Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/bkeller49/page/11/)
Thousands of protesters responding to the Ferguson, MO, grand jury decision gathered Tuesday night in south Minneapolis. But the local headline fodder was the story of the pedestrian protester struck and injured by a car at the intersection of Lake and Minnehaha. Continue Reading
“It’s nasty out here,” Phyllis proclaims after crossing University Avenue at Pascal. She was dragging her shopping bag suitcase on wheels in one hand and using a cane in the other. She had started crossing at the green light and the 22 seconds of crossing time didn’t quite allow her to get all the way across, but the cars waited patiently for her to get to the sidewalk. Continue Reading
No, I’m not joking. David Levinson wrote about an often overlooked but important subsidy* given to drivers: the lack of sales tax on gasoline and auto/truck purchases. I’m surprised this hasn’t received more attention given the other distortions that see press. Yes, we pay a motor vehicle sales tax when buying a car, but that is supposed to be a user fee for funding roads (well, 60% of it at least). Yes, we also pay state and federal gas taxes, but again those are user fees (the MN gas tax is 100% dedicated to the Highway User Tax Distribution Fund). Continue Reading
If you’re a millennial and you’re looking for a job in a new city, you might have read (or want to read) the November 19th article in The Atlantic about “why it’s so hard for millenials to find a place to live and work”. The problem, it seems, is that the cities with the most upward mobility and the highest median incomes are also the cities with the least affordable housing. Continue Reading
Stoned to death. Stabbed 33 times. Pushed out of a moving car then run over. When hate and fear rage out of control, people destroy by any means necessary. Eighty-one transgender people were murdered in the past year throughout the world.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. Continue Reading
Minnesota Republicans captured control of the Minnesota House of Representatives in part by fueling urban versus rural resentment: “Those metro-centric DFLers give everything to Minneapolis and St. Paul.” The truth is, turnout trends associated with non-presidential year elections were a much bigger reason why the DFL lost control of the Minnesota House. Continue Reading
A colleague of mine (from a more urban city) recently visited. When he arrived, I offered to show him around and he wanted to see transit-oriented development (TOD). Hmm…. I wanted to impress him, but I was stumped. Despite all our attention as a city and region to TODs, I don’t believe we have any great transit villages right off the platform where we could go that would really resonate with him. There’s Nicollet Mall and Target Field Station, but I wanted him to say, “wow, this is great!,” but I didn’t feel those would produce that response. Maybe I have impossibly high standards (maybe I’m just getting old and codgery), or maybe the Twin Cities is lagging a bit in the TOD quality department. So I took him for a drive along the West River Parkway and to West River Commons, which impressed him. This begs the question what is TOD and how can we do it better? Continue Reading
The majority of Americans will be people of color by 2040, according to Policy Link’s brand-new National Equity Atlas. Through interactive maps, figures and charts, the Atlas illustrates the country’s current and projected racial demographics, and inequalities. But most importantly, this new online tool reveals the economic benefits of including diverse populations in the labor market. Minnesota, and the nation, cannot afford their exclusion. Continue Reading
Here is my open letter to Saint Paul Public Works and Mayor Coleman. Continue Reading
Last week, David Levinson asked whether we are “building a city” in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. He noted that rail investments only make sense in areas where there is sufficient density to support those investments. He further wondered whether Minneapolis and St. Paul could achieve those requisite densities for a majority of residents in core areas in 20 or 30 years. Continue Reading