In January, I wrote a post about Hennepin Avenue arguing that we should Make Hennepin Lovable. (The conversation is ongoing; please share your hopes for Hennepin through this survey.) I argued that the number of human beings using the street is almost as high as the number of cars (with drivers in them) — so […]
Our chance to make Hennepin Avenue lovable is coming. I love living on “Hennepin Avenue,” a Minneapolis landmark so important I need say no more. Everyone has attended a show at one of its grand historic theaters. Or waited for a bus there. Or done the company/birthday dinner at Fogo de Chao. Or attended MCTC. Or visited […]
I’ve lived three doors from the intersection of 22nd Street and Hennepin Avenue South for 19 years. I have to cross Hennepin to get to 90 percent of the places I go. For 19 years, my every-day getting-around has been ruled by the insistence of that stoplight rushing drivers north and south along Hennepin, […]
Since the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) first recommended the City of Minneapolis pass a “Complete Streets” policy in 2011, the city has been slow to actually pass and institutionalize it. I’m happy to announce that things are moving again! I attended an informal gathering to review the as-of-yet not public policy draft where the general consensus was, “A good start.” Admittedly, it […]
I’m on vacation in a part of the world where major towns (population 24,000) have weekend train service every other hour, including stops in many towns of just a few hundred.* I’m using my fair share of this convenient Norwegian transit, including buses, streetcars, and ferries. Here for a reunion, I’m seeing many friends. This […]
Green Line signal timing and Green Line safety – especially for human-powered and potentially impatient users – are old news on streets.mn. Today, I point out an as-yet unmentioned crossing design that is begging for trouble. I regularly observe the Green Line crossing of the Hiawatha bike trail as part of my daily commute. When I end up […]
This is part 3 of a series on the interaction between the rental housing market and rents. Read part 1, “How I Set Apartment Rents,” and part 2, “Housing Markets? Humbug!“ I’ve dedicated the last 15 years of my life working on affordable housing policy. Mostly, I’ve worked where some sort of subsidy helps make it (more) affordable. In […]
This is part 2 of a series on the interaction between the rental housing market and rents. Read part 1, “How I Set Apartment Rents.” Housing markets are complex, and here I attempt to explain how there can be a broad market trend and submarkets bucking that trend. I’m also going to imagine what might happen on a […]
In Minneapolis, there is an active discussion about rising rents, whether supply and demand affect rents, and what to do about providing enough affordable and work-force housing. Related issues — markets, incomes, land use controls, local politics and processes, public subsidy and how it’s used — are all complex. No blog post, tweet, or newspaper article […]
Contorting existing neighborhoods to host regional infrastructure creates crazy spill-over effects. Check out the beauty it adds to our neighborhoods and cultural institutions. It’s an award-winning design. The engineers who created this 50 years ago won a national award for it – shoehorning ramps, bridges, slip turns, pork chop islands, and infrastructure I can’t even name into […]