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Matt Steele

Collegeville, MN
Commenter for
5 years 17 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 11/06/12 at 08:12 pm in response to Star Tribune editor: 'If you want to campaign, put down your journalist's badge'

that an employer should be obligated to keep someone in their employ who creates undue risk to their brand or their value in the marketplace? No, people get paychecks because they add more value to an organization than they cost it. People's actions outside of work hours, yet in the public view, can severely increase their risk or diminish their value to an organization. Of course we all have the right to free speech, but we don't have the right to be sheltered from the costs of our...

Posted on 11/05/12 at 10:04 am in response to How to end the war on walkers in the Twin Cities

Andrew, why should we prioritize cars at the expense of bikes or pedestrians when cars are by far the most inefficient use of space on our congested urban roads? I'm sure most people have seen the picture of the space occupied by 50 people in buses, bikes, and single occupancy automobiles. With your example of Washington Ave, we could actually move more *people* by calming it to a four lane (or less) boulevard and ceding more space to pedestrians, buses, bicyclists, and maybe a streetcar...

Posted on 08/27/12 at 12:02 pm in response to Why there's an empty lot across from Lake Calhoun

Really funny to read some people who say that allowing dense development means catering to rich developers. It's sort of the other way around, folks. The NIMBY folks are the ones with existing property who have everything to gain by artificially constraining market supply so their property values skyrocket. The developers are just fulfilling demand. Of course they make money. But who ultimately benefits alongside? Our city which grows its tax base without assuming significant long-term...

Posted on 05/03/12 at 01:09 pm in response to Parking at the Pillsbury A Mill debated

Why not let the market dictate how much parking is needed and how much it costs? If someone wants a spot, they'll pay for one. Parking minimums are very destructive policies.

Posted on 04/20/12 at 12:44 pm in response to Future expanded rail service threatens Cedar Lake Bike Trail

The Hines proposal is great by itself, but allowing to be developed as proposed makes us lose out on a huge opportunity for expanded rail in the trench. A true downtown rail station serving commuter lines, a regional network, and high speed rail may necessitate a dozen or more platforms in the next 50 years. We have a grade-separated trench with rails in it already, meaning no conflicts with the street grid and fewer environmental reviews using an existing corridor.

Preserve the grade...

Posted on 04/17/12 at 09:36 am in response to Twin Cities’ rail-transit proposals could be on a collision course

Re: the Interchange. It's also worrisome that the city hasn't killed the Dock Street development proposal for the below-grid-grade Hines development. It's great that we want to develop that chasm between Downtown and the North Loop, but we need to preserve the lower level for future transit platforms, etc.

Re: Rush Line, Gateway, etc.... it's really unfortunate how much politics can influence our priorities, because then these in-metro feuds get in the way of our success as a region....

Posted on 03/01/12 at 12:21 pm in response to Did Star Tribune land sneak into the new Vikings stadium deal?

So let me get this straight: The plan is to replace possibly multiple blocks of existing productive uses with surface parking lot "open space plazas" so people can tailgate 8 or 10 Sundays a year? And I thought the *dome* was bad for the neighborhood...

Posted on 02/22/12 at 11:48 am in response to Metrodome district: It's utterly charmless, but it sports some distinctive art

If there's anything that neighborhood needs to overcome the blight of large cold institutional buildings flanked by block after block of surface parking lots, it's a football stadium! I mean, the only thing keeping this neighborhood from thriving over the past thirty years was the lack of a stadium, right?

Posted on 02/17/12 at 03:07 pm in response to Competitors no more: Thisweek, Sun papers consolidate in Dakota County

I'm still getting over the Lakeville Life and Times / Thisweek merger.

Posted on 02/15/12 at 11:19 am in response to The new MinnPost

The only thing I miss is the full text in the RSS feed. Now when I see new blog posts in my Google Reader, it only shows the description. Thanks!