Word on the Streets

12/17 Happy Hour & Projects Meeting

Join us for an informal happy hour before the next monthly Projects Committee meeting!

When: Monday 12/17, 5-6 or 6:15 (projects meeting at 6:30)

Where: Grumpy’s downtown- 1111 Washington Avenue. We will be in the side room.

What: Happy hour before the regularly scheduled “3^rd Monday” Projects meeting. Come to brainstorm ideas for a new committee name, learn more about our work, or just for fun!

Who: Everyone is welcome! The happy hour and the Projects meeting are open to everyone- come for one or both.

The Meeting

This month’s Projects meeting will be held from 6:30- 8:30 at the Freight House Dunn Bros at 201 3^rd Ave S. We’ll be upstairs in the group meeting space. If you join us for happy hour it's just a short bike ride or a 15 minute walk from Grumpy’s.

Here’s the agenda for the meeting:

Winning campaigns training
- Updates
- Volunteer opportunities

2013 repaving list

Washington Avenue updates

Discussion about meeting structure, name for the Projects committee, and a regular meeting time/location

January meeting date- 3rd Monday falls on MLK day

New Volunteer Opportunities- these could each use a couple volunteers
- Researching/creating a list of stakeholders (like DID, neighborhood groups, business associations, non-profits) as a reference tool
- Creating a Google calendar of relevant meetings and events to put on the MBC website

Open Forum- zoning code amendment, other topics?

We hope to see you there!

posted by | December 13, 2012

Survey shows support for new Greenway

This week the City of Minneapolis released the complete results from a recent survey about a potential North Minneapolis Greenway along a north-south alignment. Hundreds of people completed the survey, and the majority of respondents were supportive of a new Greenway in North Minneapolis.

A key survey question focused on selecting a route, and three options were presented. The survey results show a preference for ‘Option A,’ a Greenway alignment along Humboldt Avenue N. (north of Folwell Park) and Irving Avenue N. (south of Folwell Park). A map of all three alignments is available from the project website.

The survey also indicated strongest support for a Street-to-Park Conversion Greenway design, which would create the most park-like amenity for North Minneapolis residents. The City’s project site includes diagrams of the design options, and the website for Twin Cities Greenways has more information about the Street-to-Park conversion concept.

Detailed results of the survey are posted online, and include every response to the open-ended questions on the survey. To access the survey results, scroll down to the Accomplishments and Results section of the City’s project page.

The responses include concerns and opposition to the concept, but the majority of the comments were enthusiastically supportive.

Here’s a small sample of the responses to a question about the Street-to-Park Conversion concept:

I love it. North Minneapolis needs additional green space.

Enhances peace and quiet for those that own houses on the street.

Lots of green space, would look gorgeous.

I don’t like anything about it.

Lots of room for extras like playgrounds, benches and even veggie gardens.

Quieter & safer front yards for residents

I’m a runner and would use this often.

Opportunities for better health are critical for these neighborhoods.

Bring the community together with an open, safe place

I think about my experience on the Victory Memorial paths, and it is really nice that there would be a significant amount of green space.

This is the dumbest idea anyone has come up with yet.

I would prefer to see most of the project completed in this format.

The best choice for the future of Minneapolis.

More people-friendly, helps build community.

Open public spaces encourage community building and promote safer neighborhoods.

Like having a park in your front yard.

A benefit to the adjacent homes as well as the surrounding community.

A step in the right direction for our North Minneapolis neighborhoods.

A huge quality of life improvement for the area.

It would feel safer to go for a walk along this route.

It’s actually a park.

Great, put one on my block.

This is the best option. I would gladly give up parking in front of my house so that I could have a full linear park design in my front yard. This is the dream! The option to have your front yard facing a park trail is almost nonexistent in the City of Minneapolis. I think that it is time this is a part of the mix.

posted by | December 06, 2012

Repaving Projects Vetted for 2013

The Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee- Engineering Subcommittee met last week to discuss a variety of projects to be implemented in the upcoming years. Much to the delight of the subcommittee, staff presented City and County Repaving Projects for 2013, getting a six month jump on identifying opportunities for bicycle lanes in these projects compared to last year. Additionally, the subcommittee passed three motions, one regarding 15^th Ave. S and 4^th St. S, another in support of the City’s pending Climate Action Plan, and a third recommending a north Minneapolis neighborhood greenway and a cycletrack fund as high priorities for the City’s capital long-range investments. Here are some brief highlights:

· City of Minneapolis Repaving:

o 42^nd Ave. N, 22 blocks in total, will be pushed back until 2014.

o 26^th St. E from west of Hiawatha Ave. to the I-35W bridge will also be pushed back until 2014.

o 32^nd St. from W. River Pkwy. To 36^th St will be done in 2013

o 54^th St. E from Portland Ave. to W. Lake Nokomis Pkwy., a total of 12 blocks, will be done in 2013.

o 31^st St. W. from Hennepin Ave. to Nicollet Ave., a total of 15 blocks, will be repaved in 2013.

· City of Minneapolis Seal Coating:

o Lyndale Ave. N. from W. Broadway to 41^st Ave. N. is planned for 2013.

o Blaisdell Ave. from Franklin Ave. to 40^th St. W. is planned for 2013.

o Briefly, the usage of seal coating was discussed as it pertains to bicycle safety. As some of you may know, seal-coating is where a layer of tar and a layer of chipped granite are laid down to add friction and a protective layer for car traffic. The chipped rocks are not great for cyclists, though the City is looking into using a finer chip size. Last year there was only $17,000 available for bicycle improvements (very small) in seal-coating projects, and a request for additional funding has been submitted.

· County Overlay Candidate Updates:

o Cedar Ave., a high traffic bike area with wide lanes, will see additional bike lanes spanning underneath the I-94 Bridge.

o Washington Ave. N/N. Mississippi Dr. from Webber Parkway to 22^nd Ave. N. will likely be overlaid (multiple miles of bike infrastructure!).

o Franklin Ave. From 16^th Ave. S. to 21^st Ave. S, and from 28^th Ave. S. to 30^th Ave. S., will likely see improvements.

o Xerxes Ave. from the bridge over Trunk Highway 62 to the Minnehaha Creek Culvert is also up for overlay.

o 4^th St. S.E. will have some sort of bicycle infrastructure over the I-35W Bridge.

· City of Minneapolis Climate Action Plan: The Engineering Subcommittee supports the Climate Action Plans specific bicycle related goals, including 30 miles of protected cycle-track by 2025, a mode-share goal of 15% by 2025, changes in parking to support bike efforts, support of Safe Streets and Safe Routes to School programs, and implementing bike parking in new developments.

· 15^th Ave. S. and 4^th St. S.: The City of Minneapolis will be totally reconstructing these roads, and will include biking facilities resembling those recently installed on Franklin Ave. to give continuity all the way to the Hiawatha. This will include a dedicated bike lane in each direction on both streets and major bump-outs from the sidewalks to accommodate pedestrians and slow traffic. New residential developments are planned in this area in the coming years, but the reconstruction should take place in 2014. See more with this link: http://mplsbike.org/blog/posts/smoothing-the-ride-around-riverside-plaza/

· Another note: the Capitol Improvement Projects, vetted by the Capitol Long-range Improvement Committee, will receive recommendations from the Bicycle Advisory Committee in the coming weeks, including provisions specifically addressing cycle-track funding and implementation. More to come in the future.

posted by | December 03, 2012