If Cars are the New Tobacco...

A while back, my attention was arrested by a public health article titled "Are Cars the New Tobacco?" It was in the Journal of Public Health, written by a bunch of researchers from the UK. It basically argued that, now that smoking rates have declined, the new #1 public health risk in the US and UK is the automobile. Here's their main thesis:

This paper argues that private cars share many characteristics with tobacco and could be regarded as the archetypal ecological risk. Like tobacco, cars harm the health of users and others. Moreover, cars damage global sustainability. Like tobacco, car use is seen as an individual choice and policy responses to limit it are resisted by a powerful industry lobby. But it is over-simplistic to view car use as a simple behavioural choice. This paper will argue that the use of private cars reflects and reinforces the physical and social environment that we have created, and that an ecological approach is needed to understand and address the harms caused by car dependence.

In one sense, this is nothing new. Public health professionals have been warning for years about the dangers of automobile-dependent lifestyles. Books like Urban Sprawl and Public Health, or Health and Community Design argue convincingly that the car kills people in many ways, large and small. Cars kill not just by running someone over in a crosswalk, but through their invisible asthmatic particles, and by cultivating a culture of rapid immobility, where nobody walks except to and from the garage. Cars are the new tobacco.

But let's keep the metaphor going. If cars are the new tobacco, what would be a public health solution for the deadly automobile? What if we treated cars like we to cigarettes? What if we used all our anti-smoking tools and waged a public health campaign against cars?   

Here's what I imagine:

Cars would come with warning labels. Right on the trunk perhaps, or on the dashboard. It might say, "Warning: Operating this Vehicle is Hazardous to Your Health. Continued Daily Operation of this Machine will Make you Fat and Lazy, and Create an Instinctive Fear the Outside World. Reliance on this Machine will Increase Chances of Heart Disease, Obesity, Diabetes, and an Early Demise."

We would ban car advertisements on television. Direct marketing of this deadly product to consumers, particularly the young, would be seen as immoral and made illegal. There would be no more car commercials, tempting people into BMWs and SUVs that promise impossible freedoms. 

We would condemn auto industry lobbyists. Anyone who took one of these jobs, representing a car company in DC or the state capitol, would be treated like the proverbial leper. It would be right up there with the gun lobby or the nuclear weapons industry: about as low as you can go.

We'd start to institute car taxes, special levies on cars designed to make people using cars pay the whole cost of their health impacts. We might even call these "health impact fees." Eventually, filling your tank with gas would be tinged with guilt and failure, with the feeling of knowing that you were doing something bad for your body and for your city. People driving cars would slowly become defensive and bitter, making everyone a tiny bit sadder.

We would acknowledge the harms of second-hand cars. Just like with smoking, cars don't just harm those who use them. Even people who choose not to use cars, who kick their car-dependency, are forced to deal with 'second-hand cars' as they try to walk or bike around the city. Eventually, our society would recognize these harms, would try to come up with rules for limiting the danger of second-hand cars. Which would lead to...

Cities having separate car and non-car sections. Just like how restaurants used to have smoking and non-smoking sections, cities would be separated into car and non-car areas. For car-users, they would have their clogged and dirty streets, but for the rest of the non-car citizens, the dangers of second-hand cars would be eliminated. They'd be allowed to stroll their streets in peace, free from the health effects of the automobile. 

Eventually, as people got used to the healthy car-free city, we'd kick our car habit for good. Cities, then entire countries, would institute bans on cars in public places. As we looked back on the earlier era of car commercials and car-inducing regulations, it will seem as ridiculous as old 50s cigarette advertisements, the ones with the doctors in the white coats declaring Winston's to be the healthy choice. Eventually, the car-dependent era will be seen as an aberration, an odd moment in history before people came to their senses.

If cars are the new tobacco, why not?

In Saint Paul, Bikes Lanes are the New Smoking Ban

[Nice Rides are only as useful as the lanes that connect them.]

There’s a sometimes harshly worded debate going on right now in Saint Paul over the future design of Cleveland Avenue, whether or not it should have bike lanes and/or on-street parking. (The exact design depends on where you’re talking about.)

You can read some of the comments on the discussion, taking place on Open Saint Paul, on streets.mn, on this blog, and in the newspapers, emails, and voicemails of Saint Paul’s elected leaders.

Here are a few representative samples that capture, I think, the heart of the issue, i.e. how moving parking spaces will hurt business versus how creating safer streets will improve access for bicycles.

Try this one, from an article on streets.mn:

The fact that business owners are losing their minds over this is disappointing but not unexpected. Small proprietors operate on shoestring budgets usually, so any change is perceived to be potentially catastrophic. It’s not a rational response, but an understandable one.

[...]  As a dad who carts his kids around sometimes by bike, but sometimes by SUV…I’m just so annoyed by the trite “think of the mom in the van” garbage.

Or this one, from a different article on streets.mn:

The owners of the building/barber shop/other stores clearly CLEARLY perceive the lose of parking as a threat to there business. If the bikes lanes were a boon to their business, they would feel the opposite no?

But the more the argument goes on, and the more histrionic it becomes, the more I’m reminded of the 2006 rhetoric surrounding the city’s smoking ban, which disallowed smoking in bars throughout the city. At the time, many small business owners (primarily bar owners) claimed that the smoking ban would kill their business. Despite the pressure, the City Council (led by CM Thune) insisted that the effects of second-hand smoke outweighed the potential economic impacts on some businesses. It was the right thing to do.

[Richard Jackson, the guy who wrote the book on public health and urban design, speaking in St. Paul a month ago.]

Cars are the New Tobacco

[Not just a metaphor.]

Just like Saint Paul is a healthier city without smoky bars, it will be a healthier city with bike-friendly streets. And what’s more, unlike the Nazi analogy, this comparison isn’t an exaggeration.

Here’s some of what I wrote on the subject back in 2013:

Now that smoking rates have declined, the new #1 public health risk in the US and UK is the automobile. [...]

But let's keep the metaphor going. If cars are the new tobacco, what would be a public health solution for the deadly automobile? What if we treated cars like we did cigarettes? What if we used all our anti-smoking tools and waged a public health campaign against cars? [...]

We would acknowledge the harms of second-hand cars. Just like with smoking, cars don't just harm those who use them. Even people who choose not to use cars, who kick their car-dependency, are forced to deal with 'second-hand cars' as they try to walk or bike around the city. Eventually, our society would recognize these harms, would try to come up with rules for limiting the danger of second-hand cars.

Last month, city leaders gathered to celebrate the idea of using urban design to solve a very real public health crisis that finds America in general, and Saint Paul in particular, suffering from a whole string of health problems. Tobacco use is no longer the #1 public problem we face as a society; lack of physical activity has taken its place as a driver [sic] of long-term health problems.

At the time, the solutions garnered headlines. But as I wrote at the end of in my piece on Minnpost, "talking about a healthy city is certainly nice, but the true test will come when road construction begins this summer."

Well, now’s when the rubber meets the road. And so far, it doesn't look good.

[The circled statement is just plain wrong.]

Seeing the Big Picture

[This guy would really like to light one up.]

I’m sure the smoking ban did hurt some businesses in Saint Paul. The giant cigarette mural on the outside wall of Costello’s Bar (one of the most vocal opponents of the ban) has been replaced by a (socially inferior, in my opinion) quasi-chain burger joint from Edina. And to this day, Mayor Coleman is not allowed inside the Gopher Bar (if he ever was), which clings on for dear life serving the city’s best coney dogs in a changing corner of downtown.

But sometimes moral issues should outweigh unknown economic impacts, and implementing the city-wide bike plan is the clearest way to actually achieve the goals that city leaders set out during their gala dinner last month.

Looking back at the smoking ban issue, it’s hard today to find people who don’t see Saint Paul as a better place now that smoking has been banished to sidewalks, alleys, and occasional patios. If we implement the bike plan, starting with Highland Park’s main street, years from now I’m confident that the vast majority of people in Saint Paul will look back and wonder what the fuss was all about. We’ll be living in a city that made it easier to get active when we’re young, stay active in our old age, and get around without exacerbating our already-stressed roads and parking lots.

I understand the reluctance of business owners to take risks. Our city's small businesses struggle to make a living in a country where the game is rigged in favor of chains and corporations. But it shouldn’t be too much to ask that businesses work to help bring a healthy city to life. And just as our leaders boldly did the right thing back in 2006, they should prioritize the big picture here too.

I'm sure that no Saint Paul City Council Member wants to take the kind of abuse that CM Thune received ten years ago. But I'm also sure that if you asked him today, he'd say that he did the right thing. And he'd make the same decision every time.

The smoking ban didn't kill small business in Saint Paul. On the contrary, bars, restaurants, and nightlife are thriving, and almost everyone is better off. Implementing the bike plan is exactly the same kind of issue, a moral question where putting health and safety first is the right thing to do.

[Three Saint Paul smoking ban protests: from Mike's Bar, Costello's Bar, and the Gopher Bar.]

Update:

Oh, I almost forgot. The public hearing is tomorrow!

As the first proposed projects since the passage of the Bike Plan, it’s important that these projects succeed. For Cleveland and Front specifically, there has been a lot of concern raised about the loss of parking. Even if you don’t live in these neighborhoods, elected officials need to hear from you.

Lexington, Cleveland, Front Public Hearing
Wednesday, June 17 at 5:30 PM 
City Hall: 15 West Kellogg Blvd, 3rd Floor Council Chambers

Learn more!
Lexington: http://stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=5691
Cleveland: http://stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=5690
Front: http://stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=5692

Gas Pump Politics are a Sure Sign We are Screwed

[What fresh hell is this?]

Imagine if the cigarette industry had never been reined in. Imagine if "Surgeon General's" warnings had never been amplified into a more meaningful gesture -- SMOKING KILLS -- or had never even existed in the first place. Imagine if cigarette taxes had been fought and killed at every level politically, and, even worse, that cigarettes were subsidized and provided to the public at below market costs. Imagine if cigarette commercials were not banned from TV, but instead became an omnipresent, full of sexy images and catchy jingles at all hours of the day and night promoting smoking.

That's the infuriating reality we live in, only cars are the new tobacco.

Filling the gas tank of a borrowed car the other night, I was greeted to the dumbfounding sight of a Jeff Johnson political ad blaring out of the TV installed in the gas pump.

"Tim Walz wants to raise the gas tax," it said, along with a bunch of other scary sounding things.

(Well, at least that part is true.)

Robot gas pumps spewing misleading defense of car culture is a desperate throe of a deadly 20th century legacy.  To me, today's gasoline guzzling political Koch-addicts recall the tobacco company lobbyists of the 80s and 90s, like the ones parodied in the film Thank You For Smoking or eulogized in The Insider. These are folks who desperately lied and cheated their way into preserving a way of life that killed millions.

[This guy is tremendously dishonest.]

The same thing is happening today with the political desperation around the automobile, where defending the planet-killing gas pumps and freeways are the last refuge of a political ideology devoid of ideas.

The "Stuck in Traffic? Blame Transit" billboards that line Twin Cities' suburban freeways is gaslighting bullshit brought to you by the hacks at the Center for the American Experiment. Johnson's wannabe Scott Walker gas pump ads droning on and on from a loudspeaker in the fluorescent night... Michelle Bachmann promising to bring back cheap gas as she loses her mind in front of Minnesota voters... The Koch Brothers / "Flint Hills Resources" astroturfing campaigns against transit funding in cities across the country...

Meanwhile the ice caps melt and the storms rage louder.   

[A real pic taken by my friend Amanda in Southern Minnesota.]

Imagine an Idiocracy-level future where gas pumps worked like early streaming video: wealthier people pay a fee and get their gas right away, but folks who want a five-cent discount have to watch a bunch of ads first, about how science is bunk, about how climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, or as Trump says, "it'll fix itself." Imagine getting a penny off a gallon for each time you whack a punching bag shaped like a pipeline protestor.

It's not that far fetched. Car culture will not go gently to the grave. The Republican snake oil men will do anything they can to keep profit margins fat while the world burns. Freedom gas, now offering predatory loans from the pump: it's not even a metaphor any more.

It suffices to say that gas pump ads should be illegal, just like direct to consumer pharmaceutical ads should be illegal. (To me, pharma ads are shameful, a national embarrassment worthy of our immoral profit-driven health care economy.)

Instead we should regulate gas pumps like they did with tobacco. There should be massive warning labels on gas stations: not "Kwik Trip", but "Kwik Death." Not "Holiday", but "Extinction " should be emblazoned on the marquee.

People buying gas should be required to watch videos of polar bears starving to death or scenes of people fleeing a flooded village on the Ganges.  There should be taxes on the deadly product that go directly to aiding the poor folks living in the most vulnerable parts of the world, the people at the bottom who had nothing to do with the legacy of 408 ppm and climbing (today's reading).

Instead we get this dystopian gas pump farce. I imagine it will only get worse from here.

Metaphor #10: Robot Car / Cigarette Filters

I'm just finishing up Peter Norton's excellent book, Autonorama, and came across this lovely metaphor: 

The worst news about AVs (automated vehicles) is not that they can't deliver on their promises. In two ways, AVs are not just disappointments by their own standards but actual threats. First, to the extent that they are indeed developed and deployed -- that is, to some fraction of the extent that promoters promise -- AVs are likely to worsen the very aspects of passenger transportation they are supposed to improve. Second, AVs are an attractive but expensive distraction from things we can do today at far less cost that yield affordable, sustainable, equitable, healthful, and efficient mobility. Much as elaborate but ineffectual cigarette filters were an attempt to perpetuate cigaret smoking when it was clear that smoking itself was the problem, AVs are, more than anything else, an attempt to perpetuate car dependency when car dependency itself is the problem. 

[See also my Cars are the new Tobacco post, or my post on why robot cars will fail.]

The Top 23 Twin City Sidewalks Posts of 2013

A personal list of highlights from the following calendar year, presented in chronological order, include the following.

November 2013 set a new all-time monthly record for Twin City Sidewalks readership, with a confluence of popular stories that surpassed even my Kottke moment. It's a record not likely to be broken anytime soon...

[see last year's list: The 19 Best Twin City Sidewalks Posts of 2012 here.]

1. On Windchimes

An ode to windchimes, and how they make you feel when listened to late in the night or through a window, especially in winter, especially in the dark, but other times too. After I wrote this, someone left a windchime under my porch staircase. (No lie! Thanks Mom.)


2. All I Really Needed to Know about Dinkytown, I Learned at Al's Breakfast

The Dinkytown density debate was one of the top stories of 2013, and this was a commentary on the situation (the change of which, in retrospect, seems to be only accelerating into 2014). That said, I'm obsessed with Al's Breakfast, not because of their food (which is good), but because of the social and spatial dynamics of the place. This was an attempt to use Al's as a metaphor for urban spaces in general. Probably not the last time I'll try to use Al's Breakfast as a Minneapolis synechdoche.


3. Using Psychobabble to Justify Anti-Bicycle Rage is Dangerous

A diatribe reaction to one of those Malcolm Gladwell-esque pseudoscience columns (this one from the BBC, called "neurohacks") that attempted to defend anti-bike road rage (good example of this here). Article includes history of jaywalking, vented spleen.


4. If Cars Are the New Tobacco...

This is the trend piece to watch in coming years. Cars are just as bad for individual and public health as smoking used to be, and have some of the same structural and economic social defense mechanisms. Here's an attempt to make that connection more explicit. Maybe someday we'll have non-car sections of our cities, and people will feel silently guilty for driving because they realize they're ruining the health of those around them...


5. In Defense of the Pedal Pub

The title speaks for itself. Sometimes one has to jump on the grenade and take one for the team. In spite of everything, I like the pedal pub, albeit in an admittedly condescending way.

6. Notes from the Empire Builder II

The train makes me want to write. Gamers, graffiti, long list of objects seen from windows... My ride to and from Boston last Spring was eventful, and feels like only yesterday.


7. Rough Sketch of a Solution to Downtown Saint Paul's Parking Problem

An attempt at wonkery, this time in reaction to the parking barking in Lowertown following a few development proposals. Four easy steps to a Shoupian solution... The neat thing is that Saint Paul policymakers almost kidna tried to implement this 'parking benefit district'-style plan in the Snelby area, but failed to adequately follow through with the details or incentives.


8. Sidewalk of the Week: 27th Avenue South

One of the my two favorite SOTW features from the past year. Confronting the abyss. A mysterious part of the city indeed!


9. Details Uncovered from 1906 Minneapolis

Someone tweeted this amazing photo this year, taken from the top of the newly completed City Hall in 1906. Sometimes you can get lost in a single photograph, and I did.


10. Minneapolis/St Paul Taprooms As If They Were Characters from a High School Movie

Fun followup to the Streets.mn taproom bike tour last Spring. It's always fun to anthropomorphize beer.

11. Four Suggested Skyway Improvements

Fun with photoshop, displaying some mad skillz here. I still want to follow through with Improvement #3, guerrilla style. Any artists out there?


12. Palmer's PROTIPS for Wall Street Journal Readers

Um, the WSJ recommending Palmer's has to be one of the best moments from last year. Many of my ideas come from my highly snide friends, and this is no exception.


13. TCS Interviews Avidor on the Block E Free Speech Mall

In retrospect, this will be the one that got away. Imagine what coulda been! Avidor is great, and here's another piece of evidence that proves it.


14. The Best and Worst Saint Paul Intersection Neologisms

Sometimes you're stuck in a three-hour long meeting with MNDOT where they pretend to care about (slash fund) pedestrian and bicycle safety programs. What else are you going to do but jot down all possible combinations of Saint Paul street names?


15. Sidewalk of the Week: Lauderdale

This is my favorite SOTW column from last year. Lauderdale is a special place.

16. Nine Thoughts You Have While Doing a Bike/Walk Traffic Count in a Vacant Lot for Two Hours

This is the single post that took the most out of me. I was depressed for days after writing this down. But it's probably my favorite post of the year.

Incidentally, a follow-up to this situation: I never actually submitted my traffic count results for some reason. (Nobody told me how or when?) Instead, in a panic, I emailed them to the city bike/ped guy just as the report was being collated, at the very last minute.


17. Minneapolis Voters Reject Disturbing Hair Trend

I'm starting to get more interested in making graphs and charts. This is one of the best so far... Side note: I'm really sorry for what happened to Mark Andrew at the mall!


18. Together We Can Re-Name Lake Calhoun

I am serious about this, people! 121 votes so far. Voting is still open for the re-Calhouning of Minneapolis for another 22 days.


19. Four Things Everyone Should Know About Block E

This is probably the best post I wrote all year, in terms of research, original content, and writing quality. It also was very timely! This was the #4 most popular post of the year.


20. Seven Reasons Conservatives Should Embrace Bikes

Actually, following even more discussions with my conservative cousins over the holiday season, I may have to write a few more like this very popular post (went viral) on bikes and libertarian values. This was the #1 most widely read post of the year.


21. The Gentrification Paradox

A follow-up to a conference on art and gentrification I attended in October. Turned out to be very popular with a national audience (#2 most read post of 2013), which came as a complete surprise. I intended to write a few more posts on the same topic. Here's hoping!


22. Q: Why Don't Bikers Stop at Stop Signs?

This just came out of trying to answer a question that I am routinely asked. It turned out to be the #2 post of the year. Maybe I'll try to answer a few more questions about bicycling... Does anyone have any? The more blunt and honest, the better. (E.g. Why are bicyclists so smug? Do bicyclists realize that they literally stink? Etc.)


23. The Last Holidazzle

I dunno. I have a soft spot in my heart for the snowman + C.D. Friedrich image. It's so sad and beautiful.

[Despite everything, still shoveling sidewalks...]

Reading the Highland Villager #98

[A Villager embraces walkability on Selby Avenue.]

[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: Site plan for 5-story building at Snelling and Selby gets final hearing on Dec. 12; Traffic study says project will not make congestion any worse than it is
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: The plan for the new Whole Foods + apartments is being reviewed by the Planning Commission. The city did a study cited in some depth here, about LOS [= "level of service" for cars] at this corner. [The study did not think about changes to Ayd Mill Road.] Highlight is that traffic is minimally impacted by the development, which will generate less than 100 new trips per day more than the current land uses. [Thus won't impact traffic very much, particularly considering that Selby at that corner sees about 14,000 cars per day as of 2008.  Part of the reason the new trips are so low is that much of the projected Whole Foods traffic will be on foot.] Article includes quotes from neighbor, "That just doesn't seem like a lot of trips." Article includes description of all the players in the project. [My biggest gripe, the city staff is recommending removing the pedestrian bumpout at the corner with the Whole Foods entrance, and expanding the road for a large right-turn lane. In light of all the projected pedestrian traffic and the recent focus on pedestrian safety in the city, this seems entirely backward! The projected traffic increase does not justify expanding the road. The second gripe is that the parking lot is larger than the required minimum, again mysterious given the TOD focus of the project.] There's a hearing on this in the Planning Commission zoning committee [tomorrow] 12/12.



Headline: Center for torture victims consolidating in St. Paul; Dayton Ave. headquarters is light for those subjected to humanity's darkest side
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: Two buildings in St Paul for people who've been are expanding. [Even though that's good, that sucks. It'd be nice if this organization didn't need to exist.]


Headline: Streetcar study picks 7th Street as most promising first route; Four-mile $246 million line is estimated to cost $8M per year to operate
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: The city's streetcar feasibility study is complete, and West and East 7th Street was selected as the first "starter line" for city's proposed streetcar network. The Grand Avenue route suggestion generated a lot of opposition. Article includes cost details [even though these are very rough estimates at this point]. The study does not include a downtown route.


Headline: Neighbors turn out in droves to discuss Snelling-Selby project
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: 100 people came to a meeting about the new development on Snelby, organized by a grassroots community group trying to promote walkable transit-oriented neighborhoods.  Article includes details about the parking lots. Best quote refers to Ayd Mill Road as "the elephant in the room."


Headline: Support builds for low-profile design of Lowertown ballpark; Many are still unhappy about the lack of public involvement in planning
Author: Frank Jossi

Short short version: A rough Saints stadium design was released at an event in Lowertown. The facade material is not yet clear. The playing field will be sunken.  Article includes quotes from people who like it, and people who don't. Best quote is from baseball writer: "There's no place for luxury boxes in a municipal ballpark."


Headline: County fine-tunes design for reconstructing Ford Parkway
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: The county is reconstruction Ford Parkway west of Snelling. The preferred design will have one lane of traffic, bike lanes, parking, and a median.


Headline: Council imposes sanctions on two stores for code violations
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: A grocery store on University is having its tobacco license revoked for selling "loosies." [Apparently these are single cigarettes.] A liquor store on Cleveland was fined for selling to underage people.
 

Headline: Decision still out on removing, repairing Summit Hill duplex
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: A duplex on Goodrich is being renovated, but it's going slowly.


Headline: Mayor announces completion of wider Lowertown sidewalk
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: The 6th Street sidewalk expansion is done, finally.


Headline: Hiawatha Ave. landscaping open houses set in December
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: The county [Hennepin] is trying to figure out how to pay for landscaping along Hiawatha.


Headline: Village sign regs would ban most new dynamic displays
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: New rules for signs in Highland "Village" will not allow electronic signs. The previous regulations were very old.


Headline: Plans for new carriage house unhinged; Second-floor space above garage may not be turned into mother-in-law apt.
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: Nobody will be allowed to live in the carriage house on Lincoln Avenue after all because of "neighborhood concerns about density and traffic and parking demand."


Headline: St. Paul gardeners, urban farmers get new rules for growing season
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: There are new regulations for community gardens and farmers' markets which loosen regulations around conditional use permits.


Headline: Rezoning sought for four-story senior living facility in Highland
Author: Jane Mcclure

Short short version: An old-folks home will likely be built on Snelling in an old funeral home.

Reading the Highland Villager #159

[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. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free. See also: Three Reasons Why I Re-Blog the Highland Villager.] 


Headline: Ford says pollution won't stop it from cleaning up plant as city envisioned
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The old Ford auto plant was demolished a while ago and the dirt underneath it isn't too polluted to prevent anyone from building housing on the site. [That's what happened in the Victoria Park area, where the city had to build park land on half the site instead of buildings.] There was a meeting at a church about it. It's going to take years to clean up the site. They will have to take dirty dirt away and put clean dirt back. [For "clean dirt," see also, scroll down.] Article includes brief history of the site. One parking lot has a lot of petroleum contamination. Another has solvents and heavy metals. There are mines under the bedrock. [I might or might not have been in these tunnels. There might or might not be an abandoned haunted house in there.] 


Headline: Axtell's selection as St. Paul's new police chief is roundly applauded
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: Saint Paul has a new police chief. [Jeez, what a way to start the job.]


Headline: Seeking new direction, School Board ousts Silva
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: Saint Paul will have a new schools superintendent, after paying the old one $700,000 to leave. [About the same price as they paid David Glass to leave.]


Headline: Six-story building planned for Snelling-St. Clair corner; Luxury apartments would replace six small businesses [Note: Headline is a bit misleading as it will be apartments AND commercial space, in which there will be businesses, one assumes, some of which might even be the same businesses, at least in theory.]
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There are plans to tear down a one-story strip mall and build a large apartment building instead. The 33-space parking lot will also be replaced. The property will need to be rezoned. [Presumably to Traditional Neighborhood zoning, which it should be already? Not sure why it isn't.] Article includes the sentence: "tenants would likely be local professionals or people who no longer want to maintain a single-family home." [But not young people, thank goodness.] Article quotes local neighborhood group guy saying "that area cries out for redevelopment." Neighbors concerned about parking are hoping that the new building owners will allow them to lease some of the new spaces. But article also quotes neighborhood guy saying "We don't have a solution to the parking issues as we're standing here." [Where is the solution to the parking issues to be found? Navel gazing gets us nowhere. We need a quest.] Article includes the following sentence: "Some committee members suggested marketing the new apartments to tenants who want a car-free lifestyle and offering incentives for renters who do not own a car. [And at this point the Villager ceased to exist.]


Headline: St. Paul may require all employers to offer paid sick time; Business owners don't like one-size-fits-all approach
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Some people want businesses to pay people when they're sick so they don't come to work sick and get healthy faster, but some businesses don't like the idea.


Headline: City approves new five-year recycling contract with Eureka
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city will keep the same recycling comapny for the net five years. There will be new lidded carts. Fees will go up.Some new things may or may not get recycled, including organics like compost. The old blue bins make good garden baskets. [See more on this situation in my Park Bugle story.]


Headline: St. Paul set to take final vote on rules for protecting river; Comments on planned revisions due by July 6
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The DNR is going to decide how to regulate areas around the river, a lot of which is in Saint Paul. This might affect the Shepard-Davern, Island Station, and Ford plant areas. [And also hugely affect the West Side, but that's outside of the Villager coverage area so... crickets.] Slope and bluff regulations are particularly ornery.


Headline: Planning Commission to rule on liquor license for 128 Cafe
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A restaurant [in a three-story apartment building] by a college wants a liquor license for which they needed a change of a zoning permit. [The Planning Commission, of which I am a member, granted it.]


Headline: Parking congestion in Ramsey Hill addressed in July 11 forum
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There will be a meeting to talk about parking. Data will be used. [That's unusual!] There are more restaurants by the Cathedral now. [Oh my. The next thing you know, people will be walking around on the sidewalks!]


Headline: BZA grants distance variance so Midway Smokes can move
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A vape store will be allowed to move across the street from a strip mall, even though the new location is already close to an existing tobacco store. The smoke shop has been around for almost 20 years.


Headline: Snelling-Dayton used car lot is being eyed for new parking lot
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A used car lot "burned down." Now the guy who owns it wants to park 18 cars and 6 bikes there. Some neighbors like the idea [because parking]. Others asked if a building could be there instead, but the owner says it's too small for a building. [Maybe if they built a small building? It's like a large building but smaller.]


Headline: Market-rate micro apartments planned for Territorial Road
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Micro apartments! See, that's like what I meant by "small building." One thing you can do is make things smaller. It's like the difference between a large coffee and a small coffee, for instance.] Warehouse property will be replaced with 80-unit apartment building. They will only be 400 square feet. [First the whole thing about renters without cars, and now this? What is this Villager coming to?]


Headline: Planning Commission considers expanding the use of City House
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An old grain elevator that is owned currently used as a history museum space might be run by the Parks Department so that they can do [crazy] things like sell food and beverages there in the future. [Note: this is easily the front-runner for winner of the Saint Paul "beer by the river" test. Also note: This passed unanimaoulsy at the Planning Commission, of which I am a member.] There might be food trucks there in the future. [Hopefully with electric hook-ups.] The building has a fascinating history as being a grain co-op [aimed at destroying the Minneapolis grain monopoly]. There had been plans to make a restaurant there but they fell through for some reason.


Headline: Rondo Land Trust proposes mixed-use buildings on Selby
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Three lots that have been vacant forever [in a prime location] on Selby Avenue might finally get buildings. It will be mixed-use commercial and 34 senior apartments. They might be done by 2018. Funding is complicated. It will be "land trust," which means that the people won't own them but they will stay affordable. Article explains the concept. [Land trust is really interesting.]


Headline: Six-story apartment building eyed for vacant Lexington-University lot; Public subsidies sought for $40M building's 243 affordable housing units
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Affordable housing developers want to build on a parcel just South of University Avenue. Funding is complicated. Article includes details about architecture including building materials and landscaping "to maintain its parkway feel." [Parkway feel = freeway speeds.] One neighbor says there's already enough affordable housing in the area. [There's a whole debate about this.] There are no off-street parking minimums for the building because it's close to the light rail, but the developer will build 82 spaces anyway. The site once was the spot of Lexington Ballpark, where the Saints played. [Like everything else] they might open in 2018.


Headline: BZA allows Beechwood lot split for new two-story home
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The owners of a home in Highland will be allowed to tear their house down and build two houses on the land instead. Neighbors are concerned about what it will look like.


Headline: Water tower tour offers view from the top
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [The Eye of Mordor will be open to the public this weekend.]


Note:

This fortnight's Highland Villager was read to the dramatic tones of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.

Reading the Highland Villager #108

[A Villager endures the harsh summer sun.]

[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: Grazing atop a hill much visited [Note the oddly poetic headline]; Goats will join horses to curb invasive plants on Pilot Knob
Author: James McKenzie

Short short version: Horses and goats will eat weeds on an sacred Indian site [since turned into an airport overlook and marginal freeway-side space, but still oddly beautiful. Oh, its Dakota name is Oheyawashi, which means "A hill much visited"... That explains the oddly poetic headline...].


Headline: Bonding bill pumps $75M into projects across St. Paul
Author: Kevin Driscoll

Short short version: The state legislature is spending money on things in Saint Paul that include a new building at Metro State University, an expansion of the Children's Museum, remodeling the TPT HQ to better meet the sidewalk [well that's a good idea!], parking lots and street re-design for Como Park [PRO TIP: bikes], rehabbing an old theater downtown, money for the Ordway, and the Snelling aBRT transit line [probably the most important thing on this list]. There are other things too. Article includes glowing quotes from happy lobbying-type people.  


Headline: City reduces off-street parking required in transit corridors
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [NOTE: article begins with flabbergasted tone: "despite the opposition of the West 7th/Fort Road Federation, the West 7th Business Association, and Dave Thune..."] Saint Paul eased parking minimums along transit corners by 25% for multi-family buildings in the TN1 and TN2 zones. Article includes quote from Thune: "the neighborhood just doesn't have any parking to spare." [ANNOUNCING: Special TC Sidewalks shoutout to anyone sending in photos of empty parking lots along West 7th?] Article implies that the rest of the council thinks less required off-street parking is a good idea.


Headline: Neighbors back Dorothy Day expansion; But want incidence of public drunkenness and panhandling reduced
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There was a meeting about the expansion of the homeless shelter downtown, and neighbors seemed OK with it. Article includes stories about less than ideal encounters with the homeless, such as "camping in the yard", panhandling, and sleeping in the park. The shelter will just about double in size of beds.


Headline: Height variances OK'd for SPA art center
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The fancy private high school can build a tall building. There will also be a larger parking lot!


Headline:  Public comments sought on new Shepard-Davern zoning
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There's a task force looking at the area by West 7th and the river [by the confluence]. Article includes the words "pedestrian friendly", "transit options", "revitalize", "development", and "create a park." The current zoning predates the TN [= "traditional neighborhood", i.e. mixed use] zoning category


Headline: Council approves licenses for Red Cow restaurant on Selby
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The new fancy Edina burger joint replacing the old less fancy burger joint on Selby can serve booze.


Headline: BZA favors variance, driveway for garage studio on Portland
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A couple can replace their garage with a larger garage/art studio.


Headline: Hershey set neighborhood liaison bar high at St. Thomas
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: They guy that used to run flak for the Tommies is retiring. [What will become of the chidlren? Wont' someboyd think of the children?]


Headline: Commission seeks comments on proposed St. Paul sign regs
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city might change rules for signs on buildings. For example, picture a sign on a roof.


Headline:  City cancels tobacco license, permit for Summit-U grocery
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A corner store can't sell smokes any more because it groke rules around "loosies", synthetic pot, and EBT cards.


Headline: Mac seeks crossing light after accidents and Snelling-Lincoln
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Two people got run over by a car at a fancy crosswalk designed to keep that from happening. Macalester college wants to a "pedestrian activated crossing signal" [aka a HAWK signal]. They offered to pay for one last year but MNDOT said no [because Snelling is sacred].


Headline: Union Depot gets picnic area on Kellogg
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There are tables by the tracks now. [Go eat there if you can find it.]


Headline: Getting the Green Light; Grand opening set June 14 for long-awaited light-rail link between St. Paul & Minneapolis
Author: [Unclear]

Short short version: Descriptions of all the stations along the line.


Headline:  Major bus changes coming with opening of Green Line; Improved service for routes connecting to light-rail line
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Some buses will change as the train opens. People are worried about "traffic signal concerns." For example, folks were asking for a new left-turn lane for Northbound Lexington at Grand Avenue but Public Works said there's not enough traffic.


Headline: Foundation sets $1.5M Green Line Challenge
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Think of ideas to improve the bike and walk connections around the new light rail train and, if it's a good idea, you'll get money and it'll actually happen.


Headline: City Council OKs keg house sale
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Part of the remodeled brewery will be developed into a "festival market."


Headline: Snelling-Selby traffic changes OK'd by Union Park Council
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A neighborhood group is OK with an expanded bumpout on Selby and Snelling and better "stop bars. A right-turn lane will be added at Selby and Saratoga as well, to encourage cars to cut through on that back street. [This seems awkward? We'll see.] Other painting-type traffic calming is planned, as well as a median refuge at on Snelling at Dayton.


Headline: Getten Credit's appeal denied
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An old quasi-bank still won't be able to move into an old grocery store.


Headline: Council to rule on Davern sidewalk
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city DPW [department of Public Works] is appealing an HPC [Heritage Preservation Commission] ruling to the city council about a new sidewalk on Davern Street [which currently lacks sidewalks, and is the only through street for that part of Highland Park, so many people walk on the street, most of them children]. The HPC argued that the sidewalk would "detract from the historic appearance of the Davern house." [Because nothing says "historic" like having school children run over by cars?] Other neighbors, who would have to pay for the sidewalk, are upset about it too.The City Council is going to decide the matter. Article includes quote from HPC member: the sidewalk would be "urban" in character and "would detract from the historic farmhouse." [Know what else is urban in character? The city of Saint Paul.]

Reading the Highland Villager #245

[A Villager on a hot tin roof.]

[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. Until this newspaper goes online, sidewalk information must be set free. See also: Three Reasons Why I Re-Blog the Highland Villager.]


Headline: Court says city must honor trash contract; But opponents contend that a 'no' vote in referendum will give St. Paul more leverage in seeking a better contract
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The state Supreme Court explicitly ruled that a "no" vote on the upcoming trash referendum will not [I repeat NOT] void the five-year city garbage contract. Article explains the ruling and goes over the [so-called, and seemingly increasingly one-sided] debate. Article explains the amount of the potential property tax increase, which is $27.1 million. Article includes some quotes from the [so-called and increasingly unhinged] anti-trash people. Many paragraphs go into detail on outlining this perspective. CM is quoted saying that "we should have been working with the consortium to find a better price and trash hauling service." [Unfortunately] the article includes the words "force majeure," stated that it "did not address [it] in its ruling." [I am under the impression that the County did dismiss this idea in a footnote. Anyway, please remember to vote YES.] 


Headline: Society strives to honor earlier history of fort site; Fort Snelling renaming would recognize site's significance to indians
Author: Roger Barr

Short short version: The Historical Society might [finally] tweak the name of the Dakota sacred site where the US Military built a fort. Article has some history of the name debate.


Headline: St. Paul raises tobacco age to 21; Dangers cited with rise in youths vaping
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: You have to be older to buy smokes now.


Headline: Proposed parks for Ford site gain support
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The development at the site of the old factory might have 10 acres of park land, plus other land that is not public but will have grass or water or something.


Headline: Plans re brewing for Starbucks drive-thru at redone Sibley Plaza; Planet Fitness now open in center, Aldi's to follow soon.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A strip mall is being remodeled, complete with all the car-centric stuff. [This strip mall was slated to be rezoned to Traditional Neighborhood zoning years ago but the owner promised the Planning Commission that he was going to redevelop the parking lot and build housing, but that he would only do this if we did not rezone the site. Instead, he sat on it, and is just upgrading the mall with a new facade, keeping the giant parking lot in place. Very dishonest, IMO.] Article Neighbors are concerned about traffic and #carbucks, and sidewalk curb cuts.


Headline: St. Paul to lower speeds on city streets
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Using its new found legislative power, the city will lower speed limits in some places by some amount. Quote from engineer: "We're looking at the system as a whole." [See also my article on this topic.]


Headline: Expo School rallies for funds to replace treasured playground
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A school is raising money to build a new playground.


Headline: Breugger's on Grand allowed to operate without leased parking
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A bagel shop had been selling bagels without having enough asphalt pavement in place to store ten cars. It will keep doing so. Neighbors are concerned about traffic and parking. Quote from pro-bagel neighbor: "I fail to see how enforcing compliance with an old condition -- enacted when the neighborhood was quite different -- serves the good of the current community."


Headline: BZA allows additional signage for Victoria Crossing West Mall
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An historic building with a lot of shops can have more signs. There is a "special sign district" on Grand Avenue [for some reason]. Neighbors are concerned about excessive signage.


Headline: Mac-Grove resident allowed to build addition to his home
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A person who has a house can make an addition to it that is two feet taller than allowed. CM Tolbert lobbied for the allowance.


Headline: Homeless shelter to remain operating on Kellogg Blvd.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A zoning change allows a space in a County building to continue to provide a roof for people without one. There will be 60 beds. CM Noecker pushed for the change. Neighbors are concerned about too many shelters.


Headline: St. Paul residents could save a buck or more on trash collection in 2020; But fees for other city services would increase
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Most things will get more expensive next year, but not trash, which will get cheaper. [Prediction: as the city trash system continues to evolve, it will become more efficient and affordable.]