Category: Downtowns

Trump Pence

Manufacturing Consent: A Timeline of Policing and Propaganda in Minneapolis

[content warning/trigger warning: gun violence, police violence, murder, anti-Black and anti-Native abuse, r*pe, assault] 1821 The Metropolitan Police Department, the first municipal police force in the world, is created in London. The first American police force forms in Boston 17 years later. 1867 Minneapolis incorporates and the City Council establishes the Minneapolis Police Department, which […]

light rail train at Warehouse District / Hennepin Ave station

Facts: Minneapolis Violent Crime Average Citywide, Up 69 Percent in Downtown West Over 11 Years

Check out the statistics used in this article: You can research Minneapolis crime statistics on the city website and check out the collected data behind this article’s charts on Google Sheets. Crime in Minneapolis has been a hot-button issue recently, flaring up tensions over perceptions of violent crime and a policing strategy to address it. […]

Lyft MAX electric scooters parked near Gold Medal Park

Review: Lyft MAX Scooter by Segway-Ninebot

The first word that came to mind when taking my first ride was “solid”. With 10-inch tires (8-inch on older models) and a battery over double the size of previous generations, Lyft’s new MAX model developed by Segway-Ninebot is a beast engineered for the abuse cycle of rental scooters. Lyft introduced the MAX in the […]

Car free day cookies

Dispatch from Car-Free MSP Day

My 5am chariot awaits! @MoveMpls @MplsChamber @jweinhagen #carfreemsp pic.twitter.com/2BmLkctI64 — Andrea Carver (@AMCarver72) September 19, 2019 Andrea Carver, of Becker, started her car-free journey at 4:46 a.m. when she took the Northstar Commuter Rail to Minneapolis. At 6:10 a.m., she took the Blue Line light-rail train from Target Field Station to Nicollet, then walked on […]

Scooter

Review: Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro Electric Scooter

Over the past several months, I have been disappointed with the availability of scooters, even in downtown Minneapolis, where they seem to be on every street corner. In the afternoon, as scooter batteries start to deplete, the nearest one with a full battery can sometimes be blocks away in the wrong direction. If you want […]

Cathedral of St. Paul

Bike Routes to Get In and Out of Downtown St. Paul

Bill Lindeke recently posted a definitive ranked list of the Best Bike Lanes from Downtown Saint Paul to the West. The list was empty, and it was a good joke, because it’s true. Having bike commuted in and out of Downtown Saint Paul for the last 2.5 years, I’ve also got opinions about which routes […]

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Waiting For a Sign: ‘Don’t Block the Intersection’

The secret is out. Drivers are needlessly, pointlessly blocking downtown intersections, causing backups of Metro Transit buses, as Bill Lindeke detailed in an article for MinnPost (“Is there a solution for the buses vs. blockers bottleneck in downtown Minneapolis?“). The problem is acute at certain points, such as where Nicollet Mall meets Washington Avenue South […]