19th Bloggaversary Post

[Dumb coffee delivery robot on an East Bank sidewalk.]

I started this blog 19 years ago yesterday, and I'm still plugging away about once a week. Writing regularly about the city on my own platform is still the best career move I've made. Even though the blog itself hasn't rewarded me with direct income, pretty much everything I do professionally these days stemmed from it. I'm pretty grateful to have this legacy and trove of information available at my fingertips.

Of course, things online are different in 2024 than they were in 2005. Nobody blogs any more (or do they?), the Highland Villager is online now (or is it?), and there are lots of local news sources on the internet in ways that just weren't true back then.  

One of the best things about having been doing this so long is that you start to really get a sense for long-term trends and storylines. Take for example the CVS store on the corner of Snelling and University. I wrote about it during the construction, criticizing the design of the building and the use of land. Little did I know than that 19 years later I would still be writing about it, now an abandoned post-apocalyptic chain retail carcass draining the life from the Hamline-Midway commercial corridor. It's this kind of perspective that forms the root of wisdom. 

Anyway, thanks for reading. I've slowed down a lot here since acquiring a full-time job and a real-life child, but it's still something I dearly enjoy.

Twin City Lampposts #31

 

[Downtown, Minneapolis.]

[Boston, MA.]

[Boston, MA.]

[Kansas City, MO.]

[Kansas City, MO.]

[Kansas City, MO.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Denver, CO]

[Denver, CO.]

Signs of the Times #189

 

"SPECIAL"

CHOPPED CHEESE Roll

WITH

FRENCH

FRIES

[Sandwich board. New York City.]

COME INSIDE

TO FILE YOUR

TAXES

<- <-

[Garbage cans. New York City.]

Passive lawn:

No pets or

actie sports.

[Fence. New York City.]

Do you have a package?

please please please please please

Ring the

Doorbell

[Door. New York City.]

If lost, please

EMAIL

###

[Lamppost. New York City.]

Pls STAY

OFF GRASS

Trying to grow

Flowers

Thanks!

[Tree. St. Paul.]

CLOSED

DUE TO FIRE IN BUILDING

will reopen when aloud

phone not working now!

will update messages as we

go along

SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE!

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

[Door. Hamline-Midway, St. Paul.]

Closed

Due to

Fire

(For Now)

[Window. Hamline-Midway, St. Paul.]

Were you aware that

420 Summit dumps chlorniated

pool water into 380

Ramsey parking lot (storm drain) since

1981?

#boycott U Club of St. Paul

Hold them accountable

[Whiteboard. Cathedral Hill, St. Paul.] 

How Much Parking Would the Minnesota State Fair Need if Most People Drove There

[State Fair aerial with ten new parking ramps.]

The Minnesota State Fair kicked off yesterday Thursday in St. Paul/Falcon Heights. I wonder if the local media will cover it? In case they don’t, here’s a thought experiment. 

It came to me when I was on Como Avenue the other day staring at the poor schmuck directing traffic in and out of the parking lot for a state fair preview event, and thinking about the following question: What would the Minnesota State Fair look like if it had the same “mode share” as downtown Minneapolis? 

Most people don’t drive to the fair, because there’s nowhere to park and the traffic is insane. But if they did, how much parking you’d we need? 

Here’s the back of the napkin math:

The state fair all-time attendance record is 270,426, not counting the farm animals.

The downtown Minneapolis 2019 mode share is 40% single-occupancy vehicles and 28% in multi-person private vehicles. (The rest use transit, bike, or walk.)

Based on that rather generous ratio, how much parking would you need to accommodate the state fair

40% single-occupancy drivers equates to 108,105 parking spaces

Plus 28% of that (divided by 2 people in each car) is another 30,287 parking spaces

That gives us a rough total of 130,292 cars to park. Let’s be generous and assume that each space turns over once a day, so we can divide that in half to around 65,000. For comparison, when combined, the two seven-story Mall of America parking ramps hold about 12,000 cars. 

By my napkin calculation, the State Fair thus would need around five times the parking that exists at the Mall of America. Here’s my very lazy rendition of that, at scale.

In other words, take the bus or bike to the fair!

[Glorious!]

Twin City Doorways #70

 

[Lake Street, Minneapolis.]

[Location forgotten.]

[University Avenue, Saint Paul.]

[Kansas City.]

[Kansas City.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Location forgotten.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Denver, CO.]

[Pepin, WI.]

[South Minneapolis.]

[Northeast Minneapolis.]