Observations from a Minnesota Urbanist in Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece
What can three European countries tell us about urban life? A lot: From design to transportation, their towns excel at human-scale development.
Tag Archives: walkability
Zoning Matters: 18th Avenue NE and Central Avenue
Current zoning codes in Minneapolis unnecessarily prevent small businesses from being more walkable and accessible — part of the neighborhood fabric.
Zoning Matters: A Tale of Two Corners
Neighbors for More Neighbors member and contributor Brit Anbacht compares the zoning of 48th and Chicago with that of 46th and Clinton in Minneapolis and how the 2040 Plan can create complete neighborhoods.
National Links: Old Buildings and Governance
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. […]
Hennepin Avenue: A Street for All Ages
Being raised in a family that didn’t default to driving gave me the wind in my hair as a toddler on the back of my mother’s bike; a sense of self-confidence as my father would walk with me to school; the knowledge that I will always have choices in how I get around. But that […]
Bicycle-Friendliness
The League of American Cyclists is responsible for putting out report cards that assign Bicycle Friendly rankings to communities, businesses, universities, and states. To receive a report card, all you have to do is fill out a 42-page application and await their review. Reviews are good for 4 years. There are a number of interesting […]
Let’s Put Gates on the Minneapolis Parkways
The Covid-19 pandemic has given many of America’s governments—local, state, and federal—an opportunity to fail spectacularly at basic governing. A virus which has been contained in many European, Asian, and South Pacific countries within a couple of months rages on in the United States. One government that has done a decent (not perfect) job with […]
Introducing: Minneapolis Stay Healthy Streets!
Effective April 29, the City of Minneapolis will begin creating “Stay Healthy Streets” in the 3 geographical areas of the City (North, South, Northeast). From the Minneapolis Website: Streets on these routes will generally be closed to thru car traffic but remain open for local resident access. On-street parking will generally be retained; some connection […]
National Links: Lessons from Germany
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. […]
A Lukewarm Defense of Lakeville
Your author has spent a good deal of time in Lakeville. My wife grew up there, and it’s where my in-laws still live. In fact, our family of four lived there for a summer in between selling and buying a house. My father-in-law runs a small business there, and I’ve even spent a number of […]