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.
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.
The nine-hole disc golf course, which officially opened last August, is sure to make 2023 a banner year in Hillcrest Knoll Park’s fascinating history.
Because commercial property is taxed at a higher rate than residential, for a city like Eagan, the loss of two large corporate headquarters is a hit to its bottom line.
“Oldest Twin Cities,” is a fun guidebook to the Twin Cities’ quirky history. “I like to say ‘Oldest Twin Cities’ is old-world history meets modern-day relevance,” author Julie Jo Severson said. “I don’t think of myself as a local expert or a local historian, I’m just somebody who’s extremely curious.”
For a normally transparent Public Works department to make up plans on the fly represents a big departure for Minneapolis’ approach to transportation. Even if you like the changes, which water down safety on the new street, the process is a red flag.
It would be nice if the changes to the State Office Building improved, rather than harmed, the already sub-par public space around the state’s historic Capitol building.
When bumping along a city street, it’s easy to get mad at the mayor or public works staff, and plenty of people on social media are doing just that. The truth behind how Minnesota’s roads are built, maintained, and reconstructed is more complicated.
The barriers between a central business districts for 9 to 5 office workers and residential neighborhoods for domestic quietude are breaking down, and zoning should reflect that.
Passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Duluth, once the state’s big railroad rivals, operated for over a century until it died, ignominiously, in 1986. Since then, Minnesota intercity train travel has been largely dormant, despite the boom in tourism and travel between the metro and North Shore.
The seal itself, a complex messy affair, dates back to 1858, when it was created by Alexander Ramsey, Henry Sibley and Seth Eastman.
Connie Fortin, long-time chloride expert, is focusing upstream on low-salt infrastructure design to reduce saline pollution.
