The Hennepin County 2040 Bike Plan: Cassie’s Notes
Late this fall Hennepin County put out a draft of its new 2040 Bicycle Plan for public review and comment. This long-range vision and planning document piqued my interest but, oof, the thing is 116...
View ArticleLooking Beyond Minnesota (But Beyond Europe, Too)
While Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnesota appear at the top of lists for biking, health, literacy, and other enviable qualities, we’re fortunate enough to have at least some policymakers well aware of...
View ArticleApplying the MAC Funding Model to Metro Transit
The recent hubbub around operations on a decade old runway at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP), operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), have unearthed a few interesting...
View ArticleA Response To “Creating Healthy Cities”
Block E, our ticky-tacky attempt to “suburbanize” Minneapolis Depending on how many urbanists make up your social media circles, you might have seen a bit of shade being thrown towards a recent article...
View ArticleNo Shortage of Development in the Halloween Capital
During the recession, the City of Anoka bought up properties, prepared the land, and quietly waited for the market to come back. Fast forward to 2017, and Anoka is booming. The City has many features...
View ArticleShould City Planners Let People Kill Themselves?
This question is implied or encroached upon in nearly every modern planning conversation, but is not as often discussed directly. I think we should acknowledge it and talk about it openly. I will...
View ArticleSunday Summary – July 9, 2017
By the next Sunday Summary, the annual picnic will be over and I can summarize what you missed. Wouldn’t it be more fun to join us at The streets.mn Summer Picnic is July 15! (and the short, informal...
View ArticleCans to Mini-Golf: The Creative Enterprise Zone and One Building’s...
Artists in disguise inhabiting an abandoned factory in the creative enterprise zone An old factory on the Minneapolis St. Paul border has forgone its 20th century widgets for much different wares....
View ArticleSaint Paul Alley Cat #2: Ranking “Significant Public Views”
Saint Paul’s “Significant” views. This map is in beta. The draft of Saint Paul’s comprehensive plan has been released. It is not as exciting as Minneapolis, or as ambitious as Red Wing’s. Deep...
View ArticleArguments Against Minneapolis’s Draft Comprehensive Plan, Addressed (Part II)
This is the second in a series of posts addressing the arguments against Minneapolis’s Draft Comprehensive Plan; the first is here. It Doesn’t Achieve “Affordability” I’m not an economist, or an...
View ArticleThe Minneapolis 2040 Comp Plan is Still Worth Supporting
I had the wonderful opportunity to give a summary of the changes to the comp plan to a gathering of Neighbors for More Neighbors recently. Here’s what I said: The second draft of the comp plan is out....
View ArticleNational Links: Accidental Planners and Humiliating Grocery Bags
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater...
View ArticleA Vision for the Dan Patch Corridor
Last year I posted about the potential for regional rail in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and for this post I’ll be focusing on a route that has been of interest to me for over a decade; the Dan Patch...
View ArticleThe Edina Public Works Site is a Once in a Generation Opportunity
On my bus ride home each day the bus takes me by the vacant former Edina Public Works site in the Grandview district. I’m not the first to write about this topic – there’s an entire section of the city...
View ArticleA Lukewarm Defense of Lakeville
Your author has spent a good deal of time in Lakeville. My wife grew up there, and it’s where my in-laws still live. In fact, our family of four lived there for a summer in between selling and buying...
View ArticleThe Problem with the Oakland Street Closures
A while back. I wrote about the importance of streets and sidewalks during the pandemic, and how I thought the Oakland Slow Streets project was a great model for cities to follow. As you’ve probably...
View ArticleNational Links: The Origins of Beer Gardens
Every day at The Overhead Wire we collect news about cities and send the links to our email list. At the end of the week we take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater...
View ArticleAddition by Subtraction — Six Anti-Equity Items to Remove from the Saint Paul...
I still remember the first time I looked at a city zoning code, in a planning class at the Humphrey School. I both recommend it and, at the same time, would not wish the experience on anyone. City...
View ArticleHennepin Ave Reconstruction Should Prioritize People, Not Cars
Car dominance is set to continue in Minneapolis. In late September the city revealed six design ideas for the Hennepin Ave S reconstruction project set to begin in 2022, spanning from Douglas Ave to...
View ArticleMore Smart Land Use Reform in Saint Paul
In the last couple months, planning staff at St. Paul have continued to advance smart and effective reforms to our city’s planning and land use system. Their most recent push, which is slated to be...
View ArticleThe Cedar-Isles Master Plan Needs Your Voice!
Over the past few years the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board has been developing and formalizing a series of master plans for the parks under their purview. When visiting any number of parks...
View ArticleHow Our Urban Form Confines Our Transit
To a Minnesotan like me, the public transit in Milan, Italy is so good that it’s both stunning and frustrating. It stuns because it is so efficient, practical and widely utilized, and it frustrates...
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