Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Parks, Minneapolis Public Schools, Density, Zoning, etc.
amiller92
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby amiller92 » June 24th, 2019, 9:13 am

Street labels help a lot. Primary thought is it sure looks convenient to drive west on the Parkway, which maybe shouldn't be the priority. More specifically, I'm not sure the circle at Park makes much sense as the Parkway is one way in your layout, so half the circle is only for cars essentially making a u-turn from SB Park to NB park.

Second thought is that small circle at 50th looks like it would get pretty backed up. And where it's set adds another outlet (4th) to an already complicated intersection.

What's the deal with the intersection with Portland? Signals for both Parkway crossings, roughly 100 feet apart?

Between Park and 12th you've got the EB parkway running on 51st and 50th streets. Is that an option for the Park Board?

I don't totally hate it, because it does away with the uncomfortable trail crossing at 50th, but I imagine there will be neighbors who won't be too happy about their street becoming the Parkway, especially as part of a design that arguably makes it easier to drive through.

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mister.shoes
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby mister.shoes » June 25th, 2019, 8:13 am

I struggled a lot with the WB one-way because I don't want to give in to the idea that the Parkway is a commuter route and auto traffic should be prioritized. At the same time, I think split one-ways give the creek and the trails the prominence they deserve. So I started with that as a baseline and tried to come up with ways to permit WB through traffic, but make it slow and relatively unpleasant and highlight alternatives. The big roundabout at Park is a prime example (you're right, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have the full circle) in that any sort of T makes a continuation on the Parkway more appealing than a turn onto Park. I'd like to see the vast majority of people heading north on Portland use Park instead and forcing a slowdown and a change of viewing angle seems like it could help?

50th is a problem too, you're right. I find it interesting, though, that you appear to see 4th as a complicator, whereas the current setup is essentially three or four intersections in quick succession and the mini roundabout (and the bridge removal) consolidates everything to a single point. That said, I don't have any real feel for how congested it would get. My gut tells me with most WB traffic continuing straight through, most EB traffic on 50th turning south to go around, limited EB traffic on the Parkway itself, and no trail crossings it might be OK? But yes, it's definitely a big question mark. IMO, anything is better than the high-speed dragstrip we've got now.

Portland: the entire area would be treated as a single signalized intersection, not unlike the split Parkway east of Nokomis or Summit Ave in StP. Left turns off each of the Parkway one-ways would have to stop and wait for a Portland green.

Park -> 12th: no clue whatsoever if subsuming those city streets is kosher. If you reference the Park Board's preferred concept, they include those streets in their study area, so I made the enormous assumption I could do the same :)

I'm glad you don't totally hate it ;), but I'd like to hear more about why you think it would be easier to drive through. There are fewer streets, so—yes—people currently on the "little Parkways" who would find themselves on the only Parkway wouldn't love the new traffic, but I'd like to think said traffic would be moving considerably slower than it does now.
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CalMcKenney
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby CalMcKenney » August 13th, 2019, 3:28 pm

http://www.startribune.com/study-could- ... 530861392/

Star Trib article about a plan to convert the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam into a visitor center with riverfront dining, boat access, event space and underground parking. UM WHAT? I love this plan as I've been pushing for more places for people to eat and relax by the river.

Anybody have any thoughts on this or a probable timeline on the project?

SurlyLHT
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby SurlyLHT » August 19th, 2019, 8:32 am

I was jogging up Theo Wirth on Sunday. As I went north past Bassett Creek the path and Theo Wirth PArkway were clear on my way back there was water on both...bit later in the day the parkway was completely flooded. The walkway between Calhoun and Isles has been flooded for awhile and one of the paths around Calhoun has been eaten by the lake. Anyone notice any further flooding around the parks and city? I'm wondering if the park board has a plan to address flooding?

minntransplant
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby minntransplant » August 19th, 2019, 9:00 am

I was jogging up Theo Wirth on Sunday. As I went north past Bassett Creek the path and Theo Wirth PArkway were clear on my way back there was water on both...bit later in the day the parkway was completely flooded. The walkway between Calhoun and Isles has been flooded for awhile and one of the paths around Calhoun has been eaten by the lake. Anyone notice any further flooding around the parks and city? I'm wondering if the park board has a plan to address flooding?
Dupont/Kings Highway was under water yesterday between the cemetery and Lyndale farmstead park. It was basically a lake. The ducks were enjoying it.

SurlyLHT
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby SurlyLHT » August 19th, 2019, 9:27 am

There needs to be some sort of long-ranged plan to adapt the infatructure to climate change. In some instances, it might best for us to retreat a bit.

alexschief
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby alexschief » August 19th, 2019, 9:40 am

Walked past Peavey Field Park last week, and was blown away by the improvements. The playground, basketball courts, and field were all pristine. The former two were being used on a Wednesday morning.

The investments that the city is making in the park system are visible and impressive, especially as they come, via the Park Board's equity framework, in underserved neighborhoods. There seem to be new park facilities and ambitious park plans everywhere. It's really exciting to see.

amiller92
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby amiller92 » August 19th, 2019, 10:25 am

There needs to be some sort of long-ranged plan to adapt the infatructure to climate change. In some instances, it might best for us to retreat a bit.
The in-progress Minnehaha Parkway Regional Trail Master Plan includes a bunch of re-meandering of the creek and additional water storage areas. https://www.minneapolisparks.org/park_c ... ster_plan/

I'm pretty sure water storage is a big driver of the discussion around the future of Hiawatha golf course. https://www.minneapolisparks.org/park_c ... ster_plan/

Anondson
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby Anondson » August 19th, 2019, 11:12 am

Water storage was a huge part of the Lynnhurst park too, I recalled a bunch of underground water tanks there.

SurlyLHT
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby SurlyLHT » August 20th, 2019, 10:27 am

I found this article about a landbridge for cougars to get over a freeway in LA interesting. Within Minneapolis we already have incidental ecological corridors and could plan some more. Especially along our bikeways and parkways like the Midtown Greenway, Victory Memorial drive and etc. If these areas met certain requirements wildlife would be able to travel around our city easily just as cyclists and runners do.



https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... 01-freeway

twincitizen
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby twincitizen » August 20th, 2019, 3:17 pm

Has anyone else been taken aback by the massive amount of "master planning" going on right now with the parks? The Hiawatha Golf Course re-do is kinda on its own separate timeline, but simultaneous plans are being put together for Minnehaha Parkway/Creek (which is huge), Mississippi River Gorge, and the Nokomis-Hiawatha Master Plan was completed just a few years ago. That's a ton of planning just in one quadrant of the city (all in Commissioner Musich's district too). On top of that, the Park Board is now undertaking sector master plans for Southwest, North, and NE/SE.

This is a lot to take on all at once, and it's not clear to me what the timelines for implementation (or funding) are for any of this. Like cool, we're planning to add some pickleball courts (awesome!), and soccer fields to replace softball fields (makes sense!), but when is any of this actually going to happen? The Minnehaha Creek Master Plan, for example, seems to include elements that could be implemented in 2020, and some wishful thinking stuff that could take 10-20 years and a ton of money. But the plans aren't super clear about what's what.

Can anyone on the inside shed some light on what's going on with all this planning? As a planner myself, I'm obviously not opposed (keep us employed!) but it does seem a little odd that so much planning is happening simultaneously, when there's clearly not enough money to do all of this cool stuff.

https://www.minneapolisparks.org/park_c ... ter_plans/

tl;dr Plans are great, but when can I expect to see an actual pickleball court in my neighborhood? Every single tennis court along Minnehaha Creek between Lake Nokomis and 34th Ave (there's like 6 of 'em) are busted as hell and kind of a huge blight on the area.

fehler
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby fehler » August 21st, 2019, 9:37 am

I had the opportunity to car pool with Adam Arvidson for a long drive to the North Shore (we chaperoned the 5th Grade camping trip). He's the Director of Planning Services with MPRB, and we got to talking about some of the recent projects. He explained a more recent (within the last decade) shift in the system, with more of the planning being brought in-house, and more of the construction being contracted ( I think? I might be misremebering that last bit). This has meant more public connection and notification and community meetings before a project starts. I don't think there are actually "more" projects going on than before, but because the planners are directly accountable, they're more vocal and receptive about the projects.

Anondson
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby Anondson » December 21st, 2019, 10:43 pm

The quirky rules on how to spend park dedication fees gathered from all the new development has left over $10M unspent.

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis- ... 566406312/

State law limits exactly the sorts of things that can (land acquisition, new amenities) and cannot (maintenance and repairs) be spent, also rules that limit the money to the neighborhood boundaries the development is in rather than parks within a radius of the project.

phop
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby phop » January 15th, 2020, 9:27 pm

The Governor's bonding proposal includes a little more than $12 million for the Grand Rounds Missing Link:

https://mn.gov/mmb/budget/capital-budget/current/

It would be pretty exciting to actually see movement on this.

Anondson
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby Anondson » February 4th, 2020, 10:42 am

Another story on the governor’s proposal for the missing link.


https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2020/02/ ... ding-plan/

SurlyLHT
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby SurlyLHT » February 4th, 2020, 12:34 pm

Seems like they want to add parkland to an industrial area of the city instead of just adding additional infrastructure to 18th from Ridgeway Parkway to the Mississippi?

Tcmetro
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby Tcmetro » February 4th, 2020, 2:06 pm

It will provide a convenient crossing from Prospect Park to Como for bikes. Maybe only a bike/ped crossing over the BNSF yards is needed and the roadway can be scrapped?

Mikey
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby Mikey » February 4th, 2020, 4:13 pm

Always wanted to extend Oak over the rail yards to 18th, then "parkway-ify" 18th north to Stinson
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EOst
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby EOst » February 5th, 2020, 9:10 am

18th is narrow enough that it wouldn't be a very satisfying parkway.

MinneapBliss
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Re: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

Postby MinneapBliss » April 9th, 2020, 6:08 pm

Hiawatha Golf Course and Park is one step further along in the planning process:

https://www.minneapolisparks.org/projec ... le-online/
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