R. I. P. Jane Jacobs

Patron saint of TC Sidewalks, Jane Jacobs, died this week. The NYT has a must-read obit from yesterday . . .

But it is "Death and Life," published by Random House, that rocked the planning and architectural establishment.

On one level, it represented the first liberal attack on the liberal idea of urban renewal. At the same time, the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson saw an old-fashioned vision of community that he compared to Thornton Wilder's fictional Grover's Corners. Ms. Jacobs herself thought the book's continuing appeal was that it plumbed the depths of human nature like a good novel.

In 2003, Herbert Muschamp, the Times's chief architecture critic, wrote that Ms. Jacobs's book was "one of 20th-century architecture's most traumatic events," in part because Ms. Jacobs was dismissive about the importance of design.

In recent years, she became an inspiration to architects and planners who espouse what they call the New Urbanism, an effort to promote social interaction by incorporating such Jacobean features as ground-floor stores in suburban developments.

. . . and the Strib had an op-ed obit today.

Instead of bulldozing whole districts, she advocated four principles: an incremental approach that mixed old and new buildings; a mixing of uses that integrated homes with shops, offices, restaurants and parks; small city blocks that created more options for people to get around and more opportunities for storefront business, and a dense population that would add vitality and safety to streets and sidewalks.

In addition, she saw clearly the devastating effects of the automobile on urban livability and objected fiercely to designers who wanted to remake cities in the image of suburbs. These "decentrists," as she called them, while intending to help cities, were "undermining them and killing them."

It's a cliche to say so, but reading Death and Life of Great American Cities changed my life. Thanks Jane.

** News Flash **

The top story is in today's PiPress -- where's theres a long story about rising real estate values along University Avenue, in anticipation of the LRT line there.

The price of real estate on University Avenue is going up fast, the result of new attention that will only grow as plans for a Central Corridor light-rail line connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul unfold. To get in on University Avenue these days, you need more than a dream — you need cash.

"There's an increasing interest and demand to be on the avenue," said developer Bob Long, vice president of the commercial real estate broker NAI Welsh. "Once people see that other people are willing to invest large sums of money on University, they see it as a great investment."

This is kinda good news, and needs to be put in the proper context. But the big problem is the mixed implications for the communities along the street now.

Elsewhere, the Strib has a good Op-ed talking about the economic need for riverfront development in terms of the Saint Paul floodwall battle.

Ugliness is not the biggest problem with the floodwall proposed for St. Paul's downtown airport, although Mayor Chris Coleman's likening of the design to a "sheet-metal pig" seems a fair commentary. This project represents a major alteration of a Mississippi River floodplain, and of a river corridor whose nonindustrial values are belatedly getting the emphasis they deserve.

But it reminds me of local rag, The Bridge, and their similar Op-Ed about how the new CEO McGuire noblesse oblige park also prevents use of the riverfront in the Strib's backyard.

And as good as a big park sounds, it would close off yet another stretch of riverbank from the city’s street grid. The Minneapolis Plan says the city grid should meet the river, and that policy was supposed to guide prospective developers of this site. But only one of the proposals addresses the city’s astonishing failure to join its street system to the Mississippi—and it’s not McGuire’s proposal. Whenever the chance for reuniting its streets with its river has arisen in recent years, it’s as if years of separation have made Minneapolis unsure how to greet the body of water that gave it birth.

And then I got to thinking about the river in general in Minneapolis, and how little people get to enjoy it.

So here's an old MPR article about restoring the Mississippi river to its pre-HHH Lock and Dam habitat . . .

Davis and a group of other state and federal officials recently proposed the idea of restoring the rapids as part of long-range environmental goals for the Mississippi River, called pool plans. The gorge is in the area known as Pool one. But the plan is stalled.

"It's in direct conflict with the nine-foot channel navigation mission. At least that's what the Corp determined and probably it's true," said Davis. "So even though it's included in there, it was not officially endorsed as something to pursue at this time. I think the language says something about if the opportunity presents itself in the future, which to me says if there's no longer a Congressional mandate for a nine-foot channel here, then it would become feasible to consider it. So, there's some roadblocks."

. . . and an update on the proposed downtown whitewater park .

"Look what a beautiful river we have here right in downtown Minneapolis," Dunn said, his body straightening. "It grates on you. Why are we missing this opportunity?"

He has volunteered with the Mississippi Whitewater Park Development Corp., a nonprofit organization set up to promote the rafting, kayaking and canoeing channel. A few years ago it was moving so quickly toward reality that he could almost feel mist from rapids in his face.

But now, in the words of one legislator, the proposed project, which would cost anywhere from $26 million to $30 million, seems to be treading water. The course is being redesigned because the original plan called for filling in too much of the river. And before the project can move forward, officials need to figure out who will own and run it, according to a report by the state Department of Natural Resources to the Legislature last month.

[From the March 23 2006 Strib]

Also:

A lucky strike extra, an article on Ralph Rapson!

Over the course of nearly seven decades, Rapson built an international reputation as an influential member of the Modernist movement; an acquaintance of, and collaborator with, many of the era’s foremost architects and designers; and one of the nation’s most respected educators as dean of the University of Minnesota architecture school (from 1954 to 1984). He has lived and worked in Boston, Chicago, and several of the great cities of Europe—yet he is rooted in the Twin Cities, or, more precisely, here in Cedar-Riverside, where he has plied his trade for the past forty years and has no plans to quit now.

** News Flash **

Hate the sound of a diesel? Well there's some great news from MetroTransit -- they're getting hybrid buses.

Metro Transit buses in the Twin Cities will begin burning a fuel mixture that includes 5 percent renewable bio-diesel beginning in July, Minnesota officials announced today.

In addition, the bus agency is ordering 20 more hybrid buses that use battery power to increase fuel mileage and cut noise on city streets, said Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell.
[PiPress]

That goes a long way to increasing bus sex appeal for exactly the people who should be riding the bus regularly -- by decreasing noise and environmental impact. I know MetroTransit has no money, but they need more of these hybrid buses. Is there any way to hybridize an existing bus?

-------

In Saint Paul, the MAC and Chamber of Commerce are trying to bully Mayor Coleman into vetoing the Council's decision not to build the Holman Field floodwall. Of course, it won't work. The mayor is being adamant, while seemingto say that he's flexible.

"I do think there's an opportunity to make something go here," said Whitney Clark, executive director of the Friends of the Mississippi. He suggested that elements of a deal might include a realignment of the floodwall, a trail along the river and a conservation easement that would prevent development of the land if the airport closed.
[PiPress]

Will they go back to the drawing board, and come back with a neighborhood-friendly proposal? Does the failure of big business bullying tactics bode ill for Trooien's big budget Bridges boondoggle?

The lesson here is that, from now on, Saint Paul developers need to work more with community and environmental groups. Coleman and the Council know on which side their bread is buttered.

--------------

And there's more good news on the Saint Paul front as an appeals court ruled in favor of the city regarding the Victoria Park brownfield development.

A Minnesota appeals court ruled Tuesday that the city of St. Paul can use eminent domain to acquire a former tank farm overlooking the Mississippi River, clearing the way for Victoria Park, the largest neighborhood development in recent St. Paul history.

The property sits on 65 acres bordered by West Seventh Street, Otto Avenue, Shepard Road and Montreal Way. The city and a handful of developers already have broken ground on a plan to build more than 800 condos, town homes, single-family homes and senior housing units, but control of more than half of the land has been tied up in court.
[PiPress]

This is the kind of development project we need more of. If you haven't, you should drive down West 7th Street and look at this site. It's eerie -- all dirt with some streetlamps sticking up like desert cacti . . .

-----------------------

Minneapolis, too, is making environmental noise.

A plan to make Minneapolis more sustainable is one step closer to completion after the City Council approved a lengthy list of goals at its March 31 meeting.

The list features 24 sustainability targets focused on making the city "greener" and improving the quality of life for residents now and in the future. The goals include reducing carbon dioxide emissions, improving air and water quality, increasing the use of mass transportation, raising the graduation rate and increasing the number of block clubs. The list is the focal point of a broad plan to make Minneapolis the most sustainable city in the nation.
[Southwest Journal]

But talk is cheap, no?

------------------

Finally, more people are riding the bus.

Ridership numbers for the first quarter of 2006 are nearly 8 percent higher than Metro Transit's 2006 budget forecast. The agency is making progress toward its goal of 71 million bus and train rides this year.
[MetroTransit]

density&diversity: Independence Party Transit Meetup

Curt Johnson, who was MetCouncil head (among other things) under Gov. Arne Carlson, spoke at an Independence Party meetup at the Loon Bar and Grill in Downtown Minneapolis earlier this week. It's been boom time for Transit meetings these days, as Pothole Pawlenty seeks re-election, and everyone and their mother tries to get some traction in the effort to unseat the Gov.

Third parties, though, are a tough nut to crack, and your intrepid reporter was in attendance as Johnson gave a very sensible lecture to the IP audience. I was curious how the third party crowd would react . . . Is the Independence Party for or against well-funded mass transit? Their official party principles seem rather libertarian, emphasizing things like local control and personal responsibility. How does that fit with a Light Rail train?

But first, a few quotes from Curt Johnson's speech (apologies in advance for the rough crib notes version of the talk):

Nothing is ever going to cure congestion except a really bad economy [ . . . ] If you want to move somewhere with predictable travel times and no traffic, move to Toledo. [ . . . ] Beyond a certain point, congestion is a problem. Choice matters. Having an alternate system matters. [ . . . ] Right now, the State of Minnesota has two transportation systems. One[, roads, and the gas tax,] is equipped with a fiscal faucet, and it's always on. And. even so, for the first time we barely have enough money to keep the potholes filled.

Transit is even worse. Transit advocates have never been equipped with anything other than a bucket. [ . . . ] We will make no progress on transit in this region unless transit has a faucet too.

We in Minnesota are better than anybody in the nation at admiring our problems. [ . . . ] It's particularly Minnesotan to be stuck in inertia.

[Then Curt Johnson talked about LRT programs in "conservative" areas of the country, like Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Phoenix, Dallas and Denver. He pointed out how only here, in Minnesota, has transit become such a partisan issue.]

Something's gone wrong in Minnesota in the last 10-15 years where we have lost our confidence in our ability to invest in the future.

It was a nice speech, and I thought he did a great job of making such a complex situation simple and straight to the point.

Of course, then the people in the audience started peppering him with questions about PRT, people's inherent desire to be "independent," how nobody likes being around other people on a bus or a train, and how we should really be building a monorail.

But those were just the outliers. I think about half the audience was pretty receptive to his arguement, and I'd like to think that even the Independence Party is getting behind mass transit in the Twin Cities.

Also:

Peter Hutchinson made an appearance. I do like him, but I can't stand the fact that his run for governor will cost the DFL candidate the election -- and likely put Pothole Pawlenty back in the Governor's office. If Hutchinson gets more than 7% of the vote, I'll eat my hat.

mpls: City's 10-Year Transportation Plan Public Meetings

Tonight I attended a workshop on Minneapolis's city-wide Transportation Action Plan, held at the CWA Hall on East Lake Street. Attendnace was pretty sparse, but some consultants were there to take input on where there should be transit corridors, bikeways/bikelanes, sidewalks improvements, and street plans.

When completed, the Transportation Action Plan will be a citywide plan that addresses a full range of transportation options and issues, including pedestrians, bicycles, transit, automobiles, and freight. The 10-Year Action Plan will also include a transit and street operations plan for downtown and new street design guidelines.

Pre-registration is not required. Since the workshops include presentations followed by structured dialog, participants are encouraged to arrive at the designated meeting start time.

Workshops will be held at these Minneapolis locations:

Tuesday, April 25 – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Harrison Recreation Center
503 Irving Ave. N.

Thursday, April 27 – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Martin Luther King Park Recreation Center
4055 Nicollet Ave. S.

Tuesday, May 2 – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
East Side Neighborhood Services
1700 2nd St. NE

Attendees were an almost perfectly equal ratio of young transit groupies (e.g. myself) and longwinded, disabled bus riders (e.g. crazy bus lady). It's a relatively easy way to have some measurable impact on Minneapolis's future development.