I have written about cars before. Up until recently, I drove a 2015 Toyota Prius, and test-drove the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y. I wanted to get an electric car, but someday, and one that put me in the driver’s seat. The future became the present this summer. With the wildfire smoke burning […]
An essay posted January 15, 2021 on streets.mn entitled “Preserve The Future, Not Just The Past” is a fairly typical critique of heritage preservation and the role of heritage preservation commissions (HPCs) in American cities. The article points to the frequently absurd minutia and short-sightedness of HPC meetings and staff reports, but does not fully […]
Because I have a lot of important things to fill my time, I recently tuned in to a meeting of the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. There was just one item on the agenda: the proposed demolition of a low-slung downtown office building at 17 N Washington Avenue, which would then be replaced by a 27 […]
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. […]
So, if you looked closely at the surveyor’s description for our garage slab last time you would have seen it said “(No Structure)”. That is because we sold it! (+$1000 to our budget) Apparently selling a garage to be rebuilt elsewhere is a thing you can do, and it saves us the expense of sending […]
Presumably you’ve read my first and second article regarding the potential ordinance amendment for “Sustainable To-Go Packaging” for restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores and other establishments. If you haven’t please stop reading this article and go read the first 2. Welcome back! The vote in favor or against the Sustainable To-Go Ordinance update was supposed […]
Streets.mn readers care about the environment, right? That’s why we’re counting on you to care about the push for sustainable to-go packaging at restaurants and eateries in St. Paul. St. Paul City Council members are warming up to the idea of updating the city’s ordinance to require sustainable to-go packaging, with an implementation period of […]
Welcome to December on streets.mn. Aiming to provide some twinkling lights in the darkness this winter, streets.mn’s annual fundraiser and all-around FUNdraiser is coming up fast. Get tickets here, then join us December 19, 2018 for an evening of fun with The Theater of Public Policy, sparking conversation, cool people, and delicious eatables and drinkables. […]
Last month I wrote an article about the history of the Saint Paul sustainable take-out container ordinance, where it started from and where it was going as of October 2018. A quick recap: 1989: Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul created sustainable take-out container ordinances; Minneapolis started enforcing theirs right away, albeit loosely. Saint Paul’s ordinance […]
Once upon a time, sometime in 1989, the city of Saint Paul drafted a sustainable take-out container ordinance. It wasn’t called that, as the terms “sustainable” and “sustainability” weren’t widely used yet. It was written to help achieve city, county and state recycling and waste reduction goals through increasing the types of take out containers […]