Minnesota Is Not California
Cities are not all the same! And we need to bear that in mind when considering new housing policies, because results may vary.
Category: Policy
ADUs Are Working Great — Just Not for the Twin Cities
Overheated coastal housing markets have seen remarkable ADU booms, while the Twin Cities has had negligible ADU development.
St. Paul City Planners Are Ready for Missing Middle Housing
Two recent reports show that St. Paul’s city planners have made their decision: They’re ready to legalize neighborhood-scale density.
Rep. Steve Elkins Has a Plan for Housing Abundance
In the 2023 Minnesota legislative session, Rep. Steve Elkins (DFL-Bloomington) is pitching a comprehensive and complementary set of housing policies.
Don’t Forget: We Need More Large Apartments
Data show the importance of large buildings for meeting urban housing needs. But first that concept has to gain support.
National Links: 300 Languages, One Street
Along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, more than 300 languages are spoken. As the 7 train runs over the “artery of life”, commerce explodes underneath with vibrancy and community. The street is a microcosm of the world and what goes on there sometimes impacts what happens on the other side of the globe.
National Links: Flood Insurance, Oakland and Third Places
This week on National Links: flood insurance set to receive major reforms, Oakland weighs the impact of losing a baseball team and the undervalued importance of “third places.”
Deconstructing the Past and Future of St. Anthony Falls Lock
In these perilous times, dreaming of the future comes less easily. That is precisely what I found myself doing, however, after hearing the news earlier this year that the planning process for the future development of the three-acre St. Anthony Falls Lock property would start fresh from the beginning — this time, with Indigenous peoples […]
The Northstar Is Broken. How can we fix it?
Contributor Ian Gaida offers musings on how to make the Northstar a more useful – and utilized – system.
No Use for a Name: The Untold Story of Alley Identity and Utility in Minneapolis’ Palace Court
(The photograph above, showing the Metropolitan Opera House and Palace Court, was taken by C.J. Hubbard in 1914, Minnesota Historical Society) Historical and contemporary Minneapolis is not particularly known for its public alleys. They have served a more discreet role in the lives of Minneapolitans, unsung for getting private vehicles off city streets. Of course, […]