Category: Parking

Climate Emergency

Pushback, Once Again

  This is the context, and we all know it: • Climate change is real and already causing devastating effects • Climate change is primarily caused by CO2 • Transportation accounts for the largest part of Minnesota’s CO2 increase • We need to act now Given that, let’s say you have a street (well, more […]

Amsterdam has more bikes than cars.

Multi-Modalism Is a Privilege That Too Few of Us Embrace

I traveled to Europe for the first time in October, basing in Amsterdam because I wanted to experience a city built for multi-modal transportation. How heartening to see the possibilities: adults of all ages cycling to work, ready rail service to nearby towns, having officers stop traffic so pedestrian throngs could cross the street. A […]

Parking meter in Uptown

Big Ideas to Bolster Car-Commuter Safety

Citing increasing crime on and near car storage sites in the Twin Cities, an urban Minnesota blog post writer plans to introduce several safety proposals that deserve serious consideration. Pine Salica, a leading voice on transportation issues, plans to ask a legislator to introduce their proposal during the 2020 session. Salica told a writer that […]

Parking Validation: What If I Don’t Drive?

You’ve probably been offered parking validation, as I have, at restaurants, grocery stores — even the county Human Services office where I receive benefits (while working three jobs and freelancing on the side).  But what if, like me, you don’t have a car? Which of these places will validate your visiting them by riding transit, […]

1970 platting of the kmart lot

Another Kmart, Another Controversy – Part 1

Another Kmart has closed. This one leaves behind an 11.5 acre site just outside downtown Rochester. The property was sold for $7M back in January, before Kmart had even closed. The parcel itself is weird, the current plan is disappointing, and the public process for such a large site in the supposed Destination Medical Center […]

New Apartment Ne Mpls

Ritzy Rafter in CenHen Opens for Business

On Thursday, August 15, the new Rafter apartment building had its grand opening event. With fine hors-d’œuvres and libations, the parties gathered to celebrate the completion of another real estate development. It is said that the Rafter project is “named in honor of a group, or “rafter,” of wild turkeys known to call Northeast Minneapolis […]

Park Vs. Parking

Uptown’s Mall: More Park, Less Parking

If you’ve ever been to Uptown’s The Mall, you might not have realized it’s a park administered by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. It can feel more like a nicely landscaped parking lot with a generous grassy median. The drive-able portion of The Mall seems to serve the function of letting drivers hunt for […]

Richfield Sign

Richfield Considers Lowering Parking Minimums

On Monday April 22, the Richfield Planning Commission split 3-3 on a recommendation by planning staff to reduce parking minimums in mixed use zoning districts. In areas near transit, the plan would reduce minimum requirements from 1.5 to one space per unit. Outside of areas with high frequency transit, parking minimums would be made consistent […]

Tap1

A Few More Opportunities for Public Input on the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan

After my last class today, I took a ride on the route 4 bus–including the slow crawl along Nicollet–from Minneapolis College to the Central Library,  where I was able to attend the downtown Community Workshop for Minneapolis’ Transportation Action Plan. This workshop was one of a series of community engagement opportunities to interact with the […]