Tag Archives: equity

A map of hennepin county shaded in pastel greens and purples
A map of hennepin county shaded in pastel greens and purples (Source: "How Lower-Income Americans Get Cheated on Property Taxes," New York Times, April 3, 2021)

Does This Map Identify Systemic Bias in Property Valuation?

• April 8, 2021

This editorial on disparities in property valuation in the New York Times is drawing attention and commentary, for good reason. The editorial finds nationwide, systemic valuation errors disproportionately affecting lower-value residential properties which shifts property-tax burdens towards those property-owners and away from higher-value residential property owners. Racial disparities in wealth and homeownership, and the persistent […]

Minneapolis 2040 Is More Than Fourplexes and High-Rises

• June 27, 2018

Contrary to most of the commentary, Minneapolis 2040, this decade’s comprehensive plan re-do, is about a lot more than allowing fourplexes in all of Minneapolis and skyscraper apartments in your neighborhood. It starts with 14 basic goals adopted by the City Council to provide direction to staff in the development of the draft Comprehensive Plan. The 97 policies in the Comprehensive Plan flow from those goals. Under […]

Barriers to Bike Share Equity in St. Paul

• December 21, 2017

As the Twin Cities embarks on the next iteration of bike share, it’s important to note a few things as it relates to current plans. In September, Nice Ride Minnesota let an RFP for an operator to come into the Twin Cities and operate the current Nice Ride station-based system until 2010 – or the […]

Chart of the Day: US Pedestrian Deaths by Race/Ethnicity

• August 16, 2017

Here’s a pretty simple chart from “Dangerous by Design“, Smart Growth America’s three-year-old report on pedestrian safety: The key point on the report’s summary explaining these statistics: Who are the victims of these collisions? People of color and older adults are overrepresented among pedestrian deaths. Non-white individuals account for 34.9 percent of the national population but make […]

The Ford Site Debate is Also About Equity

• August 16, 2017

About two weeks ago, the Planning Commission finally passed Saint Paul’s plans for the old Ford factory in Highland. The vote was unanimous to support to support the city’s plans, which called for around 4,000 units of housing and plenty of mixed-use, along with a host of other amenities. (Note: there was also an amendment […]

Minneapolis Skyways Offer an Escape from Reality

• August 29, 2016

“Since the first skyway opened in 1962,” Kim Ode writes in her piece on the expansion of the Minneapolis Skyway System, “the elevated passages have signified escape, whether from traffic noise, stoplights or the weather.” Yet there is another kind of escapism at play here: an escape from the demands of empathy, social responsibility, and […]

Chart of the Day: Walkable Urbanism vs Social Equity

• June 24, 2016

Here’s a chart from a recent Citylab article called “In the U.S., Walkability is a Premium Good“, using a new analysis of the amount of “walkable urbanism”  in different US cities. (Or, as I think of it, the “sidewalk factor.”) The article goes over a number of different variables correlated with walkability, including GDP, but the chart […]