Act now to support: transit-oriented development and good urbanism in Minneapolis more affordable new construction in Uptown Tomorrow, March 18, at 4:30PM the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) is voting on a request to demolish a property at 2320 Colfax Avenue South. There are three things you can do to support Minneapolis accommodating more residents. Attend the HPC meeting AND testify in support of the demolition permit – March 18, 2014, City Hall Room 317 Send an e-mail to the HPC and/or the relevant Ward 10 City Council member, Lisa Bender and staff (see below) Ask your friends to comment, by sharing this on Facebook, through Twitter, and by e-mail…

Today’s Star Tribune commentary by Mayor Hodges and Steve Cramer is misguided at best, and at worst terribly delusional. Don’t believe them when they say $50 million spent on rebuilding Nicollet Mall will provide “downtown that final flourish.” First of all, saying that anything will provide a “final flourish” implies that a city can be somehow complete. That’s impossible. A city cannot be final unless it disappears entirely. Second, as I’ve stated before, great cities have three things: streets that are attractive to walk on, buildings that are nice to walk past and/or in, and people walking on those streets and using those doors. That’s…

Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to replace Shaun Murphy? What if we lived in a culture of urbanity in Minneapolis where the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists were addressed in a way that didn’t require the creation of a job with a title like “bicycle and pedestrian coordinator?” After all, Janette Sadik-Kahn and Gabe Klein were simply “transportation commissioners” for New York City and Chicago, respectively, and did more for walking and cycling than has been done in most other cities. To be sure, Shaun Murphy did a commendable job, and will be missed, but how great would our…

Exactly what do we mean when we say crazy stuff like “center of gravity,” “critical mass” and “transit village” when describing whether a neighborhood or transit station area is successful? Good question. I said those things last week in Eric Roper’s insightful Star Tribune piece about the progress of development around the Lake Street station in Minneapolis. Most urbanists know our little code words; we nod and wink about good urbanity, but what do we mean? Well, I guess it boils down to “would you want to take a walk there?” and “would you want to live there?” Setting aside the complicated…

Kare 11 interviewed me yesterday about my elegant idea to remove one downtown Minneapolis skyway per year until they are gone, at which point many of us will be long gone from this world but our children and grandchildren will thank us for leaving them a Minneapolis with more vibrant streets. You can watch the video at Kare 11 here and the story on the Kare 11 website here. Also featured in the story and video is David Frank, Director of Transit Oriented Development for the City of Minneapolis. Never fear, Minneapolis! I don’t think this idea has much traction, but I do hope…

I was interviewed this morning about my latest post outlining how Nicollet Mall can live up to its billing as one of the most vibrant public places in America. As well, it was crossposted at streets.mn, picked up by the Downtown Journal, MinnPost and MPR, the latter of which led to interest in the interview. Takeaways from the interview are these: Even on the nicest days, when Nicollet Mall draws a crowd, thousands of people are still in the skyways and never set foot on a downtown street. Whereas skyways are comfortable on the coldest days, they take people off the sidewalks every day. Great cities…

Dinkytown has been in the news again recently about a large-scale redevelopment proposal on one of the core blocks. There is much controversy over density, lost parking (perceived or real), and preservation. Those are all relevant issues with no absolute right or wrong answer but some very good possible solutions. But let’s not forget the pedestrian realm and the building facades that face it. By that measure, we need to send the Doran Companies proposal back to the drawing board, since adding a new curb cut and a large garage door, plus a transformer, facing 4th Street, is unacceptable. Much has…

There has been a lot of coverage of Block E lately, given the recent announcement of renovations and new tenants. It is way too early to really comment, but I hope the current owners add some doors and windows to better engage the street. In the meantime, in case you missed it, Bill Lindeke wrote yesterday an excellent piece about four things we should know about Block E. Here is a fifth; Block E was once successful. Remember that? The fact that for a period of time it was successful and then emptied out so fast begs some questions about big projects and the city’s vision…

Today’s Star Tribune article about the reconstruction of South Robert Street moved me to respond (it also moved me to depression and rage). The $20+ million project is controversial, and among other things (including walkability and the future of humankind) three simple things from the article jumped out at me: 1) traffic counts of 16,000 to 26,000 vehicles per day 2) a crash rate that is 89% higher than comparable four-lane roads 3) there’s not enough room for trees, according to the traffic engineer Take a look at the accompanying image from the article (photo courtesy of Jeff Wheeler of…

“You just gotta make s#!t happen,” says Gabe Klein, outgoing Commissioner for the Chicago Department of Transportation, speaking at the ULI Fall Meeting here in Chicago. He was discussing how the owner of his office building didn’t allow employees to bring their bikes in the elevator. He understood it is corporate policy but that doesn’t make it right. He got the building owner to make some changes, but the larger lesson is developers and owners need to be proactive and work to provide facilities to make their buildings more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly. This can include bike parking, showers, even a…