Bill Lindeke is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Geography, Environment and Society. He is the author of multiple books on Twin Cities culture and history, most recently St. Paul: an Urban Biography. Follow Bill on Twitter: @BillLindeke.
The cynical Minneapolis 2040 lawsuit, filed following the 12-1 passage of Minneapolis’ most recent comprehensive plan, fits with a national trend of anti-urban activists abusing what ought to be useful environmental laws.
The program mitigates one of the city’s most notorious decisions: the routing of the central I-94 freeway through the then-thriving Rondo neighborhood, home to the vast majority of St. Paul’s African Americans.
Figuring out how to make the Como Park Pavilion into a more successful public space has long been a priority of St. Paul City Council President Amy Brendmoen.
A St. Paul proposal would ban smoking of any kind in any city park, covering everything from cigars on the golf course to vapes at the skate park.
This week’s brouhaha over the end of the arrangement between Our Streets Minneapolis and the city’s Public Works department brings a long-standing funding problem to a head.
As companies empty out office buildings, cities might have to throw around more money to make downtowns more adaptable.
Now that I’ve sketched out a “patio district” on St. Paul’s Selby Avenue, let’s dive a little deeper into exploring parts of town that, for one reason or another, have accumulated more than their fair share of a certain type of shop.
Historical scrutiny about the effects of urban freeways on communities, combined with the urgent need for climate action, makes the question of “too much ambition” posed in a recent Star Tribune editorial sound silly.
If any Minneapolis streets should allow cyclists to “take the lane” and calm traffic, 20-mph recreational parkways running through the nation’s leading park system are the place.
While it’s true that some types of texture and massing look “cheaper” than others, there are legitimate questions about whether or not newer building materials are more climate friendly and affordable than other materials.
One open question, raised by long-time bike advocates, centers on the tradeoff between expensive, high-quality bike infrastructure that takes a long time to build, and more compromised, cheaper projects that might happen more quickly.
Why close a car-free bridge when the crimes in question involve cars? Also, let’s celebrate St. Paul’s High Bridge while calling out that the Hennepin Avenue bridge is the Chrysler PT Cruiser of bridges.
Or, why is it dry in my garden?
If done right, the walk-up window experience can be mildly revolutionary, forging light public connections that we desperately need.
The big-ticket items justifiably got a lot of attention, but with all the action happening before the late-May session deadline, it was easy to overlook some smaller changes tucked into the 268-page transportation omnibus bill.
It might be time to rethink a decision that was made 55 years ago and take buses off of the city’s odd “transit mall.”
Downtown St. Paul is not famed for its riverfront. For 70 years, the banks of the river have been dominated by railroad tracks and a wide concrete highway. The only walking path is a narrow trench that feels uncomfortably close to fast traffic, if you can even access it.
This week, the City Council moved forward with a strict rent control policy. But with an election looming in the fall, and no sign of flexibility from Mayor Jacob Frey, there’s little chance for passage.
Nobody argues that the brick gates are inherently valuable, but it’s easy to see how their symbolic importance carries weight. That’s exactly what schoolteacher Mark Westphal has been saying for a year, teaching 12-year-olds about their city’s history by examining a pair of otherwise-mundane towers.
It’s a mix of things, from historical accident to competitive urges, that makes the Selby Patio District unparalleled in the seven-county metro. It wasn’t always this way.
