Reading the Highland Villager #240

[Villagers find a sunbeam.]

[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: Highland, Mac-Grove committees consider proposed Starbucks; Drive-thru coffee shop planned for corner of Randolph-Hamline
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A chain coffee place wants to make a drive-thru coffee building at the site of a former gas station. There was a public meeting. Article includes a reference to "Carbucks." Neighbors are concerned about traffic and pedestrian safety. Quote from neighbor: "Regardless of what your traffic studies say, it's going to be a mess." It requires a conditional-use permit. Quote from a guy who owns a nearby coffee shop without a drive-thru: "I would guess this is a done deal."


Headline: Coast-to-coast trip is latest in long line of family's bicycling adventures
Author: Anne Murphy

Short short version: A family is bike touring. [They seem nice. Their kids are 13 and 16. Let's make this more normal.]


Headline: St. Paul struggling with street maintenance costs; Public Works study detects $1 billion backlog in upkeep
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Article about how far behind the city is on paying for roads. It should cost $51 million for 20 years to fix all the roads up to where they should be. Article mentions the city-wide PCI. Article mentions how much more money they have for this in Minneapolis. Quote from CM Noecker: "I don't think we can rely on the general fund." Quote from CM Tolbert about a state gas tax increase. [What is needed is a reprioritization across the city away from so much car-first infrastructure, and brainstorming about funding. That means both things like parking meters and not spending millions on projects like Ayd Mill Road or parking ramps or other big projects like that that exacerbate street costs.] Article includes some context about sewer separation and the history of street funding. [Does not include the "terrible twenty" thing with Mayor Coleman, though. Nor does it mention the non-profit maintenance issue.]


Headline: County budgets for improved racial equity
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The County is going to try and send more money on helping address racial equity. Specific ideas include "health service models", changing how the County has its offices, housing, and how it does hiring. They will also close a golf course, future use of the land TBD. [Not subsidizing golf would seem in character with improved equity.] However they are spending millions on other golf courses. [Whoops. Looks like a whole bunch of money for old well-off white people after all.]


Headline: Rail Authority eyes 14% increase in transit levy
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Rail Authority is going to get more money from people's property taxes to fund things like the Gold Line and Riverview streetcar. [One of which is legitimately useful.]


Headline: Speaking of impacts; Highland council raises concerns about the toxins in old Ford dump
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Neighbors are concerned about what might be down by the river, referred to as "so-called Area C." [I see an X Files episode here.] Quote from developer: "it's an encapsulated dump." ["Encapsulated: 1. to express the essential features of something succinctly; 2. to enclose something in or as if in a capsule." Wait, isn't is what I do every two weeks with the Highland Villager? If so, it's a fitting metaphor!] Article references "paint sludge" and "scrap metal" and a list of chemicals which includes: antinomy, barium, chromium, and cadmium. [Yikes.]


Headline: Police chief takes aim at funding for tracking gunshots in St. Paul
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The SPPD is trying to get money to get technology to detect where guns go off, like they have in Minneapolis. There is . grant from the Feds for this, but Congresswoman McCollum is mad that they used the light rail line to justify the request. [The transit = crime thing does parrot MN GOP talking points, so yeah. Good work Rep. McCollum.]


Headline: Council signs agreement for Midway stormwater district
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The City will allow the soccer team and others to collect and filter stormwater around the stadium site.


PS: There's a lovely profile of local blogger and sci-fi writer Naomi Kritzer as well!

Twin City Doorways #51

 [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

  [Milwaukee, WI.]

 [Milwaukee, WI.]

Twin City Bike Parking #39

 [Milwaukee, WI.]

 [West Side, Saint Paul.]

 [Milwaukee, WI.]

 [Milwaukee, WI.]

 [Location forgotten. Downtown, Saint Paul.]

 [West Bank, Minneapolis.]

 [Somewhere in University Avenue, Saint Paul.]

[West Bank, Minneapolis.]

Mountains of Saint Paul Bike Tour this Sunday, August 18th

Hey! Summer is fleeting. Let's ride bikes.

A friend of mine, Mark Brauer, a long-time Saint Paul bicycle explorer, and I are putting together a guided group bike ride to locations that claim to be "mountains."

(Note: This is not a tour of the "Mountains of the Midway"; these are as legit as "Saint Paul mountains" can be.)

For example, did you know? There are lots of places in Saint Paul that make mountains out of molehills. (And I'm not talking about the Grand Avenue Business Association!)

We'll be riding to some of those places on a lovely Sunday afternoon, starting at Edgecumbe Rec Center, going through downtown, heading back to Highland, and ending at the Summit Brewery.

Alleged mountains include:

Montcalm Place
Montreal Avenue
Montrose Lane
Mt. Eudes
Mt. Airy
Mt. Ida
Hog Back Hill
AND MANY MORE

[Facebook Invite is here.]

What: Bike ride around Saint Paul
Who: Anyone with a bike!
When: This Sunday at 2pm
Where: Edgecumbe Rec Center, 320 Griggs Street.
Why: Because it's there.

We will end at the Summit Brewery where we will all take selfies to commemorate our huge accomplishment.

All are welcome! Ride is free. Ride will be about 2 hours long and about 20 miles long, a no-drop ride at a leisurely 10 mph pace.

Note: It's not actually SUUUUUPER hilly... For example, we will not be crossing the river, so you don't have to go up the High Bridge. In other words, you can do it!

Rough approximation of the route... Carpe Mons!

Reading the Highland Villager #239

[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: Alatus lays out options for six-story building on Lexington
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An empty lot that houses melting black crusty snow for six months every year snow might become a six-story building with apartments and shops. Some apartments would be smaller, others larger. There would be 180 parking spots for people's private cars. There would be a bike/ped connection linking two streets through the site. Some apartments would be more affordable than others. Article lists proposed rents. Neighbors are concerned about apartments being expensive, students living in them, and having too many grocery stores in the area and property taxes going up in general. [Students are in fact people also. Furthermore, I believe that building new apartments does not cause property taxes to go up, that the opposite is true.] Former CM Debbie Montgomery is still commenting on things.


Headline: For project environmental impact studies get underway; Traffic studies around the Ford site will peer 20 years into future
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A former truck factory will become housing and shops and offices. There is another study about how traffic might work. Neighbors are concerned about traffic and parking.


Headline: Takeover of Ford Fields shows Highland Ball at its best; Vision for future of complex shared during special night
Author: Dave Wright

Short short version: Little league baseball assured for Highland.


Headline: Hearings kick off study of the future of Mississippi locks and dams
Author: Roger Barr

Short short version: People in the Federal government are trying to figure out what to do with the dam by the old Ford factory. Possibilities include keeping it or removing it. Rowers are concerned about the river, others are concerned about carp. Others want to remove the dam to help the fish.


Headline: Planning Commission Ok’s revised Ford site design standards
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: There are some rules that might take effect for how buildings at the old Ford factory might look. The standards mention things like water features, materials, setbacks, landscaping, and other things like that.


Headline: City considers new ways to promote building of affordable housing
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Planning Commission is looking at how to change zoning and other regulations to make sure there is affordable housing in Saint Paul. Inclusionary zoning is mentioned. The city is doing a study on the topic that will take a few months. [There was a meeting of the Zoning Committee where we chatted about different approaches and there was a thorough presentation by the Planning Director about it. My take is that the details of an IZ policy are really important and we should not be focusing strictly on new construction without also changing existing zoning restrictions. I.e. if we introduce IZ rules, we should also remove parking minimums and SFH zoning, as they have done in Minneapolis, at the same time. Otherwise it will have little affect on overall affordability of new construction. It still might not.] There is a "trust fund" with some money in it. [Stay tuned.]


Headline: HPC allows solar panels atop one of West End’s most historic homes
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: An old building can have solar panels on it, says the historic preservation group.


Headline: Task force contemplates future of Grand, business association
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A group of people who own stuff on or near Grand Avenue is trying to figure what the business association should do in the future. They are "gathering information." [Fun Fact: the Grand Avenue Business Association spent tens of thousands of their dollars to hire a right-wing PR firm to lobby people against the city's plan to install parking meters, which would raised money for the city that is desperate to fix its streets, moved the city toward its climate action goals, and also made it easier for most people to find parking on the street.] There are different ideas but fewer and fewer businesses belong to the association. There is an online survey. Neighbors are concerned about traffic and parking.


Headline: St. Thomas eyes south campus for new parking lot
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The University of St. Thomas wants to cut down trees and create an asphalt parking lot for 40 cars. Neighbors are concerned about traffic and parking. [Maybe the University should incentive biking, walking, and transit instead?]


Headline: Commission finds favor with revised Highland District plan
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: The Planning Commission approved a plan for Highland.


Headline: HDC seeks remedy to traffic woes at Lexington-Randolph
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: Trader Joe's parking lot causes traffic. Neighbors are concerned. Bicyclists are threatened by people in cars. People do not drive their cars into the proper entrance of the grocery store. [Trader Joe's parking lots are special places.]


Headline: Developer seeks $80M public subsidy for riverfront project
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A developer wants to build a large office and hotel complex on the river downtown in spot where the jail and the printing company were located. [It would have a massive parking lot.] The developer wants public money for assistance. [The County has already spent many millions preparing this site for development.]


Headline: Remodeled Cleveland Wok scheduled to reopen this fall
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A Chinese restaurant in Highland will be nicer.


Headline: Fund to benefit areas around soccer stadium
Author: Jane McClure

Short short version: A nonprofit foundation has been set up for helping streetscape and marketing for small businesses near the soccer stadium. CMs Nelson and Thao are involved. They want the team to contribute to it.