The Minnesota Idea Open is offering $1 million to one of three finalists, narrowed down from a pool of entries by judges ranging from a legislative aid to a celebrity chef. Here’s the best idea: The St. Paul Art Train The idea is to create a “Creative Enterprise Zone” that encourages “the growth of creative enterprises in […]
The Star Tribune recently ran an article about Minnesota’s 2006 law change that prevents cities from pursuing eminent domain for public purpose economic development schemes. It prevents cities from condemning property and reassembling it for projects (such as the Best Buy Corporate Campus along I-35 and I-494), “It used to be that … you could […]
Great places evolve over time. This is a healthy and historic form of urban growth. Among the constituent elements are a very light hand of government and, often, management genius—as well as normative patterns like the continental survey, the town grid, etc. But the key element is successional urbanism. Start small at the inauguration, and later build […]
I recently had to renew my motor vehicle title due to a paperwork mix-up. I didn’t dot my “i” or cross my “t” and thus was subjected to endless paperwork. While calculating the fees, I bumped into something common within Minnesota: the wheelage tax. A wheelage tax is a $5 tax that is levied by a […]
I had just moved back from Edinburgh, Scotland and found myself transplanted in a friend’s spare room in Indianapolis. I was young, naïve and while educated and employed, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. All it took was a place called Emerald Springs, a dying subdivision about 20 miles outside central Indy. There aren’t a lot […]
“Minneapolis is booming. St. Paul is … growing.” Minneapolis is booming. Development is almost everywhere: Downtown. Loring Park. The University. Uptown. Yes, Minneapolis is being Minneapolis. Check the UrbanMSP forum and you’ll notice that the Minneapolis thread is alive and well. It even breaks down Minneapolis into four distinct categories; all of which have more posts than the single “St. Paul” thread. […]
Recalling small-town joys and pleasures as a youth, where liberty meant everything being accessible within a three-block walk (away from adults).
We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first investigating its merit. It is this standstill that Josh Barro argues in How Republicans Made Both Parties Stupid On […]
The architecture of the Minnesota Vikings Stadium: take it or leave it? Personally, I think it looks like a cross between a laser jet printer, a drunk Frank Gehry and something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is not a compliment. However, be this as it may, preference on architectural styling, no one should […]
Whatcha’ doing this Friday night at 5pm? Nothing? Oh, that’s cool. Kinda. Join local urban and transportation celebrity bloggers on the 1st Annual Minneapolis Bike ‘n’ Brew Tour. The route is a simple 8 (eight) miles that start at Harriet Brewing Company at 5pm. The route will then progress up through Northeast as the night goes on. […]