We don’t reconstruct streets often in Minneapolis. Bryant Ave S, to pick a not-very-random example, was last rebuilt over half a century ago. So when we do full reconstructions, they’re an incredible opportunity and one we need to take advantage of to the greatest extent possible. Bryant as it exists today is a sun-baked, pothole-filled […]
The City of Minneapolis is set to renew their bike share contract sometime in the next year. In this contract, I think the City should require bike share providers to more equitably distribute bikes, and provide some public funding for the system. I also created a survey to gather what other folks thought.
This article is based on a co-presentation by Elissa Schufman and Abigail Johnson to the Transportation & Public Works Committee of Minneapolis City Council on March 31, 2021. We have to transform our streets to live out commitments to racial justice, to economic justice, to accessibility—and to meet our climate commitments, we have to do it […]
Before the City of Minneapolis comment deadline closes today, let’s consider what Hennepin Avenue currently is. Drowning in a sea of cars. Chaotic, loud, and hard to track where the next danger will come from. All images courtesy of Derek Bauer. Derek spent a few hours documenting Hennepin Avenue at my request. A place for […]
It’s a day ending in -y, so business owners are concerned about parking again. This time we’re on Hennepin Avenue, between Douglas and Lake. Is it Uptown? Only a certain former city council member could tell you. Business owners on Hennepin got loud enough about the prospect of less street parking in the upcoming reconstruction […]
The City of Minneapolis has proposed two options for the redesign of Hennepin Avenue. The primary difference between these choices is the presence of a two-way off-street bike path in one, but not the other. The attention on the redesign poses two simultaneous questions: Which of the two options is better, and should the entire […]
Fun fact: etymonline traces the word “park” meaning “to put (a vehicle) in a certain place” directly back to the storage of military equipment on commons grounds. Car storage spots aren’t a human right, but housing is. The way building codes currently are, you must pay for this luxury that is a couple dozen square […]
In early March 2021, at the third open house, the City of Minneapolis presented two options for the future Hennepin Avenue reconstruction project between Lake Street and Douglas Avenue. Hennepin Avenue was last reconstructed in 1957, so this is a huge opportunity to weigh in on a street we’ll be living with for the next […]
It’s possible you’ve heard this joke before: A motorist, a pedestrian, and a bicyclist are sitting at a table that has a dozen cookies on it. The motorist grabs 11 of the cookies and when the other two are reaching for what they each assumed was their cookie, the motorist exclaims: “Watch out! The bicyclist […]
Neighborhoods are designed, slowly and constantly, by the people who live in them. We make decisions about what gets built and who gets to use it or live in it through a network of community meetings, zoning boards, and city and state governments. In the process we create something we call “housing policy”. I have […]