite discovery. Hennepin County has an interactive online map with photo images and descriptions of every intersection, curb cut, signal actuation/beg button, and sidewalk obstruction on county streets. That map is […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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streets.mn Seeks Proposals for a Volunteer Support Consultant

By on February 27, 2018 in streets.mn

The streets.mn board is committed to supporting our volunteer writers. We’ve fundraised toward that goal for a couple years, and we’re excited to post an RFP inviting people to say, “Pick me! Pick me!” We’re excited to hear from writers past, present, and potential to learn what motivates writers and how we can support the […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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Reconstruct 4th Street the Right Way

By on November 27, 2017 in Downtown, Streets

Philip Schwartz recently shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it here. A vote is happening on is Tuesday, November 28th. Agree or disagree with him, instructions for how to weigh in are below. As a daily user of 4th Street through Downtown Minneapolis, I have been excited and involved since planning […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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We Must Foster Opportunity on Hennepin Avenue

By on July 26, 2017 in Development, Land use, Neighborhoods

At the Lowry Hill Ice Cream Social a couple weeks ago, my neighbors asked me what I think about the Peris development proposal by The John and Denise Graves Foundation for affordable youth housing. It’s tucked on an awkward, oddly shaped parcel between Colfax and Hennepin Avenue, right where the freeway exit dumps drivers out […]

Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.

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