People Sitting on Things that Aren't Chairs #5

[Boston.]

[Boston.]

[Chicago.]

[Chicago.]

[Downtown, Minneapolis.]

[Downtown, Saint Paul.]

[Downtown, Saint Paul.]

[St. Anthony Park, Saint Paul.]

Reading the Highland Villager #178

[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: Opening of festive marketplace in old brewery keg house is on tap for 2017
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A building next to the brewery that is now artist apartments is going to have a whole bunch of shops in it. [The term “festival marketplace” was a very trendy urban planning concept from the 1980s epitomized by Boston’s Faneuil Hall and San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square. It’s a bit dated, but it’s odd how these concepts and buzzwords return to be trendy again just like 80s “normcore” sweaters, big eyeglasses, Rick Astley, and zubaz. (Still waiting on that last one.) But this latest twist on the concept is something I’ve seen personally in other cities, such as the market in downtown Milwaukee, or St. Roch market in New Orleans or maybe even a place like Eataly in Manhattan or the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. Anyway, it’s a cool idea and hopefully will draw lots of people to West 7th Street.] There will be a “huge woodburning hearth.” [Always wanted one of those in my city.] There will be 32 stalls for food vendors. [That is a lot! Too many perhaps? The other markets I have seen are much smaller.] There might be a bandshell. Parking is not mentioned in the article even once. [Remember when restoring a small theater across the street and giving them a liquor license was going to destroy the character of the neighborhood because of all the noise, late-night activity, and parking pressure? This will have fifty times the impact and nobody seems concerned, which is good.]


Headline: Neighbors appeal Linwood-Monroe expansion; District’s plan for building a bigger school in Summit Hill will be reviewed by council
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A school wants to expand its building. Neighbors are concerned about the loss of open space. The City Council has the final say. Article includes a site plan diagram. There are “dueling petitions,” with 1,400 in favor and 163 against. [It’s amazing how small a number of people can cause such a big ruckus in cases like this and the Ford site petition, which is also small.] One neighbor is quoted saying “the expansion needs to be done in a way that does not create a ‘huge mass’… [which] would harm the character of the neighborhood.” [I am picturing The Blob, 1958.]


Headline: Commission will review plan for 128-unit apartment bldg. at St. Clair and Snelling aves.
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to build an apartment building on the site of an old strip mall. Neighbors are concerned about traffic, parking, and the size of the proposed building. The neighborhood group wants the building to be smaller. There are “penthouses” proposed which one individual compared to airport control towers. The land has been for sale for a long time, according to one neighbor. Others are concerned about blocking views and sunlight.  Quote from neighbor: “You’re going to lose the character of the neighborhood.”


Headline: Reduction in street maintenance fees in ’17 comes with budget cuts
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city is not able to asses non-profits and government buildings for street maintenance any more so they are cutting the city budget by about $14 million. [Roads are expensive. Very expensive, in fact.] The Citizens League is going to begin a process to study a program to try and get non-profits to pay voluntarily. [Maybe a “drive pledge” where people stand outside MPR  with a bucket as the employees drive into their parking lot? It could last for two weeks and people could take turns holding the buckets while they chat incessantly about how important Saint Paul streets are and how now more then ever they need your support and it could all be over soon if they reach their goal.] CMs Prince and Brendmoen are upset about the lack of transparency about the committee formation and procedures.


Headline: It costs more to park at St. Paul meters [Great headline right here, by the way. Seems like something I would write!]
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Parking meters downtown are working well and their prices are changed using market principles, because parking is a market and also a thing that costs money, earning the city much-needed revenue.] Neighbors are surprisingly unconcerned. Quote from neighborhood group guy: “In the last few months, it hasn’t been an issue that has generated a lot of discussion at any of our meetings.” [Stop and read that again. Maybe twice more.]


Headline:  Highland Park puzzle room solves lack of city variance
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [Here’s the idea: you’re trapped inside a community meeting about parking meters and have to find a way out. Every door is blocked by an angry person holding an anti-parking meter sign. What do you do?]


Headline: St. Paul settles assessment suit over Village streetscape work
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: [“Village” is still a term that’s used apparently. Why is it called a "village"? All the farming and peasants? Dunno.] The city assessed buildings for sidewalks and streetscapes. Some didn’t like it and is appealing the costs. [Streets are expensive. Very expensive.]

Headline: At Home receives permit for apartment building on Grand
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer is planning to build a mixed-use apartment buidling on Grand Avenue where a few old homes were previously located. [It will have lots of off-street parking, much more than is usual. 48 spaces for 26 apartments.]


Headline: HRA sells portion of land eyed for Ayd Mill Road construction
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There was a piece of land that the City acquired 50 years ago as part of Ayd Mill Road. The city finally sold it back to the people who lived next to it for about $4K. [The Ayd Mill Road freeway was a terrible idea and remains so to this day. Someday soon the city will have to reckon with its literal and figurative costs, because that bill is coming due. Another problem created by Randy Kelly that nobody wants to face.]


Headline: Transit improvement board finds breaking up hard to do; Postponed voted delays counties’ plans to collect own transit sales taxes
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Report on the transit board (CTIB) dissolution that was nixed by Dakota County [which had already planned to heave the Board anyway, which makes the whole thing super ironic and puts it squarely in “spite politics” territory. See these two stories and my earlier thing on Dakota County in particular.]


Headline: Counties’ sales tax revenue would help pay for operation of Riverview Corridor
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The [aforementioned] CTIB is a funding source for local/regional transit projects such as Riverview. Article includes a brief overview of the current options on the table.


Headline: St. Paul simplifies board appointments
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The city is better at appointing people to public boards and committees now because they have a new “online portal” and other things. Hopefully it leads to more diversity. [So far, so good, on the Planning Commission. 5 out of 6 of the new members are people of color, which is great in a diverse city. It would be great if neighborhood groups had similar levels of representation, e.g. around issues like transit use, renting versus owning, etc. That is something that should be publicly available to see and measure District Council composition against that of the neighborhood, in my opinion. If necessary, it might be good for Councils to have reserved Board seats for people who fall into these categories, i.e. some percentage of seats on councils reserved for renters, POC, etc. See my story on this same problem in Minneapolis from a while back.]

Reading the Highland Villager #177

[A Villager at the Spot.]

[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.]  
  

[Note: This one is two weeks old. Apologies. Latest issue should be coming soon.] 

Headline: City Council plans to split charges for street maintenance between property tax and assessments
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Because of legal issues with its “right-of-way” fees, the city is going to fill a $32 million budget hole with a mix of assessments and money from the general fund. They will have to cut about $10M from the budget because of the change in funding. There was a lawsuit by MPR and some downtown churches that started this entire budget mess. Article includes a history of these assessments, which date back to Mayor Randy Kelly. [Of Ayd Mill Road fame.] The city might try to get non-profits to voluntarily help fund city roads. [Saint Paul is not a wealthy city, in other words, and is struggling to pay for basic stuff. It’s one reason why we need to think more strategically about redevelopment and city investment priorities, IMO. In other words, we desperately need projects like the Ford site, West Side Flats, and Snelling/University to pan out. They would really increase the tax base.]


Headline: St. Paul revises draft plan for future of Ford site
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There was a meeting about the former truck factory in the Highland area of Saint Paul. City plans had recently reduced the number of planned units in the area by about 20%. [Bad idea, especially if the retained units will have more parking. The number of people does not equal the number of cars. There’s a lot of different traffic outcomes depending on the details of the housing and transportation designs.] Neighbors are concerned about traffic and density. There will be more meetings, large and small. There is a grassroots group that wants to keep buildings lower than 5 stories and to make sure a quarter of the site is “open space.” Some people like housing for old people.  Some people want single-family homes. The new plan revisions call for widening Ford Parkway to add a bike lane or path. [We do need access to Ford and the bridge, but if there’s no bike lane on the bridge, it’s a bit silly. Why not do a 4-3 conversion on Ford Parkway and 46th Street? It’s certainly a possibility we should consider.] Planners and other advocates like the plan as it was. Quote from an architect professor: “that work [to build bike and walking infrastructure] should start now.” [It’s a shame to see the best plan Saint Paul has ever come up with get watered down because of a few hundred signatures and a website about a mythical village.]


Headline: Riverview PAC pushes for more study of bus rapid transit; Move to delay decision on preferred alternative
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The policy advisory committee voted to delay a decision on a transit option in order to study more bus rapid transit routes that would go near Fort Snelling. Quote from one of the planners from the County: “The slower a project is, the harder it is to get riders on it.” [My sense is that the additional months and options here are a simply delay tactic. I highly doubt the ridership numbers will turn up anything. I personally wish they would more closely study more options involving mixed and hybrid rail combinations along the existing routes. Having a fuller sense of what the different ridership and cost variations might be using various route and mode options along the existing options. These are by far the most likely to actual qualify for federal funding, should that funding actually exist in the future.] CMs Tolbert and Noecker wanted the additional study to take place. A decision will likely come in late fall.


Headline: City approves new medians to calm traffic on Snelling Avenue
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: MnDOT is going to install medians on a busy street to make it easier to cross the street. Most people seem to like it except for a guy who owns a funeral home. Quote from him: “I just don’t think there are that many pedestrians who cross Snelling.” [Where have I heard this before?] CM Tolbert responds: “Snelling is a huge barrier in the neighborhood. Cars get to flying along there very fast. It’s scary to sprint across Snelling, let along walk.” [See also this history of the topic.] the medians will have grass, not mulch, and an extra opening for Funeral processions. [Conveniently located should you get hit by a car trying to cross the street.]


Headline: Developer proposes six-story apartment at Snelling-Carrol
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to build an apartment building on a lot that currently holds a vacant lot, a parking lot, and a one-story commercial building with a billboard on top. Neighbors were concerned about parking, and that the project did not have mixed-use retail on the ground floor. [The ground floor will be a the exterior of a parking ramp, like many of these blank walls.]


Headline: Laurel Ave. lot eyed for rowhouse
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Someone wants to build three rowhouses on a vacant lot. Neighbors are concerned about the loss of trees and parking.


Headline: Work to begin soon on Adams expansion
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An elementary school got approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals to expand. Neighbors were concerned about parking, traffic, and the loss of open space.

Twin City Bike Parking #26

[One of the downtowns, I can't quite tell.]

[Northeast, Minneapolis.]

 [Northeast, Minneapolis.]

[West 7th Street, Saint Paul.]

 [New Orleans.]

[New Orleans.]

[New Orleans.]

[New Orleans.]

Best of Prince-on-a-Bicycle Stories

That Prince loved bikes is just more evidence that Prince, bicycles, and Minneapolis are all rad.

From the GQ complication of Prince stories:

Morris Hayes (keyboard player; Prince's longest-serving band member, 1992–2012): I took him to the bike store and I bought him a bike because he said he wanted a bicycle. I got him all sized up for it, and then I told him, "Okay, Prince, I'm only buying this bike if you get a helmet." And he said, "I don't want a helmet." I said, "Well, I'm not buying this bike, sir, if you don't get a helmet—you have to ride with a helmet or else I can't be responsible for you being on this bike." He says, "Well, I don't want a helmet." I said, "I'll get you a cool one—and I'll get one, too." So we got the helmets, but I found out later that he was riding the bike and he didn't wear it.

Corey Tollefson (Minneapolis-based entrepreneur and fan; attended events at Paisley Park for over 20 years): There's an arboretum, literally down the street from Paisley. And during the day he'd ride his mountain bike around town, and nobody would bother him.

Keith Lowers (longtime fan): Once the lights turned on [after a Paisley Park event in September 2015], I left quick because I'm super claustrophobic and can't take the cattle-exit style of most rock shows. So I'm walking real fast in the parking lot, trying to get to my car quick when—zoooom!—I see this dude on a bike ripping around the parking lot coming at me. I was ignoring him, trying not to engage, when he circled me and slyly said, "Where you goin'? The party's just getting started." WTF. It's Prince...on a white mountain bike, wearing his full rock-star outfit—white, to match the bike, of course, with a multicolor print on it. So I returned to the doorman at the advice of Prince—only to be schooled that Prince plays this joke often and that the party was indeed over.

Christina Terrones (longtime fan and Paisley Park regular): That was his thing: He liked to roller-skate and he liked to bike.

Lowers: I recently heard they found a fully custom-painted BMX bike in his vault with videos of competitive BMX riding. I don't doubt it. He was not only quick on the bike but nimble.

Kandace Springs (singer; befriended by Prince via Twitter after he discovered her cover of a Sam Smith song online in 2014): After the show—it was maybe like 10, 11—everybody was leaving, and Prince grabs me and says, "Hey, let's go bike riding." He had four bikes—two white cruisers and two dark blue or black mountain bikes. So I got on a cruiser, he got on a mountain bike, and we rode past everybody with our Afros, and everybody's like, "Oh my God! Prince!" He lives in a kinda rural area. We rode down Audubon Road, then there's a park right across the street and there's a path, so we rode down there a little bit.

Maya Washington (photographer; befriended by Prince after he discovered her online in 2014): First, when you go on the bike rides, you're like, "Wow! I went on a bike ride with Prince down to Lake Minnetonka!" It's fun. And you think you're special. Then I stayed there long enough that I'm like, "Oh—this is his thing." This is what he does. He has the movie theater where you go to watch a movie—he'll buy out the theater. He has his routine with all these young girls who come in: movies, bike ride, possibly a jam session. That sounds about right.

Thanks to Kai for sending these my way!

[Farewell.]