How you can protect Minnesota dogs from traps this hunting season

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Hunting season is upon us, which means Minnesotan hunters everywhere are donning their traditional fall colors: blaze orange and camo. Part of what people love about hunting is the chance to watch their dogs at work doing what they love most, and although pups can be handy friends when hunting, the sad truth is that running around in the wilderness can be dangerous and sometimes even fatal for our dogs. So while we don’t propose that dogs be denied the chance to hunt, we do think there’s more to be done to keep our dogs safe. And Dog Lovers 4 Safe Trapping MN has the perfect solution. Continue Reading

Thoughts on Minneapolis’ proposed Accessory Dwelling Units ordinance

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Minneapolis folks, the draft ordinance for Accessory Dwelling Units is available! It’s like Christmas-come-early for urbanists. Ok, maybe not that extreme, maybe it’s more like President’s Day? I dunno. Either way, the pace that the city council and planning staff have moved this particular topic through to this point is very encouraging, as is the level of support (92%!) so far from Minneapolitans. That’s insane – I can’t imagine 92% of us agreeing on what color pavement our streets should be, so, good job! Continue Reading

Green Line getting up to speed in fits and starts

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Heading east from Minneapolis, the Westgate Station is the first Green Line port of call in Saint Paul. Trains stop in the shadow of the KSTP radio mast, out front of an apartment building with a ground floor Dunn Brothers Coffee, Metro PCS, and Snap Fitness. Continue Reading

Midtown corridor: A grade separated central corridor

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The Midtown LRT/Streetcar has joined the growing number of high efficiency corridors planned for the Minneapolis, St. Paul metro area. The Midtown LRT/Streetcar will run on the Greenway rail trench from the planned SW Green line station at W Lake Street to the Lake St station on the Blue line. Though the transit in the greenway is being classified as a streetcar, the fewer stops and connections to both the Green and Blue line means that it will function more as a light rail. Continue Reading

Chris Brazelton: Do ethics matter anymore?

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When I ran for State Representative in 2006 and again in 2008, my opponent was Tom Emmer. During that time several people approached me to tell me how Tom Emmer used his position as an attorney to sue them or bully them out of holding him accountable for paying debts incurred by him and members of his family. As the first major report was coming from a neighbor who happened to be a die-hard Republican, I could not dismiss the information as politically motivated. Whether it was paying for landscaping ordered by his wife, or trees planted on his property, or issues of fairness and equity in dealing with a business partner, the people wanted me to know what they experienced with Emmer.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.I made the choice not to engage in a mud-slinging campaign, hoping to win the seat with a positive campaign. Continue Reading

A look inside Saint Paul’s 8-80 Vitality Fund

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Ever since Mayor Chris Coleman introduced his 2015 budget in August, I’ve been anxious to learn more about the details of the Mayor’s proposal for a new $42.5 million “8-80 Vitality Fund”. Last week a list of projects were posted online in preparation for the City Council’s October 8th budget review session. I shared the list with streets.mn readers in my post, “Saint Paul’s 8-80 Vitality Fund Can Help Saint Paul Work for Everyone” (October 7, 2014). But I still had a lot of questions about the details, so I headed down to City Hall to listen in on the Council discussion. The majority of the time was spent reviewing the Palace Theater renovation project and the newly prepared list of projects to be funded with the remaining $9.5M Continue Reading

Minneapolis should skip streetcars

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Streetcars: They’re hot right now. However, in Minneapolis, in 2014, in the places they are proposed, they are also probably not a good idea. Or at least, they are certainly not a good use of hundreds of millions of dollars in transit funding that’s already too scarce and ill-budgeted. Continue Reading

What’s the Minnestoa Legislative Privacy/Data Commission’s next move?

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For many long time advocates of privacy and open government at the Minnesota Legislature, yesterdays meeting of the Legislative Commission on Data Practices and Personal Data Privacy may prove to be a turning point for the residents of Minnesota. For years the Legislature when a specific issue of privacy/open government and advanced technology clash the policymakers take a stab at it, think they have solved the problem, but technology sneakily bypasses the law. Continue Reading

Conservation districts are (still) a bad idea

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Minneapolis Conservation Districts are back in the news, and they look to have some broader support as the ordinance goes to a full city council next week. We’ve covered the topic at streets.mn before, with a dissenting take, some reasons to support them, and a fun podcast for those who hate reading. Even burgeoning news source The Wedge Times-Picayune picked up my annoying Twitter rant yesterday (side note: I’m still awaiting my signing bonus as an official correspondent). Continue Reading