Category: Land Use

On Rent Control

After 2017’s City Council races in Minneapolis and Ginger Jentzen’s strong showing, rent control has re-entered the housing discourse in the Twin Cities again, despite the fact that it is preempted at the state level. It’s my belief that the preemption and much of the opposition to rent control is based in a certain inflexibility […]

Candidates for Saint Paul Ward 4: Amy Ireland on Development Surrounding the Soccer Stadium

Writer’s note: On August 14, 2018, St Paul Ward 4 residents will have the opportunity to vote for a new City Council Member in a special election to replace Russ Stark as he accepts a new position within the city. As a Ward 4 resident, I wrote to the candidates to ask them specific questions […]

National Links: AI Zoning and Taxing Uber

Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list.  At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the DC region.  […]

Rent Control activists picketing

Why I Oppose Rent Control

I believe housing is a human right, and that we are facing a housing crisis that will impoverish a generation if we do not act quickly and aggressively.  I would support nearly any policy that would increase access to affordable housing, reduce the number of rent-burdened households, and reduce or eliminate displacement.   But I […]

National Links: This Year’s Planning Trends

Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list.  At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the DC region.  […]

Walk-Up Windows and Great Urban Places

If you can order a coffee from a window while standing on a sidewalk, you just might be in a great urban place. On a recent trip to Santiago, Chile, I walked out of our AirBnB and just up the sidewalk was a coffee shop with a window facing the sidewalk. The street happened to […]

If I Ran the World: West 7th Street

If I ran the world, West 7th Street would be great. In addition to cool shops and bars, a long history, and excellent transit, West 7th Street would have a series of linear parks. Parks with benches. Parks with tables. Parks with trees. Anyone could walk or hop a street car from one cool shop […]