The Green Line is not commuter rail

By |

In a recent blog post, MPR’s Hart Van Denburg shared a video showing a Green Line route in it’s entirety. He also felt the need to mention the time it has been taking in test runs to ride the route from end to end. There is no need to speculate as to whether he personally was being antagonistic in mentioning this, the duration of the route has drawn the ire of demurrers on various comment threads. Continue Reading

Green Line travel time update

By |

Yesterday evening, I boarded a route 50 bus at Minnesota and 6th Street in downtown Saint Paul at 4:43 p.m. and rode it to the University of Minnesota campus, getting off at Oak Street and Washington Avenue. That was at 5:29 p.m., or 46 minutes after I had boarded in Saint Paul. The bus still had about three miles to go before ending its run in downtown Minneapolis. Under a schedule posted last weekend, the Green Line is supposed to make an equivalent trip (Central station to East Bank station) in 31 minutes. The bus was 48% slower than the current expectation for LRT (and the 50 is a limited-stop route—the 16 is even slower). Continue Reading

Families Moving Forward-Southwest: Program opening observations

By |

For the past three years, I have been one of many volunteers working to bring an emergency shelter program for families experiencing homelessness to Scott and Carver counties. Our goal was realized two weeks ago, on Mother’s Day, 2014, with the opening of Families Moving Forward-Southwest. I was fortunate to have an opportunity to see this program in action immediately through volunteering at the program center during the first week. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Minnesota Muslims speak out on martyrdom, murder of Dr. Mehdi Ali

By |

On Monday, May 25, Ohio based cardiologist, Dr. Mehdi Ali was assassinated in Pakistan. According to a report in the New York Times:”An American doctor volunteering at a hospital in eastern Pakistan was shot to death on Monday in front of his wife and 3-year-old son in the latest attack on a follower of the minority Ahmadi faith at a time of rising intolerance across the country. …”Dr. Qamar had arrived in Pakistan two days earlier as a volunteer at a hospital in Rabwah that has been a target of an extremist hate campaign in recent months.”Two Minnesota Muslims responded to this assassination with letters to the editor. Here are their letters: Dear Editor,Murder in the Name of GodAn American on a charitable medical mission to Pakistan was targeted on the basis of faith – his ‘crime’ being a member of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. An Ohio based cardiologist, Dr. Mehdi Ali, was killed in front of his 2-year-old child and wife while visiting the graves of his deceased loved ones.His noble mission ended with the loss of his life, a loss for all those who seek to serve humanity.Being an American Ahmadi Muslim of Pakistani origin, I appreciate the ability to practice my faith with freedom and live according to the motto of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community- ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’. Touba Khurshid Dear Editor,I always wonder how a country like Pakistan – which has so many resources and the potential to be a great country – isn’t flourishing. Continue Reading

West 29th Street as a pedestrian destination

By |

The city of Minneapolis has set aside $350,000 towards studying the possibility of reconstructing Uptown’s West 29th street as a pedestrian-only boulevard. Uptown is a tough combination of pedestrian-scale storefronts and speedy auto thoroughfares, so a pedestrian connection that’s being compared to High Line Park could be the necessary cream filling for a truly stellar pedestrian experience. While every project designer seems to want their pedestrian-oriented street project to end up ‘High Line-y’ regardless of any contextual similarity to the High Line, I believe that this project is sitting on enormous potential. Continue Reading

Big thinking about change

By |

Today’s short and sweet blog post simply draws attention to some compelling articles I’ve read lately about creative people thinking big about changing their world. Continue Reading