Non-conforming use permits and the Schmidt self-storage facility

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Earlier this month, the Saint Paul Planning Commission engaged in a fascinating debate over a proposal on West 7th Street to build a self-storage facility next to the remodeled Schmidt brewery site. The issue was a discussion about whether or not to approve a non-conforming use reestablishment, and there were split votes in both the Zoning Committee (4 in favor, 2 against) and at the full Commission (9 in favor, 8 against; I was one of the ‘no’ votes). To me, the permit discussion revealed how zoning decisions can revolve around subjective considerations. In this case, a lot weighed on considerations of economic potential and predictions about the future of neighborhoods. Continue Reading

The social life of yards with Ursula Lang

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The podcast this week is a conversation with Ursula Lang, a PhD candidate in geography at the University of Minnesota who is just completing her dissertation on the social life of yards; I know Ursula through my experience in the same Geography Department. I sat down with her the other day at Cahoots Coffee Shop in Saint Paul to talk bout her research, in which she interviewed and studied people who “practice their yards” in three different neighborhoods in Minneapolis. Ursula explained to me about the history of yards as an idea and a physical space, how people view and experience yards differently, and why thinking about yards might reveal something important about the value of overlooked aspects of everyday life. Continue Reading

The one where I pick on the disabled

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I was at a meeting a while back about a new parking policy in downtown Saint Paul. The city was changing its policies about handicapped parking. Until very recently, anyone with a handicapped parking placard on their dashboard was allowed to park for free all day downtown. Continue Reading

Planting temporary parks with Amanda Lovelee

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The podcast this week is a conversation with Amanda Lovelee, a public artist and urban designer who is currently working as an artists-in-residence for the City of Saint Paul. Amanda has a fascinating resumé of public art projects that promote engagement and use urban space in a variety of interesting ways. Her latest project is a temporary two-year park installation in downtown Saint Paul in a vacant lot that once housed a luggage store. We sat down on a circle of paving stones in the middle of what will be the new park, called Flower Field. [Audio below] Continue Reading