Upzoning Is the Only Way to Save Grand Avenue
It’s time to repeal the East Grand Avenue Overlay District, a failed zoning policy that is killing Grand Avenue — once a vibrant shopping and dining district.
Tag Archives: Grand Avenue
Market-Rate Housing Has a Phase-In
Market-rate housing has benefits, but they aren’t distributed evenly. That creates both an economic and political problems for new development.
A Minor Miracle in St. Paul
I have been known to harshly criticize St. Paul for its consistent—one could say unconscious, institutional—prioritization of car speed and convenience over the safety and comfort of people traveling sustainably. But this past fall St. Paul did something incredible, illuminating how different things could be with nothing more than a change in mindset. In October, […]
Summit Avenue Bridge Construction Detouring
The bridge over Summit Avenue will be rebuilt during the 2019 construction season. This is an exciting opportunity for the City of Saint Paul to start making Summit Avenue, the premier bike route in the city, safe and comfortable for all riders. Details about the project can be found on the project website as I […]
It’s Crossing the Street, Stupid
First off, apologies for the insult. The title is of course a riff on the famous 90s political truism, “it’s the economy, stupid.” It’s amazing to me how easily we forget this little fact. Facilitating safe easy street crossings should be “job one” for any urban street design, and yet so many of our streets […]
Street Connections
How important are connections between inside and out? Panino’s, a place my wife and I enjoy eating at fairly often, recently expanded into the space next door. The original space was kind of a quirky collection of areas but it worked and felt comfortable. Unfortunately the new space is a giant windowless sterile echo chamber […]
Riding the Free Trolley at the Grand Meander
This past Saturday, I went with my family to the Grand Meander on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul. Sponsored by the Grand Avenue Business Association (GABA), this event featured lots of fun activities, including a 5K run, a soup tasting contest, and three art fairs. After corralling his reindeer at Ace Hardware, Santa had several […]
Quick Hits: Why We Want Kmart, Dutch Demo Project, and More
I’ve got a very long list of posts that I’d like to write but I don’t have time to write them and I’m sure most readers don’t want to take that much time to read them. So, here are a few in brief. Would Removing Kmart Harm Nicollet Avenue? Nicollet Avenue is a fairly nice […]
Sunday Summary – October 25, 2015
We do have Official Business to do here at streets.mn and the board elected new officers yesterday which is the official business being announced. Read the post to find out who we are, but also where streets.mn started and how it’s grown. We hope we grow even more, but we need your assistance by writing, becoming […]
We Read the Parking Meter Comments, So You Don’t Have To
When controversy happens… when tempers flare…we read the comments, so you don’t have to. This week, there was a contentious meeting in St. Paul concerning proposals to implement parking meters on Grand Avenue. The meeting was “heated,” to use the words of the Pioneer Press. It featured a crowd willing to heckle those speaking. Will […]