Secrets of the City

Considering some of the stuff I see on blogs, I expect more intellegent posts coming from a strip of concrete.

intelligent, rather.

See what I mean?

What I love about this blog is:

1) Someone’s interested enough to put it together in the first place.
2) Someone’s willing to wade through the public meetings and stuff to present the info to the average citizen.
3) Someone’s got an informed opinion and is willing to offer solutions, and explain why options are good or bad.

It’s all about bringing the info to the community. And offering folks the opportunity to discuss it amongst themselves. Without having to get up and go somewhere to do it (’cause we’re all a little lazy).

I have high hopes for it. Assuming that it does engage and motivate Richfield residents to speak up about the project, there’s always the possibility that the city of Richfield will “listen” to what the people have to say and then do what they want anyway. It’s certainly worth a try, though. And folks will remember that come election time.

Can a blog make an impact on the direction of this project?

Short Answer: No.

It’s all about bringing the info to the community.

No, it’s about the blogger(s) getting what they want.

Except road-parallel off-grade bike paths (sidepaths, sidewalks, etc) have a much higher death rate than bicycling on-grade. I’m all for enhanced ROW (ie: wider streets with marked shoulder paths), but the model of University Avenue up in Coon Rapids/Blaine with a ‘bike route’ parallel to University has killed at least one poor soul.

http://www.bikexprt.com/bikepol/facil/sidepath/index.htm

Sidewalks are for pedestrians, roads are for bikes.

Funny you should mention that site, Scott. I ran into it by complete accident while googling for pictures of how our curbs and sidwalks look, in support of a conversation I was having with an Estonian.

Getting to the substance of your comment, I couldn’t agree more, but it’s all about perception. You won’t convince inexperienced riders or parents with younger children that they are safer mixed in with traffic. At 12mph they’re not going to care about the crummy surface, and completely oblivious to right hook-type problems.

Oh, and my commentary… I was about to say that 76th is already something of a frontage highway like Bloomington’s ~78-80th streets on the other side of 494 (which were shamefully renamed as “American Boulevard” during the Iraq drumbeat). Then I realized that I was thinking of 77th. That’s at least sixteen lanes dedicated to the automobile over a swath of land just a quarter mile wide. Pedestrian concessions? Not many.

That is too bad that streets like this are still being created.

I for one, hope that I can avoid suburban wastelands like this at all costs. Thankfully the city proper still has sidewalks and bike path.

Wouldn’t expect more from a “thriving” and “progressive” area like Richfield anyway.

Wouldn’t expect more from a “thriving” and “progressive” area like Richfield anyway.

As a friend of mine who lives there jokes, Richfield is “God’s Waiting Room.”

Richfield will have a lot of changes in the next decade, I think. They can’t all stay old forever.

There’s plenty of housing stock for folks who can’t quite afford Minneapolis but still like the “look and feel” of a city neighborhood (contrast with Plymouth, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, etc.).

I like the author’s suggestions of converting an old hotel on 76th and Lyndale into work/life space for artists–good way to reach younger demos.

Also, I though American Blvd was so named because to goes to the Mall of America–didn’t know it was a post-9/11 deal.

American Blvd is a creation of Bush43-era Bloomington.

2002: Ring Route streets, an alternate route to I-494, renamed American Boulevard.

2005: Lyle Berg Bridge over I-35W, last link in American Boulevard beltway, completed. Costing $12.5 million, the bridge is 387 feet long.

Might I add that it’s an incredibly important link in the city, since there are only crossings for 35W on 494 and at 76th, and 82nd streets… not half as controversial as a $5.1M 220 foot span with “perfectly good options” elswhere. cough.

Richfield would have have to compete for “city neighborhood look and feel” with Robbinsdale, New Hope, St. Anthony Village, and large swaths of Brooklyn Center and St. Louis Park, for that matter.

For my money, I can’t tell the difference between southwest Minneapolis and the better part of east Edina.

True dat, champs.

Lack of bike paths? Who cares?

Just weld an I-Beam to your front bumper and see how fast those critical mass morons get the hell out of the way.

Heh.

I hope you drive off a bridge and drown, slowly, in the cold waters of the Minnesota River, trapped in your tank of a vehicle that makes you feel better about your tiny genetalia.

Stop Snitchin’ Trollin’

trapped in your tank of a vehicle that makes you feel better about your tiny genetalia.

I’m gifted enough to keep my girlfriend coming… back.

Project much about your inadequacies lately?

You’re the one who feels it necessary to joke about running people off the road. Is your girlfriend an inflatable doll?

Nope, she’s a red-blooded american woman.

Again, more projection?

And besides… I never joked about running idiot bikers off the road… I’m dead serious.

You seem to have missed that.

Die in a fire, asshole.