urbanMSP

Now you're just making up numbers. The scheduled Empire Builder time is over 8 hours, but as it's been discussed that number is often much longer, rarely shorter, due to conflicts with freight that the 110mph service would help to reduce. Reducing that to a more predictable 5.5 hours has real value ...

Interesting. I'm usually not a fan of multi-block developments, but Ryan's got a good track record, and it may be that this area needs a catalytic large project to completely change things.

Yes, we've had this conversation. I know you can drive really fast and don't need to go to the bathroom.

I don't want to do that drive, and I don't want to deal with a car when I go to Chicago.

Just because the train doesn't make sense for you doesn't mean we shouldn't build it.

Penn-American was a mystery to me. It looked to be some sort of hybrid system, but I never got a good look at it while under construction. I think we can safely assume the 10 story guys are concrete. Not sure why the economics worked for it in those locations. As for the 6 vs. 7, the 7th floor in st...

I wouldn't be surprised if the Star Tribune stayed in a reduced portion of their existing building (the portion fronting on Portland), just leasing it back from Ryan.

What do we think the odds are of MSP picking up one of Virgin Atlantic's slots to Heathrow? From Virgin Atlantic's website: We have also announced a joint venture with Delta which will create an expanded transatlantic network. By combining the strengths of our two companies in a joint venture, we ca...

That is nice. But let's get the Grain Belt sign up and running again first!

Per Mulad, the 110mph service was estimated to take 5hr 30min. That's a real improvement that's worth the money. Let's not wait.

Royalston station also appears to be missing from the Green Line.

There's a much higher expectation of the quality of design in architecture there. It's as simple as that. It's a "given" there. That's what differentiates a truly great city from a mediocre one. Minneapolis is getting some good new projects such as 1368 Lasalle and 222, and yes , even Nic...

Without knowing exactly where at 41st and Hiawatha it is, and without knowing exactly where on the Longfellow site the Trader Joe's bottle shop would sit, I'd wager that it does. Although probably not by much. Regular north-south blocks are 660', and obviously the blocks along the diagonal are going...

I guess you could read it this way, but you could also read it as her finding a political way to dodge a question on which she disagrees with angry constituents.

I'm all for advocating for true HSR, but there are a number of people here who have taken the position that we shouldn't pursue 110mph service because... well, I'm not going to try to re-state their reasons, because they don't make sense to me and I won't be doing them any favors. Basically, because...

Outlet Mall bargains? Not so much.

How do people think the state builds anything??

I think the truth is that very few people have a real understanding of bonding.

Not sure why I'm defending Tuthill, but she did push them to locate some of the parking underground, and as far as I know, the quantity of parking was never particularly an issue -- more about how bad the traffic in and out of the site was likely to be. From what I've seen of Killian, he's an ambiti...

But that's not why she opposed it. Her parking fetishism prevented her from pushing for a more urban proposal. That parking obsession is part of her allegiance with the NIMBY element. I'll admit that I probably didn't track this proposal as closely as some, but I don't recall her obsessing over the...

[verklempt!]

This is how we always shoot ourselves in the foot.

By shooting ourselves in the foot, you mean by allowing a private developer to build a private development where they feel it is most appropriate?

It's very generous of you, MNdible, to expend so much energy on changing my mind... To be clear, because sometimes it’s hard to convey intent on the internet: Redisciple, when I said that I wasn’t going to change your mind, it wasn’t to suggest that you’re wrong or even that you’re as stubborn as I...