Some weeks ago, Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat and a team of architects unveiled a bold and expensive new idea for Minneapolis’ Mississippi riverfront. The plan received a warm reception from Chamber of Commerce and Editorial Board types, but a more lukewarm response among the two groups of people whose opinions I most often seek: […]
In October, I took the bus out to Afton State Park, which is located on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border due east of the Twin Cities. But wait, you might think. That’s impossible. There’s no bus service out that way. The nearest Metro Transit route is the 294, which goes to Stillwater and only runs during rush […]
September 2, 2019 Downtown, Payne-Phalen, Railroad Island, Dayton’s Bluff 20.5 Miles In all my rides around Saint Paul, I’d never seen a dinosaur, nor had I ever expected to. That’s why the tyrannosaurus gazing out from a building on Pine Street on the edge of Payne-Phalen caused me to lock up the brakes on my […]
Theodore Wirth Park, the largest park managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, is home to what MPRB superintendent Mary Merrill has described as a world class facility that serves as the jumping off point for year-round outdoor activities. However, these activities – which include snow tubing, cross country skiing, mountain and fat tire […]
August 13, 2019 25.4 Miles West Seventh (West End), Downtown, Dayton’s Bluff, Highwood I had a simple plan for this ride. Bike the 11 miles-plus to Boys Totem Town for the closing ceremony and tour of the empty juvenile detention facility in Highwood. I estimated it would take about an hour and a quarter to […]
I’m proud to say I’m a second-generation St. Paul resident – not that I’ve known that for a long time. I was introduced to St. Paul when I started my bachelor’s degree at Hamline University, nestled comfortably in the Midway. It was only then my father first told me stories of his childhood growing up […]
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 […]
With the Park Board’s Water Works project’s phase one underway, and improvements being made all along the river, I talked with two local Park Board commissioners, Jono Cowgill and Chris Meyer, about the future of West River Parkway, the parkway system, and Minneapolis parks. Both share a vision for a parkway system that returns to […]
Highland Park, Mac-Groveland, Merriam Park, Lexington-Hamline, Frogtown (Thomas-Dale), North End, Payne-Phalen, East Side July 30, 2017 31.7 Miles This ride turned out to be one of the longest ever for the blog, passing through eight of Saint Paul’s 17 District Councils areas and many more neighborhoods. It was also my second and last ride of […]
[Part of the Saint Paul Field Guide to Public Spaces, put together by a geography class at Macalester College in fall 2018. See introduction here.] By David Black Phalen Regional Park is located in the northeastern portion of St. Paul, with a small portion extending north into its suburb of Maplewood. The park’s overall area is 494 […]