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Steven Prince

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
5 years 14 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 07/06/11 at 11:10 am in response to Dayton seems increasingly intent on finding some way to end shutdown

@BIll Merryman

The Republicans passed a $34 billion budget, not a $36 billion budget. Even the governor's final budget offer before the shutdown was less than $36 billion.

The $34 billion budget passed by the Republicans was billions less then the state's budget passed under Pawlenty. But the Rebublicans keep saying it reflects "more general fund spending." Sure, but the last budget used billions of federal stimulus money, and promised to pay local school districts back for...

Posted on 06/23/11 at 10:53 am in response to Minnesota Senate makes the constitutional argument for shutting down pretty much everything

If you submit a brief to the court, then as a general rule you have agreed to submit yourself to the authority and jurisdiction of the court in that dispute.

Judges have inherent and statutory authority to order parties in a lawsuit to mediation, and even to choose the mediator for those parties. Those procedures are clearly spelled out in the court’s rules.

By submitting briefs the Senate and House (or the individuals acting on behalf of those bodies) agreed to whatever...

Posted on 06/07/11 at 02:07 pm in response to Rep. Betty McCollum in Israel with delegation, but no prime minister meeting

@Dennis
Because she is a member of the U.S. Congress in Israel to find out information about Israel.

If Bibi will not meet with U.S. elected officials because he doesn't like their tour guide, what does that say about his willingness to allow the meetings necessary to achieve peace?

Posted on 06/06/11 at 10:59 am in response to Minnesota budget primer: Trying to make sense of all those billion-dollar numbers

This is a useful post for understanding the history of how we got to the Republican and Democratic buget totals, but I am still waiting to see an explanation of the difference in funding for specfic programs between the two proposed budgets.

Posted on 04/29/11 at 12:07 pm in response to Los Angeles tries to accelerate transit: Would it work here?

@ William Pappas

"Providing alternatives to car ownership completely changes the development options and immediately densities urban growth."

True, but investing in transit does not automatically provide an alternative to car ownership or assure denser development.

The DC Metro is a great example of how transit investment can accelerate increased sprawl. We need a rail system (our city was developed based on one), but we should be careful that our transit investments...

Posted on 04/29/11 at 07:42 pm in response to Los Angeles tries to accelerate transit: Would it work here?

@ David

Take a look at the “Minneapolis Station Area Strategic Planning – Final Document” and the “Station Area Strategic Planning – Market Assessment” at: http://www.southwesttransitway.org/station-area-planning.html

Here’s a summary:

Royalston
This is the only stop is in North Minneapolis. Planners note no...

Posted on 04/30/11 at 02:51 pm in response to Los Angeles tries to accelerate transit: Would it work here?

@David
I agree, this is an intra-city line for getting suburbanites into downtown. Not so sure about going the other way. I remain unconvinced the Kenilworth alignment adds any intercity advantages. Can someone point me to a U.S. LRT route built in the last 50 years that created urban nodes, vs. a line routed to serve existing urban nodes?

I agree with your comments about parking. for years LHENA was assured that supporting density along the Greenway would mean LRT along that...

Posted on 04/25/11 at 03:56 pm in response to Minneapolis Census data uncover a bipolar city

Middle class families with children have been abandoning Minneapolis for decades, and the City has neither a plan (nor interest) in addressing this reality. Instead, the City focuses on increasing its tax base, which means building housing for smaller households, particularly in high amenity (transit connected, along the River, the Warehouse District, the Greenway) areas.

In many parts of the City (including my Uptown neighborhood) zoning encourages the destruction of family...

Posted on 04/26/11 at 11:09 pm in response to Minneapolis Census data uncover a bipolar city

Several posts seem to suggest I am speaking in code when I talk about percentage of kids eligible for free or reduced lunch. I am simply pointing to a statistic that captures very dramatically the change in demographics that has overtaken our school district over the last twenty years. Most Minneapolis residents do not even understand the problem, because they have no contact with our schools. They assume the Minneapolis Public Schools reflect the demographics of their neighborhoods....

Posted on 04/27/11 at 11:02 pm in response to Minneapolis Census data uncover a bipolar city

@ David

Here are two suggestions to make the City more attract to middle class families.

1) Encourage family housing in all neighborhoods

In the Wedge we have a significant number of 100 years old homes and duplexes. Twenty years ago families were buying and renovating these properties. The trend is in the other direction today. Poor code enforcement coupled with multifamily zoning encourages disinvestment in those properties so they can ultimately be torn down....