urbanMSP

Betty McCollum doesn't want the seat. When the Dems re-take the House she is going to be very powerful. I also think Smith is a weak candidate. Really, almost anyone appointed would be. She does not have the electoral base an incumbent would normally have. If Dayton had appointed someone who had won...

Transit projects have many more hoops to jump through than road projects and those hoops/goalposts keep changing.

How is that the same building? The parking lot is missing in the first image. Did streets get realigned here?

Heh. I used to live in the Lindsay Warehouse when it was apartments in 2003. It was hella expensive even then. I got booted out by a condo conversion.

The train was going 50mph over the speed limit.

Why the hell wasn't PTC installed when they upgraded the route?

My sense is this was more of an "OMG we have to compete" rather than an opportunistic money grab. I have no basis for that sense but the timing really made it seem that way. Again, I'm not going to say this is *never* how a landlord works, but isn't the emphasized part of your statement w...

I'm saying we don't know. And therefore we can't discount the effect.

Dangit. Julian just went to bed.

That might make sense from a purely utilitarian viewpoint, but for an equity-minded city council, it's terrible politics. Even with the aBRT lines, there's still a gap along the Northside's most important commercial corridor, particularly when one considers connections to the larger network and reg...

Oh yes it does. I saw it in my own neighborhood. Once the luxury buildings went in, some older properties were quickly updated and presumably the rents increased. That's smart business for property owners. Not so great for people trying to stay in place. It's a real effect we have to acknowledge an...

Agreed. I think a Broadway/North Loop streetcar should be a much lower priority, especially since North is about to get two significantly more useful ABRT lines. That might make sense from a purely utilitarian viewpoint, but for an equity-minded city council, it's terrible politics. Even with the a...

As far as the corridor goes, I can see the arguments against this particular project, but it's still pretty staggering to me that there's now zero rail service, existing or planned, serving Southwest, Central, Uptown, or Northeast. A north-south corridor seems like the biggest no-brainer in the sta...

First, we need to dispel the notion that increased supply of housing negatively affects affordability. Except that's not what people are saying. I don't think we can say that putting luxury housing in "desireable" areas hasn't increased housing costs. I don't think we can say it has, eith...

Which is crazy, because a Broadway/Washington streetcar makes zero sense without the shared infrastructure of the Nicollet-Central line.

Why? 5th St. is not very far away.

If I were a Minneapolisite who voted for Frey for any urbanist/YIMBY/Vision Zero/etc. reason, that interview would give me heartburn. He's already unwilling to defend some of the things that were in his platform.

Such as?

Boy, that's super condescending to assume that people who disagreed with him were only focused on "narrative and character traits" and actually don't understand policy and oh if they did they would of course agree with me. First, we need to dispel the notion that increased supply of housin...

I think it looks odd too, but didn't read about them moving the building. Makes sense to abut the two.

Wow, that's so great! Never knew there was such a thing as wood pavers. I hope we can save and re-use some of them.

The Lyndale at Franklin

I'm not sure it would be as easy as you think against Dean or Johnson. There are a lot of angry Strib commentors. Suppose she did win. How would she govern? Would she be open to concerns of the cities? I have no idea what she's done in Woodbury. How has she been on transportation and land use? Has s...