Perhaps fitting on my way recently to see renowned urbanist Alexander Garvin speak about the public realm was my own journey through the public realm of my fair city. In the one block between the light rail station at 5th Street and the Central Library at 4th, I witnessed the range of good and bad public realm that Nicollet Mall and downtown Minneapolis have to offer. From the train platform I stepped on to Nicollet Mall and passed by the adjacent Powers Block, on which once stood the Powers department store. Today the block is mostly surface parking, but there…

TOD took a step closer to reality at the site of the Midtown Farmers Market adjacent to the Lake Street station in Minneapolis. The farmers market will in fact be the centerpiece of a mixed-use project that will include 500 housing units, a public square, and commercial space in a walkable transit village. A development team, L & H Development, has signed a letter of intent to purchase the site, located immediately adjacent to the southwest of the Lake Street station, and develop a mixed-use project there. Starting in late 2009, the L & H Development team, of which was…

Seems like a no-brainer, but it emphsizes just how backwards our energy and urban policies are. I was multitasking yesterday (playing with my kids while trying to listen to NPR in the background) and I caught a snippet of President Obama’s speech about energy policy. In it, he said by the middle of the next decade, new American cars will average more than 50 miles per gallon. That will save Americans an average of $8,000 over the life of their car. Sounds good, right? Let’s contrast that with the savings households can accrue by living in a location-efficient, transit-friendly, walkable…

A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (as fine a midsize city newspaper you’ll find anywhere) predicted a jobs/housing imbalance in the greater Milwaukee metro area. Welcome to the club! There isn’t a metro area in the country that doesn’t have an imbalance of jobs and housing across its various municipalities. I’m talking of course of the imbalance between affordable or workforce housing and jobs that pay affordable or workforce wages – in other words, people who are working in any number of industries, including teaching and stocking the shelves at WalMart, but cannot afford a really nice home.…

Today’s New York Times article about a pedestrian plaza in Little India in Queens will undoubtedly provoke a mixed response among urbanists and retailers across the country. Last September the city of New York blocked off a one-block stretch of 37th Road in Jackson Heights in order to create a “park” and decongest a nearby roadway. According to business along 37th, the plan has worked too well. Business is reported to be way down for those located along the affected street. Gee, I wonder why? You have one guess – that’s right, because it is harder to get to these…

It is always exciting when good urban ideas make it in to the mainstream media, particularly the New York Times. On that note, I was happy to see Bill Keller’s recent Times Op-Ed about Sam Schwartz. In it, Mr. Keller prescribes some sensible transportation solutions for New York City, most of which are the ideas of Sam Schwartz. It is well worth reading, as it includes solutions for trains, buses, cars and even bikes, and a sensible way to pay for it all that could result in an additional $1.2 billion for the MTA. More provocatively, Keller ties Schwartz’s ideas…

I was aware that the Minneapolis Park Board has been trying to redevelop the famed “Fuji Ya” site along the western bank (the Left Bank of Minneapolis) of the Mississippi River, at the foot of the popular and historic Stone Arch Bridge. The Park Board has released its plan for public input, and a presentation of the plan can be viewed here. It includes a new portion of park space along the river, some uncovered mill ruins, a fountain area and skating in the winter, and a restaurant as its focal point (actually, the view from the restaurant will be…

Last week I had the pleasure of touring Veterans Manor in Milwaukee, a joint venture of Cardinal Capital Management and the Center for Veterans Issues. At the corner of 35th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, Veterans Manor provides 52 affordable housing units for veterans. It opened in 2011, and all units are 650 square foot one-bedrooms, affordable at 60% of AMI, although most residents use some sort of rental assistance to cover costs. Occupying a small but key infill site that was vacant for decades, the four-story building has ground floor lobby, business center, fitness center, meeting rooms, offices, and pleasant…

Two thumbs up is what I give Bob Gibbs’ new book entitled Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development. This book provides a much-needed real-world look at how retail development works, and the ins and outs of how to accomplish successful retail development in urban areas. Let’s face it, we urbanists don’t read eachothers’ books for pure enjoyment or the prose and poetry. These are reference books, and Bob Gibbs delivers on this and more (and his prose is just fine). Loaded with photos, drawings, and tables, Urban Retail Planning and Development provides all sorts of examples and metrics to…

I was momentarily horrified last fall when I visited the Central Corridor, the new light rail line (recently renamed the Green Line by Metro Transit) under construction down the middle of University Avenue in St. Paul. The portion of street that has already been rebuilt included rails, rebuilt street, curb and sidewalk complete with attractive streetscape elements, but no trees! “Oh, please, no,” I thought! A quick email to Donna Drummond, Director of Planning at the Department of Planning and Economic Development in St. Paul assuaged my fears. Yes, indeed trees are part of the streetscape plan as concstruction occurs,…