Secrets of the City

Yesterday, @MPR tweeted a link to an article on its website in regards to a lawsuit that the public radio giant has brought against the Metro Transit Council (the third lawsuit, in fact, that has surfaced).

During an appearance on today’s MidMorning show on MPR, Mayor Chris Coleman got a bit defensive, reacting to remarks made last week by MPR President Bill Kling that the Metropolitan Council was failing to hold up its end of the deal on the billion-dollar Central Corridor project. The dispute involves a “floating slab track” that would be installed in front of the MPR broadcast facility to reduce vibrations and sound. MPR wants that system be built with steel springs, but the Met Council wants to go with a cheaper rubber pad underlay. Exciting, right?

The Mayor zings, “That comment is absolutely 100 percent outrageous. The conduct of Mr. Kling and the board of MPR is outrageous,” and “This is the most important public works project in the history of this city and the history of this region.”

Oh snap! But then again, do we really want to risk hearing light rail vibrations while we listen to The Current?

Ok, likely not the correct headline to use, but it’s Max. Max! And he’s quoted in the Strib.

A “hugely intoxicated” man — according to Sparber — boarded a downtown bus yesterday afternoon, couldn’t quite get his fare together, became enraged, and struck the Metro Transit bus driver in the head. He was, of course, immediately thrown from the bus by three helpful passengers.

Good thing this didn’t happen on an airplane. That’s all I can say. Plenty of Twitter action on the matter, of course, but alas, no hashtag. Maybe Max will give us more.

It’s officials. New bus-only lanes open today in downtown Minneapolis, and while this won’t do much to help the general traffic, it’s meant to save bus time. According to MPR, the $40 million rebuild of Marquette and Second avenues includes two bus-only lanes on each street, allowing buses to pass rather than wait for the buses ahead to finish loading.

According to the Strib, the two miles of bus-only passing lanes — part of a $183 million effort to cut Twin Cities congestion — will make life a little easier, or faster at least, for 26,000 commuters.

The Strib is reporting that Metro Transit is long on riders but short on money.

With the recent fair increase not working. And a financing system that is obviously flawed and counter-productive. When will someone finally act on finding alternate funding sources to save our public transit?