Uptown - LynLake - The Wedge - News & General

[MNdible]

I'd challenge you to reread the article and point to a single thing that is untrue. Or even misleading. Or to suggest that the pro-bike-coordinator point of view wasn't give a fair shake. I think the article lays out the facts pretty clearly, and leaves it up to readers to draw their own conclusion.

To the extent that the topic was inflammatory, that clearly lands at the doorstep of the firefighters union, and to a lesser degree with Barb Johnson for playing along. I think it would be hard to argue that the debate wasn't newsworthy -- it happened, and it would have been silly to ignore it.

[Viktor Vaughn]

The current headline was not the one that attracted 249 comments blasting Rybak's misplaced priorities. Nor was the short linked article the only one on the subject (although it's the only one I can find now). And I’m not disputing the reporting, I actually think Roper is a pretty good journalist. What I'm saying is this -- the issue was framed in a way to promote conflict, outrage, & ad revenue.

The money to hire a bike/ped coordinator came from reworking the public works budget; it had nothing to do with firefighters. Framing the issue this way fed into a preconceived narrative about the big city squandering LGA dollars. In other words, this is a perfect example of the Strib's web strategy to throw red meat at certain demographics. Saying the reporting had more heat than light and promoted conflict (to generate ad revenue) is different from saying the reporting was factually wrong.

If I had more time (which I don't right now), I bet I could find more examples of this type of sensationalist reporting about Minneapolis issues (particularly from Eric Roper and Pat Doyle).

[woofner]

OK re-reading this I can see that Roper did do some investigation of the issue, so I was wrong to imply that he didn't (although I seem to remember some articles at the time were more or less reprints of the Firefighter's Union press release). However, the concept of tying the bike/ped coordinator position to the laying off of firefighters, as the headline does and as Roper seems to have done in his interviews with Barb Johnson and Peter Wagenius, is itself taking up their talking point. The article notes at the end that "the city is looking to hire a database engineer, a stationary engineer, an internal auditor and a manager of intellectual properties for the police department." So why wasn't the headline "Despite fiscal woes, Minneapolis pads IT department"? Wouldn't a more fair way to portray the issue be "Minneapolis still hiring despite laying off firefighters"?

It's true that public safety cuts are always controversial, but shouldn't an article that deals with arcane issues of municipal budgeting give an overview of how the budget is put together? Shouldn't the article have mentioned that the public works budget was also cut, but that typically a department director is given some leeway in how the budget is apportioned within his or her department? In other words, the City Council could have taken the $84k from Public Works and reallocated it to the Fire Department, and then Public Works could have taken the money budgeted for the stationary engineer and used it to hire a Bike/Ped Coordinator anyway. So why frame it as cyclists vs firefighters? I don't know, maybe Roper was trying to get into those issues with Kotke and couldn't get a good quote, but it still seems remiss to not mention that.

[twincitizen]

I did a little digging around Hennepin County tax records today, trying to figure out who owns the various surface parking lots and otherwise under-developed parcels around Uptown. Here are some that I found of interest:

1. According to Hennepin County tax records, Roundy's (Rainbow) owns the Arby's site. Has this always been the case? There's no sale information in the records, and I don't really know where else to look. Interesting nonetheless, considering the previous Rainbow re-dev proposal and seemingly everyone's fantasy to redevelop Arby's. http://www16.co.hennepin.mn.us/pins/pid ... 2924430125

2. Ackerberg owns the building between Lunds & Chino Latino (1438 Lake: TCF, Mesa, FedEx) and its adjoining derelict surface parking lot. The building is nothing special (1 story brick) and the records say it was built in 1980. It's a perfectly fine building and obviously works very well for the tenants, but the parking lot is a huge bummer for the area, especially since it's adjacent to Lunds big parking lot.

3. Lunds. Hopefully they look to redevelop the Uptown store next, following the Edina one. Unlike Edina, they probably wouldn't be able to stay open during construction. Alternately, this could be redeveloped jointly with 1438 Lake (point #2) which would include shared, structured parking. Or a 1438 Lake redevelopment could include enough parking for both properties and then most of Lunds' surface lot could be built upon.

[MNdible]

According to Hennepin County tax records, Roundy's (Rainbow) owns the Arby's site. Has this always been the case?

You're probably aware of this, but the section of Lagoon that angles off of Lake Street at this location is a relatively recent addition, splitting what was originally a single large block.

[twincitizen]

Seems angled in this 1969 aerial: http://geo.lib.umn.edu/Hennepin_County/ ... KK-172.jpg

The geometry is a little different, without the smooth curve for WB traffic, but the idea is the same. It looks like the Arby's site was just surface parking.

[MNdible]

Based on the Historical Aerials, it appears that Lagoon was extended through between 1957 and 1966, the same time period when they demolished the old Minneapolis Arena and redeveloped the block.

[lordmoke]

Brave New Workshop's old building is now for sale/ development/ etc. via Ackerberg. Good spot, hopefully something interesting comes of it.

[web]

yes and lake and lagoon were 2 way streets until what 1990?

[mattaudio]

after 394 was built? yikes I didn't realize we were making such huge mistakes so late in the game.

[web]

ok after doing a little research I have to modify. Late 80s due to air pollution concerns was when the lagoon/lake couplet was done

[twincitizen]

Added tons of pink (potential/fantasy development opportunity) to the map. Ch-check it out and let me know what you think.

[Nick]

Let's see how this looks...


Looking down the Greenway by UrbanMSP, on Flickr

[min-chi-cbus]

Pretty neat.....is that smaller blue business on one of the blocks under development/proposed development? It's kind of out of place now! What's it like in person?

[twincitizen]

min-chi, this is what the front of the building looks like http://goo.gl/maps/UMshS

I don't think it's imperative that the building replaced, but the huge parking lot next to it certainly should be developed.

[PhilmerPhil]

That building also has a really nice presence on the greenway itself.

[twincitizen]

Added a few more parcels, notably Lund's, Acme Machine & Planned Parenthood, since those were mentioned as fantasy redevelopments in another thread on the forum. Is it fair to call the Acme Machine/Planned Parenthood site Moziac Phase 3, aka Mozaiiic?

[twincitizen]

Art Materials (2728 Lyndale) isn't going anywhere after all. In the failed Trader Joe's deal, Art Materials was going to sell their current location and move to the vacant Rockler Woodworking building at 30xx Lyndale.

Art Materials has bought their chief local competitor, PenCo, and is remodeling the Lyndale location. They are also opening a new store in the NE Arts District. This should at least bring some closure to the chance of a mega-development on this block. At the very least, the Art Materials building won't be leveled for a parking lot. I would still very much like to see a smaller mixed-use building replace the dilapidated laundromat building at the corner of Lyndale & 27th.

[mplser]

it looks like 2 separate single-story retail building on Hennepin are now for sale:

2605 (brave new workshop)

and 2829 (Phenom and Bobby Bead)

Maybe a little mixed use development north of Lake? (or, hopefully...)

[twincitizen]

I am not sure if it is too soon, but should the site of the apartment fire at Humboldt and Lake be added? Not trying to sound crass or anything, but there will be redevelopment.

Condo owners will liquidate the land, as we all expected. I'd expect a relatively quick sale, given the location.

http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/ne ... the-market