urbanMSP

Well, the license has been yanked:

Action Taken: a) Adopted Findings of Fact, Conclusions and Recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge; b) Approved staff recommendation to deny On-Sale Liquor Class E license held by Starmac, Inc and Richard P. Nelson; c) Directed City Attorney’s office to draft Findings to support the Committee’s decision to deny renewal of the license; d) Denied applicant’s request that Committee stay enforcement of the license denial pending certiorari appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals; e) Directed City Attorney’s office to draft Findings to support the Committee’s decision to deny the stay request.

Well, the license has been yanked:

Does this mean they're closed?
Is there an appeal possible?

That bus shelter has to be the most pissed on bench in all of Minnesota...

Wow! Whatever it is they're selling I am not buying!!

Well, the license has been yanked:

Does this mean they're closed?
Is there an appeal possible?

That bus shelter has to be the most pissed on bench in all of Minnesota...

So, from my understanding, their liquor license expired last may, but they were allowed to continue operating with the expired license until a final determination could be made. Here the city council in b) declined to renew the license, and in d) denied the request to allow them to continue to operate with the expired license. So they can stay open, but they can't serve alcohol. I'd imagine they could appeal it to the City Council as a whole or possibly take the city to court over it, but I don't think they'd stand a chance.

In nobody's defense: bus stops are attractive places for people to loiter. Not to suggest that bus riders are any worse than anybody else, but if you're trying to stand on a corner and sell something, standing by the bus stop makes it look like you have a reason to be hanging out.

This is one of many reasons to make high-volume bus stops paid fare zones by putting TVMs at them, creating raised platforms, etc. Of course Hennepin County made it harder to do that here as well as made this stop relatively unshelterable by choosing the convenience of cars over pedestrians and transit users when rebuilding Lake St 8 years ago.

I highly doubt that the judge considered buses to be anything but a social service when he made the recommendation, but because of the anemic sidewalk space left by Hennepin County, there would be a benefit to moving the stop to the far side of the intersection. Of course, that would make it more difficult to transfer from the 18, which is a major movement here. The nice thing is, with Champions closing, the 18 could have a far-side stop too, with a little curb work.

What's getting built on the east side of Portland, just north of the Greenway? Is there a map we can reference to find such projects?

An Xcel substation, I believe.

There is a map! It is here: https://forum.streets.mn/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=190

That one's not on the map, though.

Good news: Hola Arepa to open in the old El Paraiso space across from Pat's Tap at 35th & Nicollet.

Bad news: This cements the status quo of a suburban style building tucked behind a parking lot on a future streetcar route.

Is El Paraiso closed yet? I have fond memories and would like to go back once more si es posible.

What's getting built on the east side of Portland, just north of the Greenway? Is there a map we can reference to find such projects?

That's Xcel's new Midtown Substation. If you remember them digging up 28th St between here and Hiawatha last year to put in a transmission line, this is the west end of it.

Nah, Hola's been posting pics of their progress.

Speaking of the Xcel substation, they seem to be putting some decorative panels on it.

Busters on 28th/42nd has started their rebuild.

Made another Minneapolis parking map. This time it highlights street-adjacent surface parking and vacant lots in close proximity to transit corridors in the Whittier/ Uptown areas.

Like on LaSalle in downtown map recently published, can we really mark a school playground a vacant lot or surface parking?

Otherwise, love this as the project it seems to be becoming. Seems the Frank/Lyn theatre garage project got missed.

I initially felt guilty doing this, but yes- the playground could be enclosed in a courtyard, placed on a rooftop plaza, or even just greened better. As it stands now, both highlighted lots are just asphalt slabs.

Lordmoke, do you think you could make one of these for West Broadway? I know woofner made something like this, but I'd love to be able to hand something like this out at next week's WBC zoning meeting. Think it would make my point about focusing development on vacant land and surface parking lots pretty clear.

Definitely! I just jumped to Whittier after Downtown because that's where I live. I'll separate the vacant land and parking lots into two different colors for you as well.

Could you change the lots so that they are highlighted either in the solid red or the semitransparent red? They way they're outlined in solid and filled in transparent is not as visually effective. Really great maps though! After W Broadway, try Northeast, then go for the entire city!