It’s a maddening time lately, with political actors denying obvious truths and using scare tactics to sidestep honest dialogue. In any debate about change, political winds favor the side with the simple message: NO. It’s easy to fearmonger, deceive, and put words on lawn signs that conjure impending annihilation. I like to think Minneapolis is […]
If you don’t know about downtown Saint Paul’s Pedro Park controversy — or even how to correctly pronounce the name “Pedro” (hint: you probably don’t) — here’s a quick summary from the recent Pioneer Press article, “Six residents quit St. Paul’s Pedro Park design committee in protest”: On Saturday, residents of several downtown St. Paul […]
The success of a project in an urban environment depends on attention to detail — including details that lie just outside the project’s boundaries.
If you accept the criticism that the Minneapolis 2040 plan is “anti-family,” then perhaps you should examine what “family” means to you.
The nice part about living in Mankato is that you’re often times overlooked by statewide media. Sure, we’ll pop up here and there for the best hockey town or landing number 10 on nation’s drunkest city list, but despite this marginal attention, we’ve been simply humming along. I have plenty of problems with Mankato that […]
Two new apartment buildings are rising in the view from my 3rd floor Whittier apartment. I was often enamored with the landscape I could witness but now the feeling is gone, ruined by these housing units. The building immediately adjacent to mine stands six stories tall, towering over my home by two floors. It has […]
When I heard that Minneapolis’s comprehensive plan would remove restrictions on building two- to four-unit homes in areas previously zoned R1 or R1A (including my neighborhood, Longfellow) I was thrilled. I consider the restrictions on these types of “missing middle” housing a nearly insurmountable threat to achieving Minneapolis’s population growth and sustainability goals. In addition, […]
Word has leaked of a very preliminary plan to legalize fourplexes in virtually every neighborhood in Minneapolis. It’s one part of a larger draft comprehensive plan that hasn’t yet been made public. If implemented, it would be the boldest land-use reform in the country, reversing a decades-long trend of restrictions that have contributed to higher […]
Previously this series covered federal and private involvement in Minnesota’s highways from the pioneer days into the 1920s. Now it’s time to cover the involvement of the state. As early as 1890 there was state involvement in highways, with the state contributing funds towards the Old Cedar and Bloomington Ferry Bridges. A 1898 constitutional amendment allowed […]
The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea ended today with Afton, MN native Jessie Diggins carrying the American flag in the closing ceremonies. Earlier in the week, Jessie and teammate Kikkan Randall (she’s from Alaska) won the first ever gold medal in cross country skiing for the US (and only the second medal of […]