The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) have a conference every year to talk about legislating. And states. And such. This year, it took place in Minneapolis. Beyond a veritable smorgasbord of sessions ranging from community corrections to sales tax, attendees got to experience Minneapolis in a number of ways. On Friday morning, BikeMN and Bike […]
You may have heard the news about a little apartment building proposed for a site at 24th & Colfax in the Wedge. After a long, bitter battle over whether the houses currently on the site should be demolished, the proposed building is finally up for review before the City Planning Commission. One of many reasons […]
Saint Paul is a weird city. One of its many quirks, which may go largely undetected, is that it has a DMV located deep in the recesses of a Sears Department Store. It’s easy to miss. First you would have to find a reason to go inside a dated looking Sears at Rice Street just […]
I’ve appreciated the streets.mn blogging about Central Corridor coulda-woulda-shoulda’s. Other than signal-timing, I think it’s fair to say they mainly relate to pedestrian needs. Well, pedestrian needs have gotten short shrift to date for the SWLRT West Lake Station (also future Midtown terminus) – although it may not appear that way at first glance. Unfortunately, until now, […]
Public officials and planners made a huge mistake when they chose to place the Central Corridor “Green Line” Light Rail Transit (LRT) on University Avenue. Enchanted by federal money and obsessed with dreams of economic development, they forgot the obvious purpose for a light rail train: better mass transit. We must recognize this huge error […]
I predict the Packers will win, prompting the biggest riot the city has ever seen! No, seriously, I support hosting the 2018 Super Bowl in Minnesota. After all, we need to start paying off our billion-dollar, publicly financed stadium that was supposed to be paid for with non-existent gaming revenues. Looking at the behavior of […]
Former Congressman and longtime transportation champion Jim Oberstar died unexpectedly Saturday morning at age 79. News outlets are all posting the usual obituaries that one expects for a man of distinction and achievement. He was a giant for transportation, not only in Minnesota, but in the United States. He was a member of the House […]
I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about how to advocate at City Hall for good urbanism. We spend a lot of time writing good posts on Streets.MN and debating in online chatrooms, but does that really move the needle at City Hall? Meanwhile, those of a preservationist mindset are always emailing […]
Politics in America are split along urban versus suburban/exurban lines. Urban areas are likely to be more “liberal” when it comes to issues of public transportation, the environment, education, gun control, race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. A glance at presidential election maps by county confirms this and numerous studies correlate voting patterns to population […]
Today’s Chart of the Day looks at system ownership of the state’s road network by miles of road and miles of travel. Source: MnDOT Annual Transportation Performance Report 2012