Last Wednesday (February 4) I attended a public presentation by Ramsey County engineers for a proposed redesign of the Randolph and Lexington Avenue intersection. They are proposing to spend a million and a half dollars to purchase four properties on the northeast corner of the intersection and bulldoze them to make space for a dedicated […]
Bill Lindeke’s How Should Cities Value Industrial Land? started a great conversation. He finds contradictory information from different sources and wonders whether they are reconcilable. One report finds industrial land use as one of the most productive land uses in a city, yet tax value per acre shows a different story. Which is right? Both points […]
In a few weeks, Saint Paul is likely to adopt a new plan for the West Side Flats, a large area of former floodplain right across the river from downtown Saint Paul. While there’s a lot of agreement about the majority of the plan — dense but not-too-tall mixed-use, a reconnected street grid, storm water […]
Fancy new apartments: Are they expensive? We’ve heard they’re expensive. Pricing people out and ruining everything, etc. However, Minneapolis has just under 90,000 rental dwelling units. Many of them are not expensive. Some of them, in fact, are expensive but are actually located right next to ones that are not expensive. It should be noted […]
Gerber Jewelers is a small business situated on one of St. Paul’s most desirable streets and it’s trying to extend its storefront to the sidewalk. “Gerber Jewelers’ bid to extend the front of its building at 945 Grand Ave. to the sidewalk has been rebuffed. On a 7-0 vote … St. Paul City Council rejected […]
Streets.mn occasionally profiles small towns and cities throughout Minnesota, case studies that show that urbanism is not a war between the metro and Greater Minnesota. On the contrary, it is often from the Main Streets of small towns that urbanists gain valuable insight. For example, streets.mn has previously profiled New Ulm because of a battle […]
The American gentrification story will sound familiar to many: A historic neighborhood, home to traditionally transit-oriented apartments and modest single family homes, slowly becomes destitute and outdated as the automobile era drives population away from city centers. The neighborhood becomes derelict and neglected, but eventually, the bohemian counterculture — the artists, performers, musicians, and designers […]
Featuring bicycle transportation as a way to stick it to foreign oil oligarchs, this is one of the more progressive ads in the series featuring Errol Morris produced by Miller in the early oughts.
[This post first appeared on the Saint Paul Smart-Trips blog.] “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett Over the last several years, the city of Saint Paul has made great strides to improve the bicycle infrastructure within our city. One of the most […]
Last week, the owners of Nye’s Polonaise Room announced that the beloved Northeast Minneapolis bar would be closing next year to make way for a residential tower of some sort. It’s pretty sketchy what that will ultimately entail, but quotes from the developer indicate that the existing building will need to be demolished to make […]