As you may have heard, the Minneapolis draft comprehensive plan includes a proposal to lift the ban on small (2-3 story) multifamily buildings in most of the city, and to allow new fourplexes in all residential areas. Council Members Cam Gordon and Andrew Johnson have said they worry these policies will cause the destruction of […]
We’ve all heard that the current administration is hoping to pump $1 Trillion dollars into infrastructure spending in the coming years. This type of rhetoric has been slung by almost every President since I’ve been alive and probably more. “We need to fix our roads and bridges!” often evoking the painful memories of the 35W […]
From the Lincoln Institute on Land Policy, here’s a through Twin Cities’ land use map from a huge (!) document called the Atlas of Urban Expansion, which purports to compare cities around the world according to a few key land use measures. The Twin Cities falls into the “Land-rich developed countries” category, but the cool […]
Urban planning “locker room talk” — decrying sprawl, stroads, subsidies and other S words — doesn’t advance the dialogue, our author asserts.
I love living in Minnesota, the Twin Cities, and mostly Minneapolis. The core of our state offers so many opportunities to so many different kinds of people. But for too long, urban progressives – the type of people who vote overwhelmingly for liberal candidates and causes election after election – have waged a mostly winning […]
If you are like me, you have probably been receiving email and social media pleas for weeks to Give the Max to various organizations. Every non-profit that has managed to get my email has sent at least one message asking for money. Well, here’s another. If you are reading this post at all, it likely […]
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” –Yogi Berra If you have lived in Rochester long enough, you may remember downtown buildings as the businesses that used to occupy them (e.g. Dayton’s, Wong’s, Henry Wellington’s). And you may remember a time when it was very convenient to drive downtown and park right in front of […]
Advocates for fair housing policies received a boost recently, thanks to a UCLA study which demonstrates a link between restrictive land use policies and income segregation within cities. Instead of focusing on the issue of “concentration of poverty,” the study identifies the primary problem as a geographic concentration of affluence brought about by overly restrictive, […]
Minneapolis 1, St Paul 0 — While driving around in Minneapolis and St Paul the other day, the differences in street life were enormous. Massively more people were riding bicycles (and walking) around Minneapolis than St Paul. Or, there were a lot of people riding in Minneapolis and nobody in St Paul. If I were […]
Edina, Minn — The City of Edina today announced ambitious plans to rebrand the aging Southdale District as “Stroaddale”, and to establish strict historic preservation guidelines to ensure that its low-density, stroad-oriented development is cherished for future generations. Stroaddale District is named for Stroaddale Center, and is roughly bounded by Crosstown to the north, Valley […]