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Author Archive | Peter Bajurny

Intentional Communities: Racist by Default?

By on December 8, 2016 in Governance, Housing

For over six months, I’ve been worried about an upcoming ordinance allowing “intentional communities.” Recent City Council committee discussions, at Community Development & Regulatory Services (CDRS) and then Zoning & Planning, have brought these concerns into focus. In summary, this ordinance would expand the definition of family in the zoning code to include so-called “intentional […]

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Property Taxes

Minnesota Property Taxes Explained, Part 2: How are Property Taxes Calculated?

By on October 27, 2016 in Economics, Governance, Politics

In Part I I covered the basics of what property taxes are.  This time I’ll dive into how exactly property taxes are calculated, starting with (for Minneapolis) the half billion dollar question. What is tax capacity? In its simplest form, the tax capacity of a property is its taxable market value (explained below) multiplied by its class […]

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Minnesota Property Taxes Explained, Part 1: What are Property Taxes?

By on October 25, 2016 in Economics, Governance, Politics

It’s budget season in Minneapolis, and the rest of the state. This is a complex process, but the question on everybody’s minds is “how will my property taxes be impacted?” A simple question with a rather complicated answer. Hopefully I can shed a little light on it. In this first part of a planned three-part […]

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When a Transit Shelter is Not a Transit Shelter

By on August 3, 2016 in Accessibility, Public Realm, Transit

Last week Metro Transit unveiled a collaboration with the Downtown Improvement District to place a new bus shelter at 3rd Avenue S and S 7th Street downtown which is a very busy stop. This new shelter doubles as an herb greenhouse to better blah blah blah I can’t believe I’m writing this. Look. I can’t believe I have […]

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Metro Transit and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend Light Rail Shutdown

By on July 13, 2016 in Infrastructure, Trains, Transit, Transportation

I am what transit professionals would call a choice rider. I have a well paying job and a rather new car at home. However, I choose transit and biking to commute to work, rather than driving. Because of this preference I’ve arranged my life so that transit and biking are more convenient for many of […]

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A Primer on Zoning Codes: The Basics

By on March 25, 2016 in Land use, Planning, Primer, Urban Design

Zoning is a complex and arcane topic, even for those who interact with it regularly. In spite of this, zoning is all around us, in nearly every city, village, or town in the United States. There have been many good posts here at streets.mn discussing the merits and implications of zoning, but they often assume […]

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Map Monday: Minneapolis Residential Zoning

By on March 14, 2016 in Land use, Maps

Minneapolis has eight zones dedicated to residential uses, R1 through R6, plus R1A and R2B. A full half of those, R1, R1A, R2, and R2B, are dedicated to the preservation of the single family character of neighborhoods by allowing only single family homes or duplexes (1 & 2 Unit Residential). The other four, R3-R6, permit larger […]

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