urbanMSP

45 minutes of biking in a suburb of Utrecht, sent to me by a friend today. This is “suburban” in terms of population (65,000), but not in terms of density, as it is 15% denser than the City of Mpls.

https://youtu.be/aANhcGI39TU

The other thing is that the 55+ demographic is perceived as less likely to commit crimes or cause a lot of traffic or parking issues. Maybe that’s the perception, but from my experience it’s the 55+ demographic that is least likely to give up their cars (or at least make the biggest issue of not ha...

... but dense areas like this that literally used to be streetcars deserve to have rail here. Rail is forever... I know what you were trying to get at, but I just loved the juxtaposition of these two statements within the same paragraph. Ha, yes, it is funny. As you know, that was a mode shift to v...

I see your point, Alex, but it’s not always just about logic and money. I was just watching the movie “Why We Cycle”, and a really funny thing stuck out. A city put in all these nice, logical, wide, comfortable bikeways, but they found people still rode their bikes through the city on more dangerous...

I won't hold my breath on any development along Highway 36 in Stillwater being car-light and pedestrian-friendly. How about making the existing Downtown Stillwater car-light and pedestrian friendly while the area around Highway 36 is left as is; auto-centric and not friendly towards transit, pedest...

This!: [I urge anyone to consider the trips they make on a daily basis and to think about the trips that their friends and family make on a daily basis. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the broad reality is that travel is everywhere to everywhere. A good transit system should reflect this, and tha...

Copenhagen & Amsterdam:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkn1Ii ... Ql9UeEzpwQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0intL ... G-xAvUEO-A

"financing is harder to get" Wall Street firms bought up single family homes during the Great Recession (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/single-family-landlords-wall-street/582394/) A skeptic might think that owning multifamily housing would bring the same benefits t...

Most other US streetcars suck because they implement little or no priority measures, operate in cities that have weak transit systems, and circulate low-population downtown areas. The Nicollet-Central streetcar as currently envisionsed is too short to be successful, but a longer one would take the ...

I am not optimistic about the city's seriousness about the climate emergency. https://twitter.com/MplsWard10/status/1235573373712785411 Don't know what "removing the bike lane" even means for that block (3000 block of Hennepin), but as annoying as stopped vehicles in the lane are, that bl...

Idea to remove cars from just one street (Broadway) in downtown LA. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-16/los-angeles-ban-cars-broadway-downtown-streetcar-pedestrian-zone The plan would still allow fire, police, and buses. A future street car from Staple Center could use it instead of...

Google, Amazon, Tesla are flirting with getting into homebuilding. https://www.businessinsider.com/homebuilder-stocks-struggling-impact-from-tech-company-investment-amazon-google-tesla-2018-10 Feels like home building needs some innovation. If by innovation we mean surveillance capitalism, count me...

Is it not obvious that the reason for this route would be to encourage new development in the undeveloped area surrounding Stillwater? This is why it’s funded by Washington County, right? If it would make this new development into a car-light, pedestrian-friendly area, it sounds like a good idea. Ma...

Much like Cancun, Orlando & Las Vegas are non-places. They are giant tourist parks. Great for tourism, but nothing to do with urbanism or placemaking for residents (who are mostly just contract workers for those non-places). Think about cities that have a virtual logo in your mind: St. Louis &am...

Great article.

Yeah, until we prioritize transit, walking, & biking, and make taking a car (excuse me, SUV) more difficult, change is unlikely to happen.

The tree removals are for parking bays, not the bike lanes. Cut the widening and you can save the trees. Good point. This was approved by the SLP City Council. But change is afoot. From the City of SLP: Southeast bikeway improvements Dear St. Louis Park community member, On March 2, 2020, the St. L...

Possibly incorrect list of Non-Freeway roads that get grade separated crossings from SWLRT: 1. Technology Drive and Prairie Center Drive 2. Prairie Center Drive (again) 3. Flying Cloud Drive 4, Flying Cloud Drive (again) and Shady Oak Rd 5. Felta Rd & Smetana Rd (in a tunnel) 6. Excelsior Blvd ...

On that note, Florida is also bringing the national average down, which is fascinating. The state seems to have done everything wrong from a policy perspective, and has a vulnerable population, is doing so well. That might validate the idea that heat and humidity help slow the spread of this virus,...

I’m developing a fetish for European city bike videos on YouTube.

MSP passenger levels down 95%.

Car parking capacity at … 2% utilization.

https://kstp.com/coronavirus/passenger- ... ?cat=12685