2018-11-13

Twin City Doorways #43

 [Linden Hills, Minneapolis.]

[New York City, NY.]

 [Payne/Phalen, Saint Paul.]

 [East 7th Street, Saint Paul.]

 [New York City, NY.]

 [New York City, NY.]

 [New York City, NY.]


[New York City, NY.]

2018-11-08

The Complete Complex Relationship between Senator Klobuchar and the Minneapolis Skyway

[Thanks to Dylan for digging this up.]
Minnesota's Senior Senator, Amy Klobuchar, was on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert the other night to plug the upcoming election.

On air, the very same seat where Governor Jesse Ventura once impugned the integrity of the Saint Paul street grid, Senator Klobuchar, who once publicly poked fun at my article about TVs in Minneapolis bars, admitted to having a complex historical connection with the Minneapolis skyway system.

Here is the complete transcript, along with the historical documentation and video evidence..

Stephen Colbert: Let's check your Minnesota cred. Have you ever been immortalized in butter at the MN state fair? 
Senator Klobuchar: That is like your Mount Rushmore. For our audience here. What we have at the state fair is a butter carver who sits in her down coat in a revolving refrigerator and carves princess kay of the mile way and her 10 princesses out of butter and does their butter bust, which is of course their heads, out of 90  loud blocks of butter.  
Every day she does a new one with a tiara and that is the biggest thing in our state fair and really in our state. 
But I have not been in there. 
Colbert: I will repeat the question senator. Have you ever been carved out of butter at the Minnesota state fair. 
Klobuchar: Oh very clear I don't want to evade your question. No, because only Princess Kay can. And I've only been Miss Skyway of March of 1988. And so that would not allow.. 
Colbert: You were Miss Skyway? 
Klobuchar: I was 
Colbert: You buried the lede. What is Miss Skyway? 
Klobuchar: That is if you work in DT Minneapolis, as I did in the past, in the private sector, and every month they would pick someone who worked in the skyway to be Miss Skyway. Then you got your picture in the Skyway News. The skyways of course are these glass enclosed above ground tunnels that connect our buildings. 
Colbert:  Because if you go outside in the winter, you will die. 
Klobuchar: That's right. They're like a human habit-trail. And so I got named miss skyway and I got a dinner for two and twelve helium balloons. But no butter carving.

There you go! Human hampster tubes. The 1980s. Winter smoke screens. Everything you could possible want in a national skyway interview.

2018-11-05

New Saint Paul and Northeast Minneapolis Flags Available, including a Bannerless 1932 Version

[Pure and simple! The way Gladys made her.]
Despite what they say, I am not immune to the principles of vexillology. I understand the futility of having type on a flag designed to be viewed from two sides.

That's why I am proud to announce that I have some "OG" 1932 Gladys Mittle Edition Saint Paul flags in stock, where the Saint Paul crest is shown without the Windsor font "SAINT PAUL" banner.

They're available in the small 2' by 3' size, on sale for $16.

I also have some new Saint Paul and Northeast Minneapolis large size 3' by 5' flags in stock as well! Get yours today, for the low price of $36.

Click on these links to learn more about the long mysterious history of the Saint Paul flag, or the history of the Northeast Minneapolis flag.

[Compare and contrast with banner and with cat.]


2018-11-02

Notable Quotes #12: Mark Twain describes Saint Paul and Minneapolis, c. 1883

We reached St. Paul, at the head of navigation of the Mississippi, and there our voyage of two thousand miles from New Orleans ended. It is about a ten-day trip by steamer. It can probably be done quicker by rail. I judge so because I know that one may go by rail from St. Louis to Hannibal—a distance of at least a hundred and twenty miles—in seven hours. This is better than walking; unless one is in a hurry.

The season being far advanced when we were in New Orleans, the roses and magnolia blossoms were falling; but here in St. Paul it was the snow, In New Orleans we had caught an occasional withering breath from over a crater, apparently; here in St. Paul we caught a frequent benumbing one from over a glacier, apparently.

But I wander from my theme. St. Paul is a wonderful town. It is put together in solid blocks of honest brick and stone, and has the air of intending to stay. Its post-office was established thirty-six years ago; and by and by, when the postmaster received a letter, he carried it to Washington, horseback, to inquire what was to be done with it. Such is the legend. Two frame houses were built that year, and several persons were added to the population. A recent number of the leading St. Paul paper, the 'Pioneer Press,' gives some statistics which furnish a vivid contrast to that old state of things, to wit: Population, autumn of the present year (1882), 71,000; number of letters handled, first half of the year, 1,209,387; number of houses built during three-quarters of the year, 989; their cost, $3,186,000. The increase of letters over the corresponding six months of last year was fifty per cent. Last year the new buildings added to the city cost above $4,500,000. St. Paul's strength lies in her commerce—I mean his commerce. He is a manufacturing city, of course—all the cities of that region are—but he is peculiarly strong in the matter of commerce. Last year his jobbing trade amounted to upwards of $52,000,000.

He has a custom-house, and is building a costly capitol to replace the one recently burned—for he is the capital of the State. He has churches without end; and not the cheap poor kind, but the kind that the rich Protestant puts up, the kind that the poor Irish 'hired-girl' delights to erect. What a passion for building majestic churches the Irish hired-girl has. It is a fine thing for our architecture but too often we enjoy her stately fanes without giving her a grateful thought. In fact, instead of reflecting that 'every brick and every stone in this beautiful edifice represents an ache or a pain, and a handful of sweat, and hours of heavy fatigue, contributed by the back and forehead and bones of poverty,' it is our habit to forget these things entirely, and merely glorify the mighty temple itself, without vouchsafing one praiseful thought to its humble builder, whose rich heart and withered purse it symbolizes.

This is a land of libraries and schools. St. Paul has three public libraries, and they contain, in the aggregate, some forty thousand books. He has one hundred and sixteen school-houses, and pays out more than seventy thousand dollars a year in teachers' salaries.

There is an unusually fine railway station; so large is it, in fact, that it seemed somewhat overdone, in the matter of size, at first; but at the end of a few months it was perceived that the mistake was distinctly the other way. The error is to be corrected.

The town stands on high ground; it is about seven hundred feet above the sea level. It is so high that a wide view of river and lowland is offered from its streets.

It is a very wonderful town indeed, and is not finished yet. All the streets are obstructed with building material, and this is being compacted into houses as fast as possible, to make room for more—for other people are anxious to build, as soon as they can get the use of the streets to pile up their bricks and stuff in.

How solemn and beautiful is the thought, that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the newspaper, never the Sabbath-school, never the missionary—but always whiskey! Such is the case. Look history over; you will see. The missionary comes after the whiskey—I mean he arrives after the whiskey has arrived; next comes the poor immigrant, with ax and hoe and rifle; next, the trader; next, the miscellaneous rush; next, the gambler, the desperado, the highwayman, and all their kindred in sin of both sexes; and next, the smart chap who has bought up an old grant that covers all the land; this brings the lawyer tribe; the vigilance committee brings the undertaker. All these interests bring the newspaper; the newspaper starts up politics and a railroad; all hands turn to and build a church and a jail—and behold, civilization is established for ever in the land. But whiskey, you see, was the van-leader in this beneficent work. It always is. It was like a foreigner—and excusable in a foreigner—to be ignorant of this great truth, and wander off into astronomy to borrow a symbol. But if he had been conversant with the facts, he would have said—

Westward the Jug of Empire takes its way.

This great van-leader arrived upon the ground which St. Paul now occupies, in June 1837. Yes, at that date, Pierre Parrant, a Canadian, built the first cabin, uncorked his jug, and began to sell whiskey to the Indians. The result is before us.


All that I have said of the newness, briskness, swift progress, wealth, intelligence, fine and substantial architecture, and general slash and go, and energy of St. Paul, will apply to his near neighbor, Minneapolis—with the addition that the latter is the bigger of the two cities.

These extraordinary towns were ten miles apart, a few months ago, but were growing so fast that they may possibly be joined now, and getting along under a single mayor. At any rate, within five years from now there will be at least such a substantial ligament of buildings stretching between them and uniting them that a stranger will not be able to tell where the one Siamese twin leaves off and the other begins. Combined, they will then number a population of two hundred and fifty thousand, if they continue to grow as they are now growing. Thus, this center of population at the head of Mississippi navigation, will then begin a rivalry as to numbers, with that center of population at the foot of it—New Orleans.

Minneapolis is situated at the falls of St. Anthony, which stretch across the river, fifteen hundred feet, and have a fall of eighty-two feet—a waterpower which, by art, has been made of inestimable value, business-wise, though somewhat to the damage of the Falls as a spectacle, or as a background against which to get your photograph taken.

Thirty flouring-mills turn out two million barrels of the very choicest of flour every year; twenty sawmills produce two hundred million feet of lumber annually; then there are woolen mills, cotton mills, paper and oil mills; and sash, nail, furniture, barrel, and other factories, without number, so to speak. The great flouring-mills here and at St. Paul use the 'new process' and mash the wheat by rolling, instead of grinding it.

Sixteen railroads meet in Minneapolis, and sixty-five passenger trains arrive and depart daily. In this place, as in St. Paul, journalism thrives. Here there are three great dailies, ten weeklies, and three monthlies.

There is a university, with four hundred students—and, better still, its good efforts are not confined to enlightening the one sex. There are sixteen public schools, with buildings which cost $500,000; there are six thousand pupils and one hundred and twenty-eight teachers. There are also seventy churches existing, and a lot more projected. The banks aggregate a capital of $3,000,000, and the wholesale jobbing trade of the town amounts to $50,000,000 a year.

[from the final chapter of Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi.] 





2018-11-01

Minneapolis 2040 is what Climate Action Looks Like

This weekend, a pair of articles in Sunday's Star Tribune caught my eye. They were right next to each other on the site, shining a spotlight on the challenge facing our city and our country when it comes to climate change.

[We're still talking about lightbulbs.]
The first one -- the #1 most read article of the day -- is a classic good intentions piece. It tells how individual people in the Twin Cities are concerned about climate change, and trying to change their habits.

Here's the gist:
They tossed out the old gas lawn mower and got an electric one instead. The new car in the garage? It’s electric, too. 
“It’s sort of like, the more stuff that got plugged in, the more excited I got,” she said.
... 
While the science suggests that individual actions by individual households won’t solve the problem alone, hopelessness is wrong, said University of Minnesota economics Prof. Stephen Polasky. It’s not too late, he said, and the fix can be made with tools we already have. 
“We don’t have to come up with some brand-new [technology] that we’ve never thought about,” said Polasky, who studies the intersection of ecology and the economy. It’s just a question of whether or not we act, he said.
...
High school senior Shaza Hussein said she, too, worries about her future, but working with friends and peers has given her hope that her generation can help build a better path forward.
...
Hussein, who said her relatives in Sudan have seen widespread drought decimate their farms, has been speaking at meetings and rallies, urging other young people to take a stand. 
“I tell them to recognize that even as an individual, you have power,” she said.

This piece is weird to me. Nothing against the admirable efforts and intentions of Shaza, Jessica, and the rest, but I have read that article dozens of times. You could find this same story written two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, and twenty years ago. This was the list in Al Gore's film, and it's not too far off what you'd find in the pioneering environmental tracts of the 1970s.

Every honest person knows climate change is a global problem, and we all know what individual solutions look like. And (as the article subtly infers), people also intuitively understand individual changes are not enough to make a difference. Some things seem timeless.

The second article, further along in the paper's Local section, points to how critics of Minneapolis draft Comprehensive Plan, "Minneapolis 2040", have been trying hard to organize in opposition to the changes.

[Hi Janne!]
Here's a the meat of that piece:
Opponents dominated the first round of public input on Minneapolis’ two-decade vision for its future development. Now city planning commissioners will learn from a public hearing Monday if revisions to the plan will earn more support for increasing housing density and quell the fears of those worried about neighborhood destruction.
... 
Opponents worried that allowing more multiunit buildings would wreck the character of their neighborhoods and give developers a free pass to buy up and tear down single-family homes, many of them small enough that they’re affordable. 
“This plan could destroy the nature of my neighborhood and my reason for living in the city,” wrote a south Minneapolis resident. “We moved here because we like the idea of living in a neighborhood of well-maintained older homes with sunny lots.” 
“NO NO NO ... You are crazy!” wrote another. “I work outside [Minneapolis] but live inside. We don’t need to develop all this land in one of the biggest giveaways to developers.”

As you may have seen, the arguments here took full fledged fight at this week's Planning Commission meeting, where people paraded to the microphone to rant about the dangers of urban density.

[Doubting Thomas, by Mark Tansey.]
Instead of diving into that debate, focus on the disconnect. The two Star Tribune articles offer the perfect distillation of why climate politics are so difficult --  sometimes wonkily called "the value-action gap" --  and this divide is the key problem in 2018 Minneapolis.

On the one hand, people in Minneapolis have the best intentions. We are a liberal bastion, after all, and most everyone believes in climate change. Most everyone agrees that inequality is a problem, that helping the world's most vulnerable is is the right thing to do, that mass extinction of species is something to avoid.

On the other hand, buying "green" products, driving a Nissan Leaf (good car!), riding a bike (good all around!), giving money to the Sierra Club (good organization!), or going out for a meal at the Birchwood (good restaurant!) remain nothing but nice gestures next to the wider systemic and structural changes that really matter.

The gap between good intentions and meaningful action remains huge.

This difference is critical because climate change is at the core of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan. The controversial housing and transportation proposals are focused directly on reducing energy and CO2 use in the city.

In my podcast with Heather Worthington and Paul Mogush, two of the key people working on the Comprehensive Plan, they explain the direct connection between climate and Minneapolis 2040. Here's the relevant quote from Paul, a planner who has worked on the plan for years:
When we started this process two and a half years ago with the public, we threw the doors open and asked big broad questions. ... That's what led to the formulation of the 14 goals that the City Council adopted a few years ago. That's what led to us adopting this plan... We wanted to make this a document that was about the future of the city.  
Among those goals, the ones that really stood out in the public process was, number one, climate change. People see that as the huge threat that it is to our Earth and our city. We as a city have to do something about that. The second is housing. Housing choice and affordability. And the third is racial equity, in general. Those were the three that really emerged as priorities. That's what you see laid out in the goals, and that's what you see laid out in the content. Those are the main lenses that we used.

The gap between intentions and action paints a dark picture of climate politics in Minneapolis.  If our city cannot take meaningful climate actions in 2018, then when and where will change take place? If basic climate action is impossible here, where does that leave the more conservative rest of the country? If Minneapolis environmentalism is limited to the things in the first article -- buying a solar panel, a critical habitat plate, an LED lightbulb -- we are dooming the majority of the Earth's species and hundreds of millions of the vulnerable poor, people just like Shaha Huzzein's family in Sudan.

I'm not being histrionic. The latest report was clear on that last fact. In a recent podcast interview with Adil Najam, one of the lead authors of the IPCC, he bluntly described the unequal stakes.

Here's a quote:
It's not a surprising report. The surprise is how we keep getting surprised about the same thing again and again and again.  
For the poorest people it the world, hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the world, climate change is not something that's happening in the future tense. The problem with this report is that it's not frightening enough. It's trying to frighten us about the future, what it’s really telling us about is the present.  
They [the report’s final authors] want to spur, mostly you and me, people who are affluent, into action. I think that's a good message, but there's another message and that is that climate change is happening now. It's happening in Bangladesh. It’s happening in Haiti. It’s happening in Mauritius. It’s happening in Vanuatu. And it’s happening with gravest consequences in places which had the least to do with causing the problem. Those who had the least to do with making the mess are at the forefront of having to deal with it. That is why I think climate is a justice issue. 
This report, I don't think they have done justice to climate as a justice issue.
(The whole thing is worth a listen.)

In this critical moment, the political choice around climate action is clear. There's a massive gap between our city's stated values and our collective actions.  For now, the only bridge we have is the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive plan.

If you want to feel better about yourself personally, install a solar panel on your house, buy organic food, drive around in a Prius. Walk more instead of driving, turn off your LED lights more often, stop eating hamburgers, and compost. Take whatever medication suits you.

But if you want to actually do something, Minneapolis 2040 is what city-scale climate action looks like. If you say you care about climate change, but are not supporting this plan, you are fooling yourself.

[Hurricane Michael.]