urbanMSP

It would have been nice if they had reserved some land for higher-density residential development along the southern and eastern edges. But I'm assuming that would have been difficult due to the bad blood from closing the money-pit golf course that the cake eaters felt entitled to? As far as I know...

Suburbanites are scared of parallel parking. I mean, they manage at 50th & France, Excelsior & Grand, etc. But I think you're right that there may be an implicit bias against parallel parking outside Minneapolis and St. Paul. At the same time, there seems to be an obsession with not touchin...

Although I wish they'd done on-street parking along the parkway (with bumpouts, Minneapolis parkway style) rather than the lot. Although both the park and lots are much larger, the parking situation at Veterans Park in Richfield is a real problem, with acres of asphalt extending too deep into the pa...

The Fred gets a final design. http://current.mnsun.com/2014/10/edina-city-council-approves-fred-richards-vision/ Looks nice, although I would have liked to have seen a more functional connection with the parkway on the east end (like replacing the existing Fred Richards drive that connects to Parkl...

Occasionally messing with the grid, forcing cars to go around the block, to benefit bike/walk seems like a good idea to me. Could it go too far? Yes. But I'm thinking about the bicycle boulevards in my neighborhoods... diverters like this one at 40th St / 11th Ave http://goo.gl/maps/RS6yI (these ha...

Yeah, I'm always surprised by how much lack of forethought some of these places have. My gym used to have no bike parking as far as I could tell, so I would latch it to the railing (a portion that wasn't necessary for safe walking). Now they've moved to a much better location that does include bike...

Barriers and fencing are up around the tallest part of the complex up against MN100. It's a little odd, though, because the barriers are really close to the buildings. The parking lot isn't blocked off at all. I figured the barriers would be out by the lot line. *shrug* Part of the parking lot is l...

In Today's Sun Current ‘Citizens’ sue Edina over 66 West http://current.mnsun.com/2014/10/citizens-sue-edina-over-66-west/ A group of undisclosed members referring to themselves as “citizens” is suing the city of Edina over the city’s approval of the 66 West project to house formerly homeless young ...

The way a lot of Americans use gyms? Yeah. But even when I had a job where I was on my feet all day (and regularly getting 15,000-20,000 steps per day), the gym was still important if I wanted to stay in shape. The decline in manual labor jobs is really the culprit for the rise in gyms. Also--in ou...

Incidentally, the corporate headquarters of Lifetime is located in a grim office park in Chanhassen off Arboretum Blvd, not far from the offices of Snap Fitness.

Yikes, kind of shocking to hear a fitness company going for the suburban office park model at the crotch of two freeways. Don't get me started about how Lifetime Fitness -- "the healthy way of life company" -- invested millions in a new parking ramp for even more auto parking at their St....

I concur. The map was made as a "maximum development/ perfect street grid" scenario, not a realistic traffic flow scenario. I agree that directing the MN-121 traffic to 61st (and onward to Lyndale and Nicollet) is the best option. It would also be appropriate in that scenario to buy out t...

Perhaps the medians don't need to be completely removed, but I think that perhaps a short left turn lane (50 ft. or so) should be included for neighborhood access. Certainly, a crosswalk with a refuge could be accommodated on the west side at these intersections. Perhaps similar short medians that ...

Regarding your map: I think the only real flaw I see is lack of very direct access to Lyndale or to 58th. I don't think the neighbors on Colfax would care for all NB 35W traffic going in front of their homes to access 58th. If anything, it seems more realistic to end 121 at 61st St, since that's a s...

Although I support converting 121 to a 2-lane (rather than hugely divided 4-lane) south of 58th, I'm not sure how much development potential that has, given the fact that it will still essentially be a freeway on-ramp. I think 56th-58th has great potential, and that in general reopening Lyndale in b...

I think the addition of the medians between Schmalumbus and 11th will work against calming the street. The segment feels low traffic enough to allow left turns from WB 66th to all the SB streets, and the opposite movement as well. I'd like to hear more about your thoughts on the medians -- because ...

I am curious as to why (other than "we just did all that work a few years ago") the block on either side of the roundabout at Portland needs to remain two lanes. I suspect the answer (other than my parenthetical above) is something along the lines of "queueing space for people waitin...

Richfield and Hennepin County are reconstructing 66th Street from Xerxes Avenue (Edina border) to 16th Avenue (between Bloomington and Cedar). Four blocks outside the Minneapolis border, 66th Street is the longest east-west city street and only major east-west transit corridor south of Lake Street. ...

The original plan was to put "Oldest Suburb" on the signs. I advocated to use the city motto, Urban Hometown. Urban comes in many different shapes and sizes. Many parts of Richfield are bad urbanism, yes. But the bottom line is that it's an almost entirely intact Minneapolis grid, with hig...

Interesting to see how many of those homes didn't have garages in 1960. Quite a few of the Bloomington ones were ramblers with attached garages. But you're right, at least 1/3 of the ones south of 100 (now 494) and probably half north of 100 don't have garages. Also note the dead-end front walks on...