Getting Around

Early in 2012, following the breakdown of their car, North Loop residents Joe Laha and his girlfriend Bridget Kromhout made the decision to give car sharing a try. Laha has used his bike to commute to work in downtown Minneapolis for years, and Kromhout has relied on public transit for her daily commute.

They start ticketing on Dale at four o’clock, Joan Pasiuk warns me. One avenue over though, I’ll probably find a spot. We’re making arrangements to meet at the St. Paul offices of Transit for Livable Communities, where she directs their successful Bike Walk Twin Cities program. It’s surprisingly solid parking advice from a woman who has been biking to work since the 1970s. It’s clear that Joan thinks about transportation a lot — even the kind she doesn’t use.

The District Councils Collaborative (DCC) of St. Paul and Minneapolis is all about connecting and engaging members of communities along the Central Corridor, ensuring that residents and business owners’ voices and concerns are heard so that the new light rail green line benefits everyone. At a Twin Cities Media Alliance-sponsored Get Connected! event held on September 18, DCC’s executive director, Carol Swenson, explained that the organization has been active in environmental review processes and the Stops for Us campaign, which added three stops to the line. DCC, which represents the coming together of all St. Paul District Councils and a handful of Minneapolis neighborhood associations along the Central Corridor, has devised several innovative ways of amplifying area residents’ concerns, including a walkability survey that was spotlighted at the Get Connected! meeting. DCC also recognizes how valuable video-sharing and other new media tools can be for keeping citizens informed and connected.