FREE SPEECH ZONE | Federal Court hears Central Corridor lawsuit

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Five Metro Transit police officers greeted attendees of a federal court hearing Friday afternoon in downtown St. Paul. The hearing was to determine whether or not a lawsuit filed by the St. Paul Branch of the NAACP, the Aurora St. Anthony Community Development Corporation, Pilgrim Baptist Church, and a list of neighborhood businesses and residents, will halt the Central Corridor project and force the Met Council and the Federal Transit Administration to comply with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).Plaintiff attorney Thomas DeVincke of the Minneapolis law firm Bonner and Borhart argued that the analysis NEPA requires is not contained in the massive project record prepared by the Met Council and approved by the FTA. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | An Absolutely Horrid Failure of Engineering

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After waiting at least 5 minutes for a WALK signal that lasted no more than 2 seconds, and then risking 3 lives crossing the highway to get from Minnehaha Park to the LRT stop at 50th Street, I watched one 2-car mobile billboard pull away and then boarded the next when it arrived about 10 minutes later. Free Speech Zone The Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. On the return trip from the megamall, as I stepped onto the Cub Foods/Delta Vacations mobile billboard, I felt like Cub, Delta, and the megamall should have been paying me to ride it rather than charging me the $2.25 fare. And as we crossed the highway to get back to Minnehaha Park, rather than waiting forever for a WALK signal, we dashed to the narrow center island next to the left turn lane when the coast was clear, and then made another dash when the light for the 50th street traffic momentarily turned green. The same Highway Engineers who planned the Highway 55 project in Minneapolis are also planning the University Avenue project in St. Paul. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Why did they dig up 4th Street?

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After concocting the plan that would pay for the reconstruction of Ramsey County Road 34, a.k.a. University Avenue, with a Federal Transit Administration grant intended to provide new public transit, the Highway Engineers had to figure out how to get the train from University Avenue to the Union Depot. They decided to loop the 265,000 lb. trains past the State Capitol to Robert Street and then back around to Cedar Street where they would pass a few feet from the entrances of a couple historic churches and Minnesota Public Radio. Then, in order to turn back toward the Union Depot, the trains would slice through the block bordered by 4th, 5th, Cedar and Minnesota streets.The Union Depot renovation project was pitched largely on the attractive notion of reopening the grande concourse that was mothballed when Amtrak moved out. The boosters of the renovation claimed that the Depot re-opening would coincide with the completion of a Central Corridor LRT line that would connect to the concourse. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | A chance for the public to meet Central Corridor LRT Project staff

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The October 2007 Met Council newsletter Making Tracks announced that an “open house” at the Central Corridor Project Office would be a “chance for (the) public to meet Central Corridor LRT Project staff.”  I spent a couple or more hours at the event trying to meet and talk to the folks working on the project.  This video shows the results of my efforts. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Where’s the rest of the billion dollar investment?

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A couple weeks ago, the Met Council awarded a contract to a Chicago-based firm called Walsh Construction.  For a little over $200 million, Walsh is supposed to build the entire 7-mile eastern section of the Central Corridor project, from KSTP to downtown St. Paul.  The $205.1 million contract includes: ● 14  LRT stops ● 6.9 miles of track ● Street repaving and new sidewalks alongside the 6.9 miles of track ● New underground utilities ● Modifying the bridges over 280 on University Avenue and over 94 on Cedar Street            Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.● Installing concrete paving for signalized intersections ● Building an infiltration trench for collecting storm water ● Constructing at-grade pedestrian crossings ● Demolishing the vacant Bremer Bank building and reconnecting the Skyway If virtually the entire cost of building 7 miles of the 11-mile project is only a little over $200 million, and  the project is supposed to be, as we’ve heard for years, a “billion dollar investment” in our “challenged communities,” then where is the other $800 million going?  Is the construction of the 3 miles on the Minneapolis side, through the University and over the Washington Avenue Bridge to the Metrodome (from the Metrodome to Target Field is shared track and is already built), going to cost quadruple the price of the entire 7 miles in St. Paul?  Or will the 3 miles in Minneapolis cost no more than the 7 miles in St. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | The Central Corridor and a Sewer in Fallujah – Like Peas in a Pod

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The proposed Central Corridor LRT line and a sewer project in Iraq have a lot in common.  Both projects have already cost us “little people” somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million.  Both projects have awarded lucrative government contracts to multi-national conglomerates while leaving local businesses and residents with a mess.  And both projects, $100 million down the drain and years in the works, are far from completion.   After spending over $100 million, folks in Fallujah have open trenches lining major roads, and the planned sewer system, if and when it’s ever built, will serve only 43,000 of the more than 200,000 residents of the city.  And after new sewers in downtown St. Paul, new roads around the University, and continuing work on a “final” design, folks waiting for better transit service in the Twin Cities will just have to wait.   Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.According the Arlene McCarthy, Director of Transportation Services for the Met Council, the proposed Central Corridor LRT line “would essentially replace the Rt. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | “Advance”-ing the Central Corridor Project

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You may have heard that the construction of the Central Corridor project has already begun.  According to the Central Corridor Project Office (CCPO), the sewer work in downtown St. Paul and the road construction around the U are “advanced” project “improvements.” Just as BP drilled a test well in the Gulf of Mexico in advance of figuring out how to prevent or deal with the current, on-going spill disaster, the so-called “advanced” work on the Central Corridor project is in advance of completing necessary environmental studies.  They still haven’t figured out how to deal with the rush hour mess when trains passing every 7 ½ minutes in each direction would back up north-south traffic at Snelling and other major intersections for blocks if not miles.  They still haven’t said how they’re going to avoid disrupting MPR’s studio operations without risking the lives of people trying to cross the street – no one at MPR or the CCPO has been willing to say how they plan to restrict the use of the train horns on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul.  And if you believe that the $25M or $30M or $50M or whatever the current estimate is for reinforcement of the 1960’s vintage, fracture-critical, Washington Avenue Bridge will provide a sound structure for carrying trains, buses, and University and emergency vehicles for the next 100 years, your faith in the consultants is much greater than mine. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Bulldozers rolling on Central Corridor road construction project

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So-called “advanced traffic improvements” to divert traffic off of Washington Avenue and through other parts of the campus and surrounding neighborhoods, have begun at the University of Minnesota.http://www.mndaily.com/2010/06/16/bulldozers-plow-important-east-bank-green-places  Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Nice Ride Minnesota: a goofball greenwash

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I’m all for improving conditions for bicycle riding and for increasing the number of bikes on the road.  People who live short distances from school, work, shopping and entertainment destinations, etc., should not be forced to fire up a motor vehicle in order to get where they need to go.  However, I cannot imagine how the Nice Ride Minnesota “bike-share system” does anything to improve conditions for bicycle riding or increase the number of bicycle riders. Who’s going to use this “system?”  $5 gets you a half-hour or less ride to and from a “wow cool” solar-powered kiosk, or, you can get with the program and buy your half-hour or less rides in bulk for the monthly rate of $30 or the yearly rate $60.  Or, you can game the “bike-share system,” and hop-scotch to and from the “wow cool” solar-powered kiosks, and try to avoid paying additional fees for rides that extend more than a half-hour. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Who’s going to use this goofball greenwash, “wow cool,” solar-powered kiosk system?  A half-hour or less ride, to and from an “available” kiosk, does not get you to and from work, school, a shopping trip or anywhere else you need to go, unless, by unlikely chance, both your origin and destination happen to be very close to kiosk locations. Continue Reading