One look at the route map below makes clear that the southeast quadrant of the Fulton neighborhood is heavily influenced by Minnehaha Creek, unlike the northwest and northeast portions I walked previously. Not that this accounts for all I saw. For example, this quadrant also turns out to be the land of the former gas stations. As usual, the […]
For more than a year, Ramsey County has been conducting a study to determine the best plan for the future of Rice Street–or, as Ramsey County highway engineers like to call it, Ramsey County Highway 49. We’ve had meetings, meetings, and still more meetings. At every turn the divides in the neighborhood seem to get […]
In 2009, my wife and I were looking for a house. I had just finished law school. I had temporary work as a law clerk and wasn’t sure where (or if?) I’d find a permanent job—the legal job market had cratered along with the rest of the economy. So we looked for a place near […]
The Fulton neighborhood’s northeast corner is in Lake Harriet. Rather than wait for the lake to freeze, I started on the shoreline path at 47th Street West. The dark blue lines in the following route map show the main loop I took back to that spot, aside from one detour I took around a temporarily […]
I confess, “from Farmers to France” is more alliterative than strictly accurate. I started immediately adjacent to the Fulton Farmers Market, but I devoted a few minutes to the environs before going into the market itself. And I returned there at the end of the walk, after France Avenue. The Fulton neighborhood in southwest Minneapolis extends […]
The day after I walked the southern half of Folwell neighborhood, I returned for the northern half. The following map shows my route, consisting of a main loop (shown in blue) starting and ending at Penn and 36th Avenues North, supplemented by some forward-and-back spurs (shown in red). Starting out eastbound on 36th Avenue North from […]
It seems like it’s time to take stock of the arguments being levied against ideas in the Minneapolis Draft 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Here are some of the common themes that you might hear argued—or might be compelled to argue yourself!—and some point-by-point responses. Density Belongs Downtown (or Near the University, or…) The Draft Plan already […]
The Folwell neighborhood is named for Folwell Park in North Minneapolis, not Folwell School in South Minneapolis. (This means it is indirectly named for Folwell the park board president, not Folwell the University of Minnesota president—though they were one and the same person.) So the title “Southern Folwell” indicates not which Folwell I’m writing about, but rather which half of it […]
The 2040 Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan has proposed that we open all single-family homes and duplexes to being bulldozed and replaced with fourplexes. This has, rightly, alarmed many people. Some parts of the City would benefit from more density but indiscriminately bulldozing homes would destroy the fabric of many of our neighborhoods. Housing advocates have said […]
Having previously walked the northern part of the neighborhood, I set out the next day to walk everything from 48th Street to Minnehaha Creek. The start and end of my main loop were at 48th and Chicago. As usual, I also had to take some forward-and-back spurs, shown in red. Recall that Chicago Avenue in the vicinity […]