urbanMSP

If Bloomington was spending general fund dollars to boost development in South Loop, that would be worthy of criticism. But that's not what's happening. None of the money squandered in South Loop actually comes from Bloomington homeowners. It's sequestered TIF money from other South Loop development...

It is a great idea to move the transit layover here from Gateway Ramp, but I suspect it won't happen because neither Metro Transit nor the City have asked for that.

Why am I just now noticing how insanely shortsighted it is that this almost $3B project did not include a trail along the portion of the route stretching from Shady Oak Station to at least Golden Triangle Station, or even better to the end of the line. I offer the ending at Golden Triangle because f...

Argh! The latest All Aboard MN newsletter says NLX is 7- 10 years away from operations, which sounds really far away. Apparently, the environmental impact statement is now out of date and needs to be redone and negotiations with BNSF restarted. . Finally, MNDOT hasn't yet submitted an application t...

I'm guessing the politics on the Council are probably such that selling the property for private-sector reuse is out of the question, aside from something like a medical clinic serving low income folks, etc. So the staff are limited to fairly unimaginative reuses like moving government offices in. E...

If I could redo everything from scratch in a world with Nicollet as a bike/ped mall and no Marq2 infrastructure in place... The ideal spacing for the N-S bus routes while still getting close enough to the major destinations would be Hennepin (bus lanes) and 2nd Ave S (two-way transitway). Nicollet M...

The number of people (including lawmakers!) who just want the new flag to be the loon seal on a blue background is shocking and disappointing. So, so many people have no sense for design. That, and the average person probably thinks that's what state flags are supposed to look like, and/or bias tow...

It seems like a safe guess that the updated ridership numbers for the new route will land somewhere between the 18.5k and 26k cited above. The Washington & Plymouth station (if they juice the numbers enough) could very well end up being the reason this line is able to continue moving forward, in...

Fernando’s statement includes a lot of good info to begin answering “where do go from here?” Great points made that this project to close HERC will require years of parallel and collaborative efforts by the state (funding, statewide policies on waste streams, landfills, etc.) and cities (increasing ...

This one is perfect for this thread: With candidate in mind, East Bethel mayor says no posting for city administrator job

My annoying fantasy transit idea connecting Southside and NE Minneapolis is a new LRT service to NE (and eventually Rosedale) using the Blue Line's existing Hiawatha trackage, then running up 35W to Rosedale (some sections in the middle of 35W, some alongside). The Blue Line running right over 35W, ...

There's a North Loop Community meeting on this tonight: BLRT North Loop Community Meeting Wednesday, October 18 | 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. The Neu Neu 514 N 3rd St #101 And the new alignment through North will be discussed at: Ward 5 Blue Line Extension Community Discussion Monday, October 30 | 5:30 p....

Meanwhile, 2023 ridership report covering January to August is on the next Transportation Committee agenda. There is a graph in there showing the top 8 bus routes by average weekday ridership for 2023. https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetings/Committees/Transportation-Committee/2023/October-9,-202...

At this point I would vote for officially "downgrading" this project to aBRT. I'd rather see White Bear Ave retain the ability to do a 4:3 road diet, with strategically-placed queue jumps for buses at congested stoplights. Nothing about this corridor makes sense for being actual guideway B...

This whole situation really begs the question of why did Walz sign the bill with this provision in it? I know the Mpls delegation in the legislature had a lot of influence this past session, but this provision making it through final negotiations is pretty wild. Where were the County's lobbyists on ...

Heh, bad as that is, it seems less bad than ground-floor apartments downtown like at Edition, etc. Though this one on Como has the added badness of headlights shining right into apartment(s).

Hennepin County wrestles with future of Minneapolis waste incinerator: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/09/2 ... ncinerator

I split HERC talk into it's own thread: viewtopic.php?t=4734

Biz Journal really taking Target to task over their RTO policy. Glad it's getting coverage. How Target's flexible work policy compares to competitors Amazon and Walmart https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2023/09/06/target-flex-work-policy-amazon-walmart-comparison.html They had an article ...

Weidner is buying all phases of the Elan Apartments from Greystar. Paying $111 million for 590 units, they're getting a massive bargain. Included in the portfolio are properties at 2836 Dupont Ave. S., 2828 Emerson Ave. S., and 2812 Emerson Ave. S. Those properties, which have a combined 387 units, ...