2013-11-27

Reading the Highland Villager #97

[A Villager searches for parking.]
[Basically the problem is that the best source of Saint Paul streets & sidewalks news is the Highland Villager, a very fine and historical newspaper. This wouldn't be a problem, except that its not available online. You basically have to live in or frequent Saint Paul to read it. That's why I'm reading the Highland Villager. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free.]





Headline: Property owners raise objections over rebuilding Randolph Ave.; County wants to replace section from Snelling-35E
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Randolph needs to be rebuilt from Snelling to Trader Joe's. Businesses don't want the county to rebuild it because of construction and assessments. [But eventually it has to happen, right?] It'll have 11' travel lanes and 9' parking lanes. Plans also call for road widening to add left-turn lanes at Hamline and Lexington. The grocery store owner, in particular, is worried about losing his business.


Headline: City opens biding for Como, Phalen golf courses
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city-owned golf courses are losing money, so the city wants private companies to manage two of them. CMs Thune, Bostrom, and Tolbert voted against privatization for reasons that are unclear, but have to do with lack of clarity. "Professional golf managers" may take a pay cut. [I think they should get rid of the whole golf concept, but that doesn't seem to be on the table.] Skiing will remain as it is.


Headline: City Council seats its first Hmong-American
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: Dai Thao got elected.


Headline: Snelling-Selby in the hunt for more parking; Businesses seek new shared lots on blocks west of Snelling Ave.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There's a new development in a surface parking lot on the corner of two busy streets. The developer and city are proposing a Parking Improvement District (shared lot paid for with meter revenue), but some businesses don't like the idea because the lot will be too far away. Some are advocating demolishing homes West of Snelling to build a parking lot over there instead, or in addition, to the proposed lot. Some people want to improve the streets for bikes and peds, even citing the "friendly streets" model along Charles. [I'm in favor of using parking revenue to solve private parking problems and improve the neighborhood. But bike and ped improvements are even better! Plus it'd make Dan O'Gara roil.]


Headline: Hike in right-of-way assessments held to 3%
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Nobody came to a meeting about raising assessments by 3 percent. [If a tax grows in a city council chamber, but nobody is there to hear it, does it make a outcry?]


Headline: Former U.S. Bank building to be razed this week
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A vacant office building from 1956 will be destroyed and replaced with something, but nobody knows what.


Headline: Highland Library to kick off major renovation on Dec. 1
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A library will be larger soon. They may add eight parking spaces in what is currently right field for some reason. [Seriously, go vote at this link. Such ridiculous priorities?]


Headline: Union Park committee backs Transition Homes' expansion
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A shelter for men with dependency issues will get slightly larger. It's OK because they don't drive cars.


Headline: New permit parking hours set for Mac-Grove block near UST
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: You can't park there.


Headline: Joint Caribou, Bruegger's proposed for Dairy Queen site on West 7th St.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There's a proposal to replace an old one-story DQ on West 7th Street with a new one-story story building with bagels and coffee. The city rezoned the property to TN (traditional neighborhood) [i.e. mixed-use non-auto-oriented] a while ago, and approved design standards for West 7th in particular more recently. [The design standards seem similar to a form based code?  I'm actually not sure of the differences even though I've read them.] People in the neighborhood groups aren't happy about the size of the building or the drive thru. The proposal would need a variance because of the large amount of surface parking. [This is sure to come before the planning commission, so I can't comment on it.] There will be a small patio. Quote from the Caribou developer: keeping a drive through is"extremely  critical." Quote from neighborhood group guy: "If it's supposed to be for the neighborhood, I don't see the need for a drive-through." Adding a second story is similarly fraught with tension over parking and cost.


Headline: St. Paul College loses sign appeal
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The new electronic sign at the [community] college next to the cathedral will only be able to have one color and change every 20 minutes.


Headline: Court to near Ford's argument for lowering property taxes
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The county wants Ford to pay more than Ford wants to pay. The county began assessing it as mixed-use instead of industrial land when the company announced closure. [Sneaky, and noteworthy! Seems similar to this good idea.] Lawyers are involved.


Headline: Commission grants permit for Highland memory care facility
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A former monastery building from the 70s will become a home for old people instead of chemically dependent people because neighbors complained.

2013-11-26

4 Things Everyone Should Know About Block E

[Downtown's premiere Hooters.]
In case you missed it, I was on MPR today talking about the latest proposal to "remake" Block E, Minneapolis's notoroius failed attempt to improve Minneapolis' notorious dive block.

At this point, it's easy to throw eggs at Block E. Walking past a failed 90's concept mall, with (in the words of Larry Millet) a "cartoon of a development that presents architecture as entertainment" tends not to make one charitable. Today most of that "entertainment" sits vacant and abandoned.

I was lucky enough to get to wander inside Block E thanks to the Made Here project, and it's fascinating. You find a time capsule of stores from the 2000s: most notably Borders and Gameworks, but also a pharmacy, movie theater, and a few restaurant spaces. The empty shops feel like an urban ruin, similar to a factory in Detroit, with paperwork from 2004 still sitting on an office desk, a straw hat left behind, instructions for employees still on the wall, random detritus strewn about like confetti. 

[Office in the Block E Borders, abandoned for over 5 years.]

[Chalkboard at the Block E Borders.]



[Borders sign: "Ashley & Megan, go to your happy place now."]
I moved back to Minneapolis from the East Coast about the same time that Block E opened up, and I remember the excitement with which downtown civic boosters unveiled the project. At the time, I didn't know many of the details of the project. I remember going with friends to see its debut and snickering like proper hipsters, but few people thought that the "critical link between the city's Hennepin Avenue theater district and the Warehouse District" would tank and sink so quickly.

Since then, watching the place casually implode has been a mix of schadenfreude and gloom. Back at the end of 2011, I had this metaphor:

The Block E Applebee's was the exact opposite of Nye's Polonaise Room. Now there's nothing alive in Block E save for The Shout House (shudder) and (somehow) the Mrs Fields' cookies-bigger-than-your-head establishment. Someday downtown folks will figure out that cities can't compete with the suburbs by replicating them, but need to create unique, locally-owned, walkable places. Keiran's Pub is a good start.

Meanwhile, Block E sits on Hennepin Avenue like a hippopotamus at a dog show.

(I'm rather proud of that one.)

Now I'm working on a radio documentary about the history of Block E for KFAI Radio (community voices), and it's been titillating to pore through old documents about the space.

Here's a rough primer for those of you too young to remember when R.T. Rybak was just the downtown reporter for the Star Tribune. (PS, that includes me. I'm not that old!)


Fact #1 - The Block's Previous Diversity

[Hennepin Avenue in the 40s, Block E on right.]
The next time you find yourself watching Purple Rain, pay attention to the background of the film. A lot of the downtown Minneapolis scenes are set against the backdrop of Block E in L.A., which at the time was a large mix of two- to five-story old brick buildings. (Actually, I just checked again and many of those scenes are Los Angeles, but my point is the same.)

Downtown Minneapolis used to be full of buildings like that, places with many storefronts, mixed-use everything, alleyways, and lots of street-front signage. And Hennepin Avenue between 6th and 7th was its epicenter.

According to my inadequate research, this one block was home to:

Restaurants: the Best Steak House, the Venice Café, the Casa Corando, McDonalds, and probably others.

[Block E signs.]
Bars: Moby Dick's, the 620 Club (previous to Moby's), Brady's Bar, Mousey's Bar, the Swallow Bar, and a music club named Goofy's Upper Deck (which was very hot in the summer).

Retail: Musicland, Harpo's Hot Licks (a record shop), Northern Lights (another record shop), Ryan Camera, two different Shinder's locations (newspapers and magazines), and much more.

Art galleries: most notable was the Rifle Sport Gallery (a converted game arcade), though I've heard there was a continually changing cast of others.

Many other things: two theaters (the World and the Schubert), a jewelry store, a barber shop, a bowling alley, a post office, Fantasy House (what you imagine), the Rand Hotel (rooms available by the hour), the Adonis (a place for gay hookups), and a secret tunnel under Hennepin Avenue that led to bathhouses across the street.

To find this kind of diversity on one block is impossible these days. In one of my interviews for the doc, Dennis Pearson described the block thus, from his early years growing up downtown:
I remember Block E used to be a lot of fun. That’s the place where you meet your friends before you go out to a concert, or to get a bite to eat, or sometimes you just stay at Moby’s. It was great for people watching, and they did a lot of things that you probably couldn’t do today. I remember if you turned in your AA medallion to the bar, they’d hang it up on the wall and you could drink free for the rest of the night. That used to happen every night. And one time...

[Me: That's terrible!]

It was so funny. It is terrible, but it's so funny too.

I’ve never seen a bar before or after with such a mixed group of people. Business men, pimps, prostitutes, neighborhood people, and people from all walks of life and they all got along. And you really didn’t have to worry too much. If someone was giving you a hard time, you just told the bartender or the bouncer. The bouncers would be over right away and take care of the problem and throw the person out...

Minneapolis had a million stories, and the shops at block E were at the heart of many of them.


[Block E in the 20s?]


Fact #2 - The Premature Tear Down Party

[Block E signs.]
From what I've heard (and it must be mentioned that many of the narrators' memories aren't necessarily reliable), the old block E was a somewhat respectable place until the 70s. Around that time, like much of the old urban United States, it started going downhill and became known as a center for various vices.

Reading through the news accounts of the time is confusing. You get a real sense of the conflict between the "old" diverse, dirty city and the "new" skyway-centered business-led city. Block E lay right at the crossroads of these two visions for Minneapolis.

What to do with the block came to a head when the Butler Square building was remodeled, and property owners began realizing the potential of the land that today we know as the Warehouse District. From that point on, various mega-projects were continually popping up in the area: City Center, a convention center proposal (where Target Center is today), the Target Center, the 394 parking ramps, Laurel Village (housing), etc.

Block E was in the way of a lot of this development, and so the city passed a plan in the late 80s to get rid of it. The city and the Downtown Council wanted to build something that would mimic the successful Calhoun Square development in Uptown, and had arranged with the developer of that project to construct an urban mall on the space of Block E. On October 18th, 1988 (or so), the city held a party to celebrate the impending razing of the buildings on the block. Later that winter, they all came down.

[The downtown entertainment map, c. 1984. The 9 buildings of Block E at bottom left.]

Much like George Bush's aircraft carrier party, the Block E celebration turned out to be premature. The planned development fell through, and for over a decade, the Block E area remained a surface parking lot.

If you're going to identify one common thread for downtown Minneapolis planning, one thing that our city is really good at, it's tearing down historic buildings and replacing them with surface parking. That's exactly what happened here.


Fact #3 - The Rejected Park Proposal

[R.T. Rybak, staff writer.]
Fast forward to the 1990s, and all sorts of Block E schemes keep popping up. By the late 90s, the were three main ideas. The first was to build a urban mall-type development. There were two proposals, but they each seemed similar: skyways, restaurants, a hotel, retail.

The second idea was to turn the now-empty block into a park, called "the garden of courage" and dedicated to cancer patients (or something like that). The rationale was the downtown needed more parks and green space, and this would serve as a "plaza" for the now-existing Target Center area.

A competing park proposal, by Forecast Public Art, was to use the existing theater and parking spaces as an open art space, similar to what today we'd call "pop up" programming. (This option would certainly have been the cheapest.)

In a way, the debates are eerily reminiscent of the current development proposals. You have a park, a stadium, a mixed-use development, a city-subsidized parking lot... La plus ça change.


Fact #4 - The Amount of City Money Involved Through the Years

[Moving the Schubert Theater.]
The final detail that can't be missed is how much money the city has spent on this block. It cost something like $9 million to buy it up in the 80s, something like $2 million to tear it down in 1988.

(Who knows how much money the city made while it was a parking lot, versus how much tax revenue they would have made if they'd left it as it was.)

Moving the six-million pound Schubert theater from Block E to Block D cost $4 million in 1999.

Subsidizing the Block E development cost the city $34 million in 2001.

And in 2010, the whole near-failure of a development sold to its current owner for the grand total of $14 million dollars.


Conclusion: Be Skeptical of Downtown Deals

[The latest rendering.]
For me, this whole sorry saga points to the fickle nature of downtown development deals. Studying urban geography, you see countless examples of revitalization and economic redevelopment approaches that might work in one place but completely fail when translated to another spot. The aforementioned list of failed urban redevelopment schemes is but the tip of the iceberg. (In fact, all things considered, maybe Minneapolis and Saint Paul don't have it that bad when compared to some other cities... at least it's not Autoworld.)

The ironic thing about Block E's failure is that the redevelopment, after over a decade of sitting as an empty parking lot, installed a lot of the same things that had been there before. In both incarnations of the block, you had a bookstore, a record store, an arcade, a restaurant (complete with rock musicians), night clubs, a movie theater, and even (eventually) a mammary-themed entertainment venue. The problem was that all the replacements were chain versions of the unique and local places that had been there before -- AMC Theater for the World Theater, Borders for the Shinders, Gameworks for the Rifle Sport, Escape Ultra Lounge for Moby Dicks, Hooters for Fantasy House, etc. That's precisely the opposite direction that cities should be going in. You'll never recreate suburbia downtown. You have to offer something far more unique, something that the ring road shopping malls can never have... density and diversity.

This doesn't  mean we shouldn't do anything. There are downtown development projects that worked out pretty well: the Target HQ building, the Loring Greenway area, and much of the infill development in the North Loop are particular favorites.

But if Block E teaches us anything, it should teach us to be skeptical anytime a developer comes to the city with a plan to "save downtown." And this is doubly true if the plan involves tearing down existing shops or businesses, no matter how seedy or disreputable you might find them.

The saving grace is that we're not compounding our mistakes by jumping on the latest urban redevelopment bandwagon, downtown casinos. The excellent "Made Here" project (curated by my friend Joan) is a great start at injecting some much needed street smarts into Hennepin Avenue again. And while this most recent proposal looks to me like an attempt to come up with something a bit generic ("Minnesota Modern"?), maybe that's a good thing. We don't need to re-create the wheel, we merely need to provide a space for the city that's already all around us to come to life.


[The French Connection, playing at Block E!]

Bonus:
As you can see in the 1984 "map", by the 80s a lot of it Block E was surface parking already. A friend of mine passed along this story:
From '80 to '84, I worked and managed the parking lots behind Moby's. People would park and pay, put their guns in their trunks and go have fun! I'd get calls at home at closing time from the attendant at the lot directly behind the bar asking what to do about the person demanding money from the till to replace the tire that had just flatted from running over a beer bottle. Or the people demanding compensation who had tried to sneak out the entrance to the lot on 6th St (the attendant couldn't see that entrance from the exit booth on 1st Ave) and had their windshield broken/roof damaged by the steel gate. The bouncers at Moby's were the toughest, most lawless in town, and one of them was actually charged with murder(?) for gunning down a patron on 1st Ave.

Bonus Too:

Almost everything I'm trying to say is said much better in this utterly amazing 14-minute film, Shinders To Shinders (1982), which features all kinds of Block E scenes, including the stairs of Rifle Sport, the entrance of Moby's, the Block E alleys, The Rand Hotel, and the doorway of Shinder's:

[Drug dealing dance performance. Click for whole video.]

The film ends with the funk/jazz beat refrain:
Clean it up,
Tear it down,
Minneapolis
Ain't no funky town.

There are all kinds of racial dynamics to this story too that I haven't even begun to talk about, and frankly, don't feel qualified to discuss. But they're very surely there.

2013-11-25

Today in Minneapolis Restaurants from 1972

[According to Ervin J. and Ervin J. (1972) The Twin Cities Explored. Saint Paul, MN: Adams Press.]

Al's Breakfast; 413 14th Avenue Southeast. The interior of Al's Breakfast shows signs of being busy, but is perfectly clean. And there are even some handsome pieces of pottery among the things with which one is served. Service itself is efficient and amiable. The menu includes juices at 20¢ and 40¢, breakfast meats at 45¢ to 60¢, potatoes (30¢), toast (15¢), and English muffins with preserves (25¢). Eggs are variously offered: scrambled, they are 45¢ to 60¢, two-egg omelets are 80¢ to $1.00, and both types includes toast and coffee. The special Israeli breakfast consists of two scrambled eggs, kosher salami, onions, coffee, and toast -- all for $1.20! [...] If you are particularly fortunate you may be treated to a lively panel discussion, with the staff and customers all participating.


Becky's Cafeteria; 1934 Hennepin Avenue. No pretense here. Becky's is honestly conservative, four-square "square." Interesting, the meals we had at lunch one day were not at all bad, and we can recommend the cucumber-and-sour-cream salad, the home-baked goods, which includes rolls and apple pie, and such beverages as an orange concoction made with an egg. [...] Other edibles available in the cafeteria line at lunch includes juices at 20¢, salads from 18¢ to $1.15, beef loaf at 72¢, hash at 99¢, sirloin of beef pattie at 72¢, and other meat and fish dishes [....] As for the atmosphere, it is, well, incredible. You enter to the deep, soft tones of an organ, and find that the Bible is open for you on a table near the entrance; the passage for today is Jeremiah, XXXI. The serving room to the rear, where you take up position in the cafeteria queue, also contains Becky's Book Boutique, where suitable religious works are for sale, and a collection of very small pink furniture grouped about a small fountain. On the wall is a motto: "Love One Another."



Mama Rosa's; 1827 Riverside Avenue. An Italianate menu, the availability of light or dark beer on tap or bottled, and its cheek-by-jowl accessibility for the West Bank campus of the University have together made Mama Rosa's one solution for lunch or dinner in this part of town. A pleasant surprise on entering is the changing exhibition of photographs or prints that hang in the lobby. The décor of the dining rooms is less successful; they are dark and rather improbably bowered by pendant leaves and grapes [...] Pizzas, pastas, steaks, and chicken are also available, as are other salads and sandwiches. The mugs of dark tap beer can be quaffed with some satisfaction because of the paucity of any beverage stronger than a nice cup of tea in most of the University precincts.



Nye's Polonaise Restaurant; 112 East Hennepin Avenue. Do not run away when you drive up to Nye's and see, on the ugliest facade in the Upper Midwest, Chopin in bas relief batting out a few bars of a nocturne. Although the Polonaise Room is indistinguishable from the Chopin Room -- both are noncommital mid-twentieth-century salons, swathed in cavelike darkness -- and most of the menu is indistinguishable from the pike, trout, steak all-around-town déja vu, one can order genuine polish speciaties of some merit at Nye's. Highly recommended are the pierogi (Polish ravioli) with sour cream, Polish sausage, sauerkraut, and golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls), all of which are served with hot bread. [...] The result is well worth it, judging from our experiment with the Polish specialites and the pleasant, efficient service at lunch. (You should be warned, however, that there are "live" music and dancing at night.) Any sort of alcohol seems to be available, and Polish wines are on the menu.



Ricksha Café; 5412 Penn Avenue South. For the dedicated epicure willing to anticipate the condition of his gastric juices at least twenty-four hours in advance, the management of the Ricksha Café will prepare a Formosan dinner (preferable for from six to twelve people.) Since our one visit to the Ricksha was on a spur-of-the-moment basis we can only report that it seems worth planning ahead for the Formosan spread, the exact number of courses for which depends on the number of persons in a  party. Roasted shrimp, rice noodles, with seasonings somewhat different from mainland varieties, Bee Hoon -- a mix of chicken, plum sauce and fresh ginger -- form part of this promising meal. We can report from our own dinner there that the Ricksha is another small, carefully hovered-over restaurant in which you know that the owners are there and care about the quality of the food. [...] Appetizers such as egg roll are from $1.25 to $1.55, soups 40¢ to 95¢. The inevitable chow meins and chop sueys range from $1.05 to $1.95, and American sandwiches and a few other meals are there. There is a lively take-out service or for a table as it is a small restaurant. Overlook the décor, which is an uninteresting Sino-American blend.



Taj Mahal; 1034 Nicollet Avenue. While the Twin Cities have some distance to travel before they enter a gastronome's list of cities to be visited, the growing number of Asian restaurants gives one hope. In July of '72 the Taj Mahal's spicy menu put some much-needed bite into downtown Minneapolis cuisine, with such dishes as Taj Tanduri (chicken with spices), chicken, beef, lamb or shrimp curries, keema alo (ground beef with potato) [....] In order to sample a fairly wide variety we tried a kaleidoscopic luncheon of side dishes and found all of them interesting, with channas too hot a curry for our Western palates, but undoubtedly true to its origins. [...] Undoubtedly, the lamb curry had been somewhat lowered in pungency to accommodate Nicollet Ave tastes, and very good it was. [..] Some realistic concessions to totally American taste buds are made, with American sandwiches and meals of no particular interest being offered. There is also a vegetarian meal which sounds Indian in its bent. In its early weeks, the Taj management had not done much to eradicate its noncommital coffee-shop look, but perhaps the owners in time will dream up ways to waft us a bit closer to Delhi.



Fuji-Ya Restaurant; 420 South First Street. Food is not only food, it is much else: people, the configuration of light and shade, memory. And of course it is ambiance. The menu at the Fuji-ya tells us that the restaurant's name means "second to none" in Japanese, so perhaps the best way to describe the ambiance in which one lunches or dines at the Fuji-ya is to say that in the Twin Cities is is, well, fuji-ya. The building overlooks the Mississippi River, though not its most pleasing bankside, for industry came early to this area and has scarcely been dislodged by time. But the water is there, and more important, the interior of the Fuji-ya is satisfaction enough. The first dining room one encounters has high ceilings from which giant paper covered lamps depend. [...] The next room, low-ceilinged and with windows which give on the river, is even more in the Japanese fashion: the tables are low and one sits crosslegged before them. Waitresses in kimonos serve you, and prepare some of the dishes on hot plates on the table. One can preface or accompany the meal with sake, warm or on the rocks, with Japanese plum wine, or with Asahi lager beer. (Whiskey and other Western potables are discernible at the bar at the end of the first room.)



2013-11-22

*** Sidewalk Weekend! ***

Sidewalk Rating: Winter 
If we were to imagine the twin cities personified, we would liken Minneapolis to a vigorous rustic beauty in short skirts; while St. Paul we would describe as a fashionable marriagable urban miss, a trifle stunted and lacking color and plumpness, but with more style and worldly grace than her sister. As to which should have the preference, there will be views as different as the two towns. There are those who prefer hard-paved, bustling streets, faced by ranks of city stores, pressed shoulder against shoulder, with here and there huge, massive office towers breathing crowds in and out to choke the narrow sidewalks; and there are others who like better the big, roomy avenues of Minneapolis, even though they hang like too loose clothes against the uneven, shrinking lines of fashionless houses. 

[Harper's Magazine, Capitols of the Northwest, c. 1892.]


[Saint Paul skyway.]


***CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LINKS!***

http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/msn/id/1594


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http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/14/uncontrolled_siem_reap_intersection.html

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http://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/west-river-parkway-minneapolis-c1910

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http://consciousnewsmedia.blogspot.com/2013/11/prepare-to-have-your-mind-blown-riding.html#.Uo-tV2RDvq9


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http://www.utilitycycling.org/2011/08/dutch-extreme-bike-commuting/

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/starts-and-stops/2013/11/20/boston-bikes-debuts-sharrows-steroids/PXrtrx9c1YO6T0JOCn3vFJ/blog.html


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaRQe86suA


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiUOzmy0CUc


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http://north-by-northside.blogspot.com/2013/11/photo-tour-of-tax-forfeitures-continued.html


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http://blog.thecurrent.org/2013/11/norshor-theater-coming-back-to-duluth-in-2015/?refid=0

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http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamellis/heres-what-happens-when-you-ask-people-to-draw-maps-of-the-u?fb_comment_id=fbc_659645434079544_6678785_661052337272187#f11352d3d4



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https://twitter.com/CityResearch/status/401748070754697217/photo/1


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http://muninetworks.org/communitymap

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http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html



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https://twitter.com/CityResearch/status/398218436624392192/photo/1

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http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/06/idea-of-the-week-mapping-the-rise-of-craft-beer.html

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http://www.theonion.com/articles/do-you-plan-to-sign-up-for-obamacare,34517/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview%3A1%3ADefault


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https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zjFyNPqtS-5M.kstpyUKPuNnw


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http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/11/where_s_waldo_a_new_strategy_for_locating_the_missing_man_in_martin_hanford.html


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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/11/19/history-of-breweries-in-minnesota?refid=0

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http://gothamist.com/2013/11/11/movie_theater_map.php

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http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/82022/saying-good-bye-as-the-braves-leave-atlanta-for-atlanta


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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-messy-messy-relationship-between-income-and-race-and-obesity/281434/


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http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/11/wonderfully-simplified-map-san-franciscos-bicycle-infrastructure/7554/


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http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2013/11/13/boston-maps-urbanes-stereotypical-map-of-boston/

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http://pruned.blogspot.com/2005/06/geological-investigation-of-alluvial.html


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http://gizmodo.com/colorful-desert-ruins-consumed-by-waves-of-sand-1466602523


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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/11/11/photos/nisbit-mining-site-saratoga-township?refid=0


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http://www.minds.com/blog/view/248215469679448064/german-town-abolishes-traffic-lights-and-codes-accidents-are-now-almost-non-existent


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http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2013/11/08/Enough-Said-1110-Driving-Alone

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https://twitter.com/bostonography/status/403169495855816704/photo/1


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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=504634189644298&set=a.246307702143616.56395.234098873364499&type=1&theater

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http://whatnotto.tumblr.com/post/67306380447/what-not-to-do-9-rubble-mulch


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http://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/11/07/graphic-huge-cost-disparities-between-highway-transit-and-bike-projects/


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http://www.thedeets.com/2013/11/15/bullet-ballots-for-mark-andrew-by-city-ward-mplsmayor/


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http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/11/19/one-chart-brilliantly-sums-up-citi-bikes-safety-record/



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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/crash-the-decline-of-us-driving-in-6-charts/281528/


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http://www.rausnitz.com/bikesharetimer/results.php?stationstart=31263&stationend=31262


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http://blog.walkscore.com/2013/11/2014-rankings-methodology/


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http://streetsblog.net/2013/11/07/do-your-citys-streets-make-room-for-people-too-a-handy-visual-test/


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http://www.amazingoasis.org/2013/11/best-coin-ever-spent.html


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http://kottke.org/13/11/17-year-old-biggie-smalls-freestyling

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While Biggie referred to his "one-room shack" in Bed-Stuy, times have changed: "This three-bedroom plus den/office condominium was renovated a few years ago preserving traditional styling while answering the needs of modern usage," and now the area is referred to as Clinton Hill.

[this.] 

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http://freakonomics.com/2013/11/06/a-great-view-if-you-like-parking-lots/


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http://artloop.chicagoloopalliance.com/about/color_jam/


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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/the-case-against-cars-in-1-utterly-entrancing-gif/281615/


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http://31.media.tumblr.com/8be7468534d182692141c44fdcc708ca/tumblr_mw3dn9qdsn1r6tuvco1_500.gif


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http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/11/in-no-great-hurry.html


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http://mn70s.tumblr.com/post/67481947562/nsp-nuclear-plant-monticello-minnesota-1971


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http://vimeo.com/51295174



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http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2013/11/12/traffic-waves


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http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/i-used-to-take-it-as-a-given-that-an-interest-in-vehicl-1464717649


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http://yeslab.org/bull


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/


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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=183564468514407&set=a.167823470088507.1073741829.163513530519501&type=1&theater


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http://catandgirl.com/?p=4316


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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789324679/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d6_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=16K6R8RBTREJWA5DEFEX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846


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http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/11/toms-restaurant.html

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http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/11/strand-sprinklers.html


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https://twitter.com/paulcoxon/status/401739061439635456/photo/1


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https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xkcd-substitutions/jkgogmboalmaijfgfhfepckdgjeopfhk?hl=en&gl=001


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http://mn70s.tumblr.com/post/66209963630/minnesota-strip-new-york-city-mid-1970s-by


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVuXABVm_No


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http://instagram.com/p/glxcjSCtv5/


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http://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/11/ruins-mississippi-industrial-splendors-have-become-aesthetic-objects


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http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaoticmind75/with/10866858003/


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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10103914448949860&set=a.10100360517521930.3106306.13953156&type=1&theater