The 2022 Met Council TAB Grants: a Suburban Perspective
An overview of some of the more interesting suburban infrastructure projects awarded grants by the Met Council in 2022, from a pool of an unusually large $355 million.
Tag Archives: suburbs
BNSF Said No to Light Rail, Would They Say Yes to a Trail?
The Blue Line Extension hit a major roadblock when BNSF Railway refused to allow part of the light rail route on their right-of-way. This means delays and a higher cost to the project, but it’s also been an opportunity to reroute the light rail through North Minneapolis. What hasn’t been talked about however, is the […]
National Links: A New Economic Model
Every day at The Overhead Wire, we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. […]
Local Reactions to the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Urban-Suburban Edge
How has Coronavirus affected your neighborhood? There are several components to the way neighborhoods react: people, business, transportation, etc. Some reactions are common, some unique to each neighborhood. So yesterday I decided to document the most public & specific of these reactions: businesses. Everyone needs to shop & run errands, so how does the pandemic […]
Why a Major Outer-suburban Real Estate Downturn is Imminent
I believe the stage is set for large, outer-suburban houses to decline drastically in value. This will likely result in abandonment or subdivision into multiple units before mortgages are paid off. In the long-term future, many outer-suburban homeowners will probably foreclose, if the taxpayer doesn’t bail them out. There are many factors predictive of this […]
Bloomington’s Comprehensive Plan: Forward 2040
Bloomington’s 2040 Plan, titled “Forward 2040” was officially adopted by the city on Aug 5, 2019. Unlike in Minneapolis, it passed with little notice and little controversy. Here are a few points that caught my attention. Housing and Diversity Although the need for more high density housing is acknowledged like in the Minneapolis plan, here […]
The City: Where Ping Pong Tables Go To Die
I used to say the internet was suburban. Theory: Facebook (and possibly the Internet) is suburban. Twitter is urban. — Chris Steller (@chris_steller) April 13, 2013 The idea being, both on the internet and in the suburbs you get the feeling you could be anywhere. Nowadays I might offer some serious quibbles with that proposition, […]
National Links: Suburban Poverty, Opportunity Zones, and Sustainability
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the DC region. […]
Map Monday: Minneapolis / Saint Paul Neighborhood #cityburb Demographic “Comps”
Here are a pair of fascinating maps from journalistic gadfly, David Brauer, who has been working on a project that pairs urban neighborhoods with their closest demographic equivalents in the suburbs (or Greater Minnesota). Using five elements, “(kid %, whiteness, income, poverty, rental %” — Brauer does his best to match up like places, and […]
Little Canada’s “Other” Transportation Infrastructure: Bicycling
This is part of a series of posts about a study on Little Canada’s transportation infrastructure for people who take transit, walk, and/or bike. Transit: Parts One and Two, and Walking addressed Little Canada’s buses and sidewalks. This part has an analysis of Little Canada’s biking infrastructure. What Exists Now And What Is Planned For Biking Biking can be rather difficult […]