Search found 1150 matches
- January 8th, 2023, 10:09 am
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: Park and Portland Avenues
- Replies: 103
- Views: 32347
Re: Park and Portland Avenues
Yeah, it's going to be an improvement. But I've been a bit disappointed that nobody thought to dream a little bigger. What about returning one of the streets to two-way traffic and remaking the other as a greenway and linear park? Instead, the I-35W reconstruction status quo has just gotten baked in...
- January 6th, 2023, 10:11 am
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: Amtrak: Empire Builder and Borealis (TCMC)
- Replies: 639
- Views: 418635
Re: Amtrak Empire Builder and TCMC
I've always felt that the Twin Cities to Rochester boosters have suffered from a bit of tunnel vision. This city pair makes sense a lot more sense as part of a longer route. That could mean a locally focused route serving Rosemount (26.6k), Farmington (23.5k), Northfield (20.7k), Faribault (24.4k), ...
- December 27th, 2022, 5:16 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
- Replies: 1432
- Views: 520800
Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
I guess my question is; what has prevented these people from stepping to the plate earlier? What advantage or opportunity have they lacked so far that this working group will provide? I'm not saying that this working group will fail; I think they will come up with many suggestions and act on a few o...
- December 27th, 2022, 12:48 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
- Replies: 1432
- Views: 520800
Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
I have no doubt that many of these people are smart and care deeply about the success of downtown, but you've got to wonder about the purpose of a working group made up of the same people who have held power and influence downtown for decades. Surely most of these people already know each other and ...
- December 27th, 2022, 12:33 pm
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
- Replies: 2974
- Views: 764865
Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
I was in Phoenix this past weekend, and I rode the LRT there four times. My fare was checked twice by uniformed but unarmed staff. These folks worked in pairs and had a walkie talkie and a fare scanner. One would check the fares while the other would chat up riders and just generally be there as bac...
- December 13th, 2022, 1:50 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market
- Replies: 1298
- Views: 864689
Re: Downtown Minneapolis Office Market
My assumption for a couple years has been that all office space was going to get hit, but that suburban office space was going to get creamed. So a major downtown anchor deciding to stick around despite a well-publicized flirtation with the suburbs, even if they reduce their overall square footage (...
- December 12th, 2022, 3:01 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - North, Northeast, and Southeast / University of Minnesota
- Topic: Canvas Apts - 2301 California St NE
- Replies: 28
- Views: 27351
Re: Canvas Apts - 2301 California St NE
This project has started construction. I noticed some remarks from Councilmember Rainville celebrating this milestone in his newsletter and in the Strib . I was gratified to see his comments, considering that just two years ago he opposed the project in testimony before the BHIZ committee while a pr...
- December 12th, 2022, 8:58 am
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
- Replies: 1432
- Views: 520800
Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
I'm certainly skeptical that a task force of the same people who have been in positions of influence all along will bring the kind of fresh thinking that downtown needs, but... Next week, Frey is scheduled to announce details about a "vibrant downtown storefront work group" of business and...
- December 7th, 2022, 3:45 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - General Topics and Citywide Issues
- Topic: Minneapolis City Planning Commission (meetings, agenda items, members, etc.)
- Replies: 124
- Views: 81723
Re: Minneapolis City Planning Commission (meetings, agenda items, members, etc.)
I wrote a thread on Twitter about the results of the CPC's 2022 calendar. The key takeaways are: 1. The CPC gave final approvals to 3,836 units of housing this year. That's about average for the past decade. It represents an increase from last year, but still a fairly substantial decrease from the t...
- December 5th, 2022, 9:50 am
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis - News & General Topics
- Replies: 2032
- Views: 838589
Re: Downtown Minneapolis - News & General Topics
Reviving the conversation about office to residential conversions: The Canadian Pacific Plaza tower has long and narrow floorplates. It was built in 1960 and despite recent renovations is probably not the city's most in-demand office space. Considering the likely merger with KCS, I assume that build...
- December 5th, 2022, 9:35 am
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: D Line - Chicago-Fremont/Emerson Rapid Bus
- Replies: 225
- Views: 84193
Re: D Line - Chicago-Fremont/Emerson Rapid Bus
Xerxes and 56th has been a C Line stop for years, I assume your friend works somewhere other than downtown Minneapolis, because otherwise both the C and the D Lines work for him. If he works south of downtown and misses a D, catching a C will at least bring him downtown where it's more pleasant to t...
- December 1st, 2022, 10:19 am
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
- Replies: 2974
- Views: 764865
Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
Oh, doubling back on this to make one more point: • The METRO D Line’s opening on December 3 will bring more reliable service to the corridor now served by Route 5, our busiest bus route. Largely replacing local bus service with BRT service benefits customers and operators with a minimal impact on o...
- November 29th, 2022, 12:57 pm
- Forum: Transportation
- Topic: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
- Replies: 2974
- Views: 764865
Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
Metro Transit has a good explainer on the Rider's Almanac blog about the service cuts and the operator shortage. I suspect most people on here are aware of the problems, but the post helps put some numbers to the issues (they are 300 operators short of running pre-pandemic levels of bus service, and...
- November 29th, 2022, 10:49 am
- Forum: Minneapolis - General Topics and Citywide Issues
- Topic: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
- Replies: 335
- Views: 185062
Re: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
So, given that a lot of people are living alone or with one other person in a single family detached house, by what policies do you think 500,000 population is doable? Given that so far ADUs and triplexes have been met with yawns from homeowners and developers alike and there's only so much vacant ...
- November 28th, 2022, 1:42 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - General Topics and Citywide Issues
- Topic: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
- Replies: 335
- Views: 185062
Re: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
It's true that household sizes are very different today than they were back then. That being said, I think Minneapolis should have a public policy goal to reach a new peak (or at least 500,000) population. It's a target shoot for that would indicate a pretty significant increase in vitality. One of ...
- November 23rd, 2022, 5:41 pm
- Forum: Local Politics and Governance
- Topic: 2023-24 Minnesota Legislature
- Replies: 79
- Views: 44789
Re: 2023-24 Minnesota Legislature
I've suggested in the past that the I-Line is what we should ultimately call any kind of BRT along the I-94 downtown-downtown alignment. I expect Nicollet will be an F Line extension, not a separate line. Same with Cedar or Bloomington, eventually I expect that will be a C Line extension. That would...
- November 18th, 2022, 5:01 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - General Topics and Citywide Issues
- Topic: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
- Replies: 335
- Views: 185062
Re: Minneapolis Population / Density - General Discussion
Just spotted this great series of maps on population changes from Jonathan Schroeder of the Minneapolis Population Center. I'm going to share what I think is the key image, because who knows whether that Twitter link is going to last, but I encourage people to check out the full thread if it's avail...
- November 16th, 2022, 1:32 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
- Replies: 1432
- Views: 520800
Re: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
It's true that these types of retail businesses don't want to be downtown... but they do apparently want to be in the North Loop, which is "downtown" in my mental model of the Twin Cities, but a different submarket from the point of view of the consultants. I wish downtown landlords would ...
- November 14th, 2022, 2:16 pm
- Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
- Topic: Downtown Minneapolis Retail News
- Replies: 1432
- Views: 520800
- November 11th, 2022, 4:48 pm
- Forum: Local Politics and Governance
- Topic: Minnesota Redistricting 2022
- Replies: 57
- Views: 26950
Re: Minnesota Redistricting 2022
Explicitly exempting comprehensive plans from MERA would be a nice thing to see. It's important to emphasize that if the current court precedent striking down the Minneapolis 2040 plan is upheld, that's something that every community in the state would need to worry about. It shouldn't be just a cul...