Five light rail lessons for the Riverview Corridor
from streets.mn by Bill Lindeke
Planning transit takes a long time, and there are so many ways it can go wrong. For my money, the best remaining urban transit project in Saint Paul is the so-called “Riverview corridor” running from downtown along West 7th street down to the airport.
As the latest ridership numbers show, rail has been the key to boosting transit in the Twin Cities. The two light rail lines already account for a quarter of the riders in the whole system, and will only grow as the land use develops to emphasize transit.
At this point, though, there are a lot of options on the table, at least if you take the planning documents at face value. So here are some Riverview observations, from someone who spends a lot of his time on West 7th Street, and on the existing Twin Cities light rail.
Caucuses: Democracy of, for and by the extroverts
from Wry Wing Politics by Joe Loveland
On March 1, Minnesota’s two major political parties will select its presidential nominees with a caucus system. Iowa will use a similar system in just a few days. So maybe we should take a moment to consider who gets the most and least representation out of this system.
The caucus approach requires that party members gather in groups in various locations to debate issues and candidates before they vote. If a citizen wants to be a party delegate, they must attend additional lengthy gatherings.
Our city, our problem
from #unitecloud by Natalie Ringsmuth
It’s been a big week for St. Cloud – and not really in a good way. After reading the City Pages article that labeled this area the “worst place in MN to be a Somali”, many St. Cloud area dwellers have received Facebook messages and e-mails from their friends and family across the country asking “Is it REALLY this bad in St. Cloud?”, “Glad I got out of there when I did!”, or, ” I had no idea this was happening in our hometown – did you?”
While the “bigotry smack-down” narrative of the story, especially the title, was tough to swallow, the stories in the article stand out as of the utmost importance to the cultural tension in our city/area. As the founder of #unitecloud, I can not say whether this is the worst place in MN for our Somali neighbors to be because, well, I am as white as the snow we are forecasted to get tomorrow. I don’t know what it’s like to love my cultural heritage as much as I love the opportunity of America. I have no idea how different my life would be if I had skin that didn’t burn at the first sight of the sun. I can not speak to the stares, jeers, and comments that I would get if I would profess my devotion to my faith by covering my head.
Helping children cope with a scary world
from Community Matters by Gael Thompson
Our world can be a scary place. As parents, we worry about our children growing up when wars, shootings, bombings and other horrific acts of violence seem to happen one after another. Frightening images stream across our TVs, computers and phones constantly. We wonder how to help kids feel safe and how to talk to them about their fears and confusion while we try to manage our own.
The Timberwolves and flash seats
from Old and In the Way by Gary Sankary
At the end of the day, Flash Seats has seriously changed the value equation for me with regard to the Timberwolves. Where I used to be able to counter crummy team play with a great fan experience, thanks to the ticket change I now have seriously negative experiences as fan, and with the horrible coaching on the floor I’m struggling to justify renewals. Mrs. S is, for the first time, seriously lobbying against it.
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