Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby FISHMANPET » October 8th, 2014, 12:46 pm

It was qdoba, and the only reason I drove instead of throwing it in my bag on my bike home is that I was getting a lot of chips and queso. The blessing and curse of working at the U, I'm so close to all this food.

PhilmerPhil
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby PhilmerPhil » January 3rd, 2015, 6:00 pm

Just drove to the Kmart.

mattaudio
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby mattaudio » January 3rd, 2015, 7:30 pm

Peter you've upgraded from Taco Bell.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby FISHMANPET » January 4th, 2015, 2:46 pm

Yesterday I moved so I'm no longer near a taco bell, what will I do?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

mattaudio
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby mattaudio » January 4th, 2015, 2:51 pm

Start a franchise?

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nBode
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby nBode » January 5th, 2015, 12:52 am

My roommate was telling us about when he took some of his old high school friends from Fargo to downtown Minneapolis, and he said they really liked it and especially enjoyed the eye candy.

Several minutes later, I realized that he had meant the women; not the buildings.

mullen
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby mullen » January 6th, 2015, 9:13 am

lived in south mpls nearly my entire life. never had been to white bear lake's town center until i drove up a few weeks ago to go to this little record shop. it's a quaint downtown. then i discovered they have one of the few taco john's locations in this metro. so of course i'll be back.

i've never been to woodbury except driving through on 94. maybe that isn't so embarrassing. but then i work with st paul people who find minneapolis this far off, exotic place to be wary of.

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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby Wedgeguy » January 6th, 2015, 9:44 am

lived in south mpls nearly my entire life. never had been to white bear lake's town center until i drove up a few weeks ago to go to this little record shop. it's a quaint downtown. then i discovered they have one of the few taco john's locations in this metro. so of course i'll be back.

i've never been to woodbury except driving through on 94. maybe that isn't so embarrassing. but then i work with st paul people who find minneapolis this far off, exotic place to be wary of.
There are a lot of great old towns whose areas have been swallowed into the suburbs. Many still have their charm. Having done the Parade of Homes over the years, Woodbury has nothing to offer but roads and cald a sacs. Unless you have a car out there, you are screwed getting anyplace. It is a land of individual subdivisions that have minimal connectivity to each other.

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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby Snelbian » January 6th, 2015, 9:47 am

As a kid I moved from White Bear to Woodbury. I have fond memories of ice cream and the library in the former's downtown. Woodbury is a barren, depressing wasteland. In between I lived briefly in Willernie, which doesn't so much have a quaint downtown as it does a few large dollhouses clustered together with food, toiletries and stamps inside. Or did until Tom Thumb closed.

Today's confession - tomorrow I have four hours of free time in the middle of the day and nothing that needs to be done. I'm having trouble convincing myself that I shouldn't drive to the comic book store instead of taking the bus that stops OUTSIDE MY HOUSE just because it's chilly. Total time spent outdoors would be less than five minutes, and most of that is just waiting for a walk signal at Har Mar.

PhilmerPhil
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby PhilmerPhil » January 18th, 2015, 11:02 pm

Urbanist Dilemma: Do I hype up the fact that there is easy and abundant on street parking in my Uptown area basement studio for rent in the Craigslist ad?

(Sidebar: Anyone looking for an affordable studio near LynLake??? Close to transit and Nice Ride stations! Walkable neighborhood!!! DM me!)

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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby David Greene » January 26th, 2015, 2:02 pm

I got an imgur account just to post cat pictures here.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby FISHMANPET » January 26th, 2015, 2:03 pm

Nothing to be embarrassed about there duder.

nate
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby nate » January 30th, 2015, 1:59 pm

I think the Hennepin County Government Center is a pretty bad-ass building, from the inside. (25 story atriums = homerdrool)

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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby twincitizen » January 30th, 2015, 3:01 pm

There are a lot of places around the neighborhood that I would walk to in a heartbeat, but are too far for my gf to walk, so we drive. She is physically capable of walking, of course. It's that she is less tolerant of the cold, and I am less tolerant of her whining, so in the car we go.

grant1simons2
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby grant1simons2 » January 30th, 2015, 3:02 pm

If the outside of Hennepin Center didn't look weird more people would like it, the inside really is the best part.

twincitizen
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby twincitizen » January 30th, 2015, 3:05 pm

Also, if the plazas weren't so damn barren, they could actually justify putting the building over the street and "wasting" two entire city blocks on a building that requires only one.

I assume the justification for putting the building over the street was to provide the public plazas, not just because it was cool to put a building over the street.

EDIT: It appears the plaza facing 7th Street is less terrible, possibly even good. The one that faces City Hall and the LRT station (where there are actual people around) is just crappy hardscape though, with a maybe cool fountain that is on for a few months/year. If that plaza was better, or a small actual park, we might not have been so eager to spend millions on a new public park a block away.

grant1simons2
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby grant1simons2 » January 30th, 2015, 3:13 pm

2 skinnier tall buildings would be cool on the 7th St side.

Edit: Oh look we said similar things :lol: I digress though, back to confessions

nate
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby nate » January 30th, 2015, 3:16 pm

Also, if the plazas weren't so damn barren, they could actually justify putting the building over the street and "wasting" two entire city blocks on a building that requires only one.

I assume the justification for putting the building over the street was to provide the public plazas, not just because it was cool to put a building over the street.

EDIT: It appears the plaza facing 7th Street is less terrible, possibly even good. The one that faces City Hall and the LRT station (where there are actual people around) is just crappy hardscape though, with a maybe cool fountain that is on for a few months/year. If that plaza was better, or a small actual park, we might not have been so eager to spend millions on a new public park a block away.
If we had a do-over, I'd like to see the government center structure on the block between 6th and 7th, and the block between 5th and 6th as a full-block park. And not put that strange red tube-clad parking ramp to the east. And I'd give US Bank Plaza better street presence. Easy.

DFPegg
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby DFPegg » January 30th, 2015, 3:50 pm

And not put that strange red tube-clad parking ramp to the east
I recommend staying in denial: try to squint and imagine it is the Pompidou Center in Paris

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/77293345.jpg

DFPegg
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Re: Embarrassing Confessions of Urbanists

Postby DFPegg » January 30th, 2015, 4:08 pm

Seriously though, I do like the HCGC complex on the whole.

The building on the inside has a ton of light, which is important considering the depressing things that transpire in court. I just wish the stairwells had windows in them too. I also like the park and plaza. If anything, I wish the fountain wasn't there. It is a great place for demonstrations, since it's between the city and county government seats. Most Latin American cities have their main plaza, flanked by the major institutions. In the warmer months, our plaza fills up pretty nice with people at noon.

It is true as stated above that the plaza would work better if the US Bank building had better frontage and the tube-parking-lot thing wasn't a parking lot but something of greater social importance, instead of being just the most expensive parking lot around


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