Search found 289 matches

by helsinki
June 16th, 2018, 12:04 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Nicollet-Central Streetcar
Replies: 887
Views: 135598

Re: Nicollet-Central Streetcar

Define "swiftly towed"? Whenever a car has been stuck on the LRT tracks it can take up to half an hour to clear it, and then its difficult to get back on schedule. Twin Cities motorists haven't had to share the road with streetcars in over 60 years, and it would be a challenge for them to...
by helsinki
June 16th, 2018, 5:17 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Nicollet-Central Streetcar
Replies: 887
Views: 135598

Re: Nicollet-Central Streetcar

I probably should have used the Atlanta streetcar as a better example. The Atlanta streetcar is an excellent example of how poorly conceived some of these projects are. It looks great and seems to connect viable transit nodes, but because it is not truly intended as a means of transportation the tr...
by helsinki
May 15th, 2018, 1:01 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT
Replies: 5248
Views: 1219883

Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

sunk cost fallacy the idea that a company or organization is more likely to continue with a project if they have already invested a lot of money, time, or effort in it, even when continuing is not the best thing to do: Economists would point out that the sunk cost fallacy is irrational, and could be...
by helsinki
October 24th, 2017, 4:36 am
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: The Dayton's Project
Replies: 354
Views: 233192

Re: The Once and Future Dayton's

I'm excited for this project but I would love to hear some reasons why this won't end up like Block E. If it replicates the chain restaurant experience of Block E, it will likely suffer the same fate. If it replicates a food hall like LA's Grand Central Market (mix of small vendors, common seating)...
by helsinki
March 19th, 2017, 2:41 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: 1500 Nicollet Avenue - Dominium Development - 6 stories / 184 units
Replies: 144
Views: 50133

Re: 1500 Nicollet Avenue - Dominium Development - 6 stories / 184 units

But it's simply untrue that we don't have many century old commercial buildings left. They are all over the city. Really? Sure, there are a few sprinkled around old streetcar nodes and somewhat substantial concentrations in the oldest parts of the city, but in general there aren't that many. I got ...
by helsinki
March 9th, 2017, 11:18 am
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: 1500 Nicollet Avenue - Dominium Development - 6 stories / 184 units
Replies: 144
Views: 50133

Re: 1500 Nicollet Avenue - Dominium Development - 6 stories / 184 units

Oof. Sorry to go against the grain, but this does not look good. Aesthetics: drab and monotone. Creativity? None. Loss of historic, affordable retail space (honestly, MPLS does not have many 93 year old buildings). Good affordable housing? Next to the busiest stretch of freeway in Minnesota? Not a b...
by helsinki
December 15th, 2016, 7:41 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Green Line Extension - Southwest LRT
Replies: 5248
Views: 1219883

Re: Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension)

Oof. The walkability of the station areas is approaching zero. This is the opposite of the Central Corridor.
by helsinki
November 3rd, 2016, 7:28 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Nicollet-Central Streetcar
Replies: 887
Views: 135598

Re: Nicollet-Central Streetcar

This thread has become pleasantly more amenable to the streetcar. I'm encouraged. Having recently experienced both the Atlanta and Cincinnati streetcars, I am even more optimistic about the Nicollet-Central concept. Even if you can look past the 30 minute headways between trains (you can't), the gen...
by helsinki
May 23rd, 2016, 4:46 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Minnesota Transportation Funding (General)
Replies: 731
Views: 90520

Re: Minnesota Transportation Funding (General)

Many Western states followed the California state constitution template and its low bar for getting a ballot initiative. This is a very dangerous route, in my opinion. Reducing complex issues to binary choices and submitting these false choices to a distracted electorate is an abdication of respons...
by helsinki
May 16th, 2016, 10:14 am
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Stadium LRT Station, Ped Bridge & Plaza (MSFA block)
Replies: 466
Views: 74185

Re: The Commons - Downtown East Park

[Probably belongs in transportation] If putting the downtown spine underground was a serious option in the future, it would probably make more sense to build temporary tracks & stations on 4th street than to shut down the downtown rail network for months on end. Once all 4 lines are up and runni...
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 2:41 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

I think you're drastically underestimating how labor intensive paver laying is, but since neither of us are actually construction contractors we can't really say for sure. I will say though that it has to be telling that we stopped paving everything with individual pavers and started using things l...
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 2:39 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Second, the idea that labor costs make installing a certain material prohibitive seems a bit silly. It's expensive to have workers pour concrete. Is it so vastly different to lay pavers? Probably to a degree, but not in kind. I've obviously never laid pavers on a street, but I imagine it really cou...
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 2:33 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Pouring concrete requires you to pour concrete and you rake it out, placing pavers requires a human to hand place each paver. So yeah, I can easily imagine laying pavers be more labor intensive, and therefore more expensive, than pouronc conrete. Two things: First, I think you're underestimating ho...
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 2:12 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

All good points. At the same time, remember that Nicollet Mall is being designed for a third time because the city wants it to be a glittering retail destination showcasing the best of the city. Whether this is a desirable goal or not is unclear. What is clear, though, is that the desired goal of fa...
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 1:21 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

Downtown there are also pavers on large sections Marquette and Second between the sidewalk and the curb. Admittedly, they are not the sidewalk itself, but neither do they seem to have failed miserably as paving materials.
by helsinki
February 1st, 2016, 12:59 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

I've tried to make this point before, but... Helsinki's average January low temperature is 20.3 F. Minneapolis's is 8. And nowhere in Germany is anywhere near that cold. Minneapolis has a uniquely cold winter climate that requires aggressive salting and snow and ice removal equipment to keep sidewa...
by helsinki
January 31st, 2016, 2:21 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

All of this hand-wringing over concrete pavers that probably wouldn't have worked well in our climate anyway? There is a pedestrianized street in central Helsinki called 'Aleksanterinkatu' that is very similar to Nicollet Mall in many ways. It has pavers that work just fine in the very similar clim...
by helsinki
January 30th, 2016, 12:25 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: Nicollet Mall
Replies: 1466
Views: 533547

Re: Nicollet Mall Reconstruction Project

If that's how you want to look at it, man, I can't stop you. But this is a particularly silly part of the project to be up in arms about. Couldn't disagree more. The design and materials used in paving the street are what send the crucial signals about pedestrianization. A curb-less street with pav...
by helsinki
January 28th, 2016, 5:04 pm
Forum: Minneapolis - Downtown
Topic: North Loop Office Building - 419 Washington Ave N / 420 N 3rd St
Replies: 122
Views: 27926

Re: North Loop Neighborhood

Honest question, but why is this SO hard to believe?
The proximity of the "B" and "C" ramps in particular makes it hard for me to believe. Sure, there may not be parking immediately in front of one's destination, but there is certainly parking nearby.
by helsinki
January 22nd, 2016, 6:59 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: C Line - Penn Avenue North Rapid Bus
Replies: 240
Views: 52360

Re: "C Line" Penn Avenue aBRT & Community Works Project

Page 75 of the pdf shows the planned connection. The southbound C Line to Green Line transfer will be pretty decent. Maybe a 400 foot walk with one crossing on Royalston. Green Line to a C Line bus heading north would require crossing Olson at 7th. Not ideal. Right. So, this is what passes for a co...