urbanMSP

700 10th ave s is proposed for office to affordable housing conversion. 66k of class C office space will be removed from the market for 59 units Great news. I think we can expect new apartment construction to slow, and conversions to step up. Will help boost both the flailing commercial real estate...

I expect they'll skip I?

I think so, yeah. They've requested bonding money to plan and build the J, K, and L Lines, but no I.

Hasn't 4 been identified for aBRT-ification in the mid-term future? Line J or K?

On the DFL Debrief, Speaker Hortman discussed reforming solid waste management (return it to the Met Council, anyone?), sports betting, and a state Equal Rights Amendment (wouldn't be surprised to see this paired with an abortion amendment and a renewal of the Legacy sales tax.)

The MN Senate State Fair poll will include a question on whether the state should ban single-family zoning.

Also of interest, the House Commerce chair Zack Stephenson tweeted that he's looking into X's (Twitter's) throttling practices.

St. Cloud is asking for a whooping $100 million to revitalize its downtown. Did they just pick a number out of the air, go-big-or-go-home style? The details for this project ("Downtown St. Cloud Catalyst Infrastructure and Reinvestment Improvements") are not a lot more than just "Dow...

The point is there's nothing between Northfield and Minneapolis/St. Paul that merits regional rail service. A suburban park and ride station, if necessary, could go somewhere on either route and serve SOTR just fine. Track between those two destinations is a means to an end to get from one place to...

Is there a technical reason why they chose James over Emerson/Fremont? Is the stop spacing too close? I can't imagine that the headways would be short enough for that to be a problem. IIRC, I believe the Emerson to Fremont block is too short for a 3-car station. But the Lyndale block is the same le...

Love how the presentation claims both the James and Lyndale Avenue stations would be good for connections to the D Line when both are like three blocks away and there could just be a station at Emerson/Fremont.

And here are the requests for money. Some notable ones: Met Council requests $75 million to "advance the development of J, K, and L lines" beginning in late 2024. Not surprisingly, they identify "Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis and Richfield, Randolph/East 7th, Grand Avenue and West 7t...

Here's something interesting: House Republican leader Lisa Demuth said on a podcast this week that there are stirrings of a 2024 bonding bill on top of this year's bonding bill. It's not rare that a bonding bill would come in the second year of the session, but it is rare that we'd get two in a sing...

Representative Mike Howard, the House Housing chair from Richfield, tweeted today in support of "banning exclusionary zoning practices." After a historic budget year and going into a policy year, I hope metropolitan zoning reform is a target of some attention, though I have to think it wou...

I agree that the concept of commuter rail is broadly dead, but I think the Dan Patch corridor would make just as good a regional rail as the alternate route through east Dakota County. I haven't thought about it all that much tough, I could be wrong.

To be fair, if the removal of 94 were permanent, there would be greater incentive for people to find a fundamentally different way into the city vis-a-vis a temporary construction project. Two things I feel I have to point out despite the fact that I don't really support removing 94: A lot of people...

You know, I like seeing two stations in the heart of North Minneapolis, but I really cannot stand losing the direct connection to the D Line. Seems like an unjustifiable mistake. Otherwise, I think I prefer the North Loop alignment because we get more transit service in an increasingly dense neighbo...

I know it's the way the game is played, but the naming of these groups always irks me. "Citizens Concerned for [X]" is just a dog whistle. In this Strib article below, it talks about the group "Transit Done Right" which is (of course) just opposed to all transit, "sharing r...

Soaking of which, now that the ban is lifted, have any cities or counties even mentioned it?

I know it was ostensibly driven by Savage, but I'm sure other cities on the corridor (if not all their residents) would be interested.

Regardless of whether 94 could be conceivably done away with (I'm fairly convinced it can't be and would be fine with a land bridge,) there's a much better chance for real highway turnback in North Minneapolis: Olson Memorial Highway Perfect opportunity here. Unnecessary expressway that parallels an...

Replacing the Anoka and Hennepin County contributions to the Northstar essentially saves it, right? I feel like Anoka County was the only stakeholder seriously considering a mothballing. I suppose that's a good thing, and maybe a good step to stabilizing the political environment around commuter rai...

Also there is a sidewalk jog at blake road that biking on I almost ate it in the ballast because i wasn't paying attention and didn't expect the sidewalk to take a 90 degree turn. I spotted that sidewalk turn on the video and thought it looked odd. Anyone have a reason why they'd do that? It doesn'...