Favorite Urban Studies Posts

As an Urban Studies major here at the University of Minnesota, I have a large interest in writing about development in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. Over the time that I have had this blog I've written a lot about this topic and have some personal favorites and without furthur adeu here they are...

Central Corridor

One of my first posts when I first started this blog way back in September 2005

Maglev on University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus

One of my ideas of replacing the Campus Connector system with Maglev transit, I think it would be great, but probably way too expensive

A Commuter Rail Line Named…Northstar

Future Predictions on Urban Development of the Twin Cities

One of my best posts on this topic. Thank you to everyone that wrote in.

That's a good start to the list. Some of my current posts have been pretty good too in my opinion. What was really exciting was being published in the Minnesota Daily. I know most of you in the blogoshphere wouldn't care, but it was cool to see my name in a student newspaper as well as on their website. Plus, i got 25 extra credit points in my persuasion theory class for being published. Hopefully I can have some new topics in the near future, although we are nearing crunch time for Spring Semester. These next coming weeks are going to be crazy, wish me luck.

Andrew

I GOT PUBLISHED!!!

...In the Minnesota Daily, the student paper of the University of Minnesota. Check it out at the Daily's site.
Or you can read it here too...

University priorities
In the Friday Daily, there was an editorial, “Prioritizing transportation,” stating that the proposed Central Corridor light-rail line would benefit the University more than a University football stadium that has been proposed on the site of the Huron Boulevard Parking Complex. Although I agree with the author that the University and its students will benefit from the Central Corridor project, we do not need to give up a new stadium to get the project done.
In the editorial, the author states that the University has a seat on the planning committee for the Central Corridor. While the University is a major stakeholder affected by the project, this does not mean that the University can afford to put financial backing toward the project. State, federal, county and city resources can be used for this purpose, however it takes political capital to commit to the project.
I do agree with the author that the University should use its political power to stand with local transit advocates and state legislators to support the project. In the March 22 Pioneer Press, there was an article stating that the Federal Transit Administration approved the cost-effectiveness analysis of the Central Corridor. The next steps in the process will be the public commentary of the draft environmental impact statement. I suggest University students attend and state their opinions.
Light-rail transportation on the Central Corridor will benefit University students and employees, but so will a new football stadium. The stadium will add to the quality of life on campus, encourage the trend of students living on campus and bring a stable source of funding to University athletics.
At most universities, revenue from football pays for the cost of the football program and all the nonrevenue sports programs. A new stadium will help us fund these athletic programs. The stadium and the Central Corridor project are actually complementary. Events at the stadium will encourage use of corridor transit, and the availability of transit to the stadium will reduce the congestion associated with stadium events. We can and should have both a stadium and light rail.
Andrew Wambach University urban studies undergraduate

Some Spring Break…Whew

This has been a hectic week…and Spring Break on top of that. Kristen and I worked almost everyday and were able to spend a lot of time together watching Season 1 of The Sopranos.

Monday was insane. As most of the residents of Minnesota know, Monday we had one of the largest snowfalls of the year with over 6-12 inches of snow falling in St. Paul alone. The snow was the really wet and heavy stuff, causing a lot of mayhem on the roads. I was scheduled to work at 8 at Minitex; I didn’t make it in until 10!!! My older brother, Frank, dropped me off at the St. Paul Campus at 7:30 AM so I could catch the Connector to the West Bank. A lot of people (including myself) were waiting at the bus shelter for the connector, however, no buses were showing up. Meanwhile, 2-3 #87 buses went past us and the snow continued to fall. Being fed up with waiting, I trudged through the snow down Cleveland to Como Avenue to catch a #3 bus to the West Bank and work. On my way down Cleveland, I was up to my ankles in snow and the snow was building up on the trees. It was beautiful, however, some of the snow was a little too heavy for some of the branches. In fact, a branch broke clean off right as I passed by…it was cool and spooky all at the same time.

I got to Como and started waiting for a #3 with some others. I waited for about 45 minutes, and decided to give work a call to make sure that I really had to come into work that day. While we were waiting, a guy in a Honda got stuck in the right turn lane onto Cleveland. He tried rocking back and forth a couple of times, but his wheels just kept spinning and he wasn’t moving. So, I decided to be a Good Samaritan and help the guy out. He through it into reverse, and I gave him a push on the hood. Feeling like I had filled my quota by doing one good deed as an American, I figured I would see if anyone else was feeling generous. I went to the curb, put a big smile on my face, and stuck out my thumb hoping for a ride. Luckily, a man driving a 2002 Ford Explorer pulled up and asked me if I needed a lift. Without thinking twice, I hoped in. My boss had called me and said he would come and get me on his way to the St. Paul campus for the morning run, and I told him to pick me up at 15th and Como Avenue. Nick, the owner of the Explorer, was heading into downtown Minneapolis after dropping his kids off at school. Unlike the rest of the state, the St. Paul public school district did not cancel or have a 2-hour late start. This was the first time I had ever “hitch-hiked”, and thankfully it was with a guy like Nick instead of the horror stories or urban legends often associated with hitch-hiking.

While on the way, Nick told me that a #3 articulated bus was stuck further up Como and was blocking traffic. Over 120 buses were stuck or delayed because of the snow and icy conditions due to Mondays freak snowstorm. Nick dropped me off at 15th and Como and went on his way. While waiting, I got a call from my boss telling me that he couldn’t get the van out of the Minitex Cavern and that he couldn’t come and pick me up. So, with nothing else to do, I walked from the edge of Dinkeytown to the West Bank. By the end of the journey, my feet were about ready to fall off. I got off of work at 2:00 and met up with Kristen for coffee at the Royal.

Tuesday, it didn’t snow, however, I ended up sleeping in and nearly being late to work. Because of Monday’s snowstorm, Frank drove the Intrigue to work. On Tuesday, he decided to take the Protégé. I took the intrigue into work because I was already running late and didn’t want to deal with having to wait for another bus. I drove the Intrigue into work and the roads were a mess. Hennepin Avenue was the worse with thick ice and melting snow, but thankfully I didn’t get in an accident. I parked the car in the Law School parking lot and punched in at 8:10. Took my lunch break at Chipotle and had a delicious Chicken Fajita Burrito, one of the best burritos that I have had in awhile. Got off work at 2:00 and ran over to the HECUA office in St. Paul to turn in my completed application for the Scandinavian Urban Studies Term or SUST study abroad program in Oslo Norway. Hopefully, if all goes well I should be accepted and participating in the program fall of 06.

Having accomplished that errand, I headed towards Brooklyn Park to return the car, eat dinner with the folks, and get a ride back home to Lindig. My Dad got home from ER (Elk River) with some groceries and so I gave him a hand unloading those. Then Mom came home and we made Hamburgers with blue cheese and fries for dinner. My Mom and I then headed over to the Ford Dealership in Coon Rapids to drop off the New 05 Explorer, affectionately named “Black Beauty” by my Mom, for its first scheduled check up. While at the dealership, I took a look at the 06 and 05 Mustangs and caught myself a number of times starring at cars I knew that I would probably never be able to own or drive. This is funny because in the most recent Ford commercial they show a kid, younger than me, opening the door to a brand new 06 Mustang for his Girlfriend as if this was his first car…No *@&^ing way!!!

My Mom took me home and on the way there we stopped off at Kristen’s place, picked her up, and then we headed over to Lindig. Kristen and I watched some Sopranos and then went to bed. Wednesday, we both worked on campus. I worked at Minitex from 8 until 4. My boss tossed me down in Serials Exchange for the entire day. All the recycling bins were full, so instead we had to fill the postal bins until the recycling bins are emptied. We processed a lot of material and filled up about 10 bins before calling it a day. I came away with a handful of magazines; so the day wasn’t a total loss. I picked up an almost entire years worth of WIRED magazine, and a couple of issues of Nature’s Best Photography including an issue with Polar Bears on the cover and an entire issue devoted to the Grizzly Bear. Wednesday night Kristen and I ate dinner at Vescios and enjoyed some Fettuccine. After dinner we caught a #3 and then caught an #87 to home.

Thursday was another long day of work and stress. In the evening, the KU and I grabbed some dinner at Village Wok and enjoyed some Iron Hot Chicken and a sweet vegetable dish. Thursday night, we watched a couple more episodes of the Sopranos and finished off the night with the classic Gangster movie: The Godfather. I had seen it before on TV in bits and pieces but never the film in its entirety. The scene at the end where Michael takes over is great.

Friday, Kristen and I had the day off from work, so we took the liberty of sleeping in. We woke up at about 10:30, and spent the morning cleaning. Kristen and I took care of the kitchen by cleaning all the dishes and the counter-tops, my bathroom, and the entryway stairs. We both tried to do homework, and I got a couple of loads of laundry taken care of. We tossed around ideas for the evening, and decided to head home to BP to grab the Intrigue for the weekend. Kristen and I took a #61 to downtown and caught a #766N to the Noble Park and Ride and got picked up by my Dad. We joined them for dinner with Nick and Willy’s Take and Bake Pizza, a new chain competing in the market of Take and Bake Pizza once dominated by only Papa Murphy’s…We’ve come to call this place Willy Nillys…and they have some pretty good pizza.

It’s March Madness time for the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, so of course we have the Brackets through ESPN’s Tournament challenge. So far, Franky J is in first place, I’m in Second, and Kristen is doing well in third place. My Mom and Dad’s brackets were sabotaged by a couple of crucial upsets that no one saw coming…

Now it is the weekend, and we both have lots of homework to do. Hopefully we can finish up The Sopranos and get some work done. Tonight is Erik’s 21st Birthday, hopefully I’ll have a chance to get out tonight and buy him some shots or a beer.

Hope everyone had a great Spring Break and has a good weekend.

Andrew

Maglev Trains + University of Minnesota = Bye Bye Campus Connectors

Way back in October, I wrote about my dreams of having a Maglev Train operating between the St. Paul Campus and the East Bank Campus ending near or around Stadium Village. To read the old post click here.

Recently there has been a lot of controversy about the Central Corridor and the University of Minnesota in regards to its alignment through Campus. There has also been controversy between the University On-Campus Stadium and the Station 19 Architecture Firm located in the Historical Landmark fire station off of Oak St. and University Avenue SE. To read the Star Tribune article click here.

Goldy's Rapid Express, Complete with Maroon and Gold Paint Job and University of Minnesota Emblem. Even Maglev Trains love Maroon and Gold...

The train could operate along the existing U of M Transitway, and then go underground beneath the University of Minnesota Stadium and have a station with direct access to the concourses for public seating as well as access to Suites. Or the train could remain on the surface, but then tunnel under Oak Street and connect with the Central Corridor Light Rail underground station (if it ever gets built). Students could then connect to the Central Corridor LRT and have access to the West Bank of the University of Minnesota and the Campus Connectors could be eliminated completely. Buses could be sold to Metro Transit, but still keep their Maroon and Gold paint jobs, heck even one can be given to the Minnesota Historical Society.

In the Minnesota Daily, there was an article about the Regents and the coming agendas facing them. One in particular is the Central Corridor. In the article, there is more talk about using University funds to build god awful monuments to faculty, this time a giant wall, with formulas and theories written by University Faculty. The Scholars Walk is nice, but has taken a really long time to be completed. Meanwhile, the Stadium is still in talks with the Minnesota Legislature, and the University won’t be able to have any decision making powers on the Central Corridor Tunnel. I suggest to the Regents that they try to negotiate with the Metropolitan Council and MNDOT to allow students in the schools of Architecture, Urban Studies, and Civil Engineering to work with these stake holders in designing the underground stations of the LRT, maybe even the stations above ground as well.

While searching through the archives of the Minnesota Daily I found an article from about 4 years ago, where then President Yudof suggested using students in the school of Architecture to help design University buildings instead of hiring high priced firms. Why not do the same with Public Infrastructure such as LRT stations? This way, the University can activly participate with the project. In addition, the students could improve the current bus shelters, by having heating vents in the ground in bus shelters and not from heating lamps above. Sometimes I wonder about people who designed those bus shelters and LRT stations and where they got their degrees from. Don't they know that warm air rises so its really not a good idea to have heating lamps as a way of keeping people warm in the winter months. Also, the University of Minnesota should stand with Transit Advocates such as Transit for Livable Communities and encourage lawmakers to find a dedicated source of transportation funding.

I think it would be really sweet if the Maglev Train operating through Campus could become a reality, but maybe the buses will be what we have for the rest of our days. Plus, by the time all of this stuff is said and done, I will be long gone from the University. But it never hurts to dream. I have heard support for this project from others and I hope support continues to grow.
Let’s go Maglev and Light Rail. Trains may not be the “magic bullet” solution for all of our urban problems, but they can help reduce our dependence on the automobile and create a better urban form.

Think it over, and tell me what you think blogosphere readers.

Andrew

Big Dig- Twin Cities

Either I might be watching too much science fiction, or I could be watching the Discovery Channel/History Channel in the wee hours of the night. After watching a documentary on Boston’s Big Dig of its Central Artery Highway, I got interested in mega engineering projects of private/public development. Maybe I am in the wrong major? For three years I have been participating in the Urban Studies Program pursuing a degree in Urban and Regional Planning. Recently I attended a Career Transportation Expo held at Coffman Union. At the Expo there were many firms that were looking for Civil Engineers, people who actually build things, and not urban/regional planners. This kind of had me worried.

But I digress. Lately I have been thinking is that Minneapolis and St. Paul should build “superhighways” underground. These underground highways would operate below existing highways that go right through the cities. The best examples for Minneapolis are I-94 and 35W. For St. Paul we have I-94. These sections of the highways would be “buried” underground, and the above ground land could be reused/rezoned for public parks, housing, commercial development, anything besides Highways. There would be some problems, such as engineering new on-off ramps, and dealing with emissions created by the cars in the underground highways.

I suggest putting the highways underground in sections for three reasons: 1) Cost, 2) Time, and 3) keeping the Highway ROW open for traffic. The Cost alone of putting all of I-94 and 35W underground makes the project impossible. However, I am only suggesting putting certain areas of I-94/35W that go through the dense urban areas and usable space of Minneapolis. In cities further out, the highways would still be above ground. The sections would have to be done either one after the other or all at once, and with the way we fund transportation projects I am going to say for Times sake that this will have to be done one at a time, to allow for necessary funding. Also, as the section is being put underground, the above ground section will remain open until the “superhighways” below are completed and the necessary access points are created.

Who knows?? This may happen in the near future, or it may not happen at all. It will depend upon crucial innovations in tunneling technology that reduces the cost and time requirements associated with modern tunneling. It will also depend upon travel trends in the world, the state, and the cities of Minnesota. As fossil fuels become scarcer, are we going to see a reduction in the number of cars people own/use? Further investment in zero emission vehicles using alternative fuel sources? The answer to many of these types of questions for some of us is “we hope so”. With the car so ingrained into our current society, I don’t see it going away anytime soon.

Well, think it over, let me know what you think out there members of the blogosphere (or not, whatever people feel like). It’s about 1 AM, and I have things to do tomorrow, so I need a goodnight’s sleep.

Goodnight, but before I go, I encourage everyone to dream, and dream big. No small dreams have the power to stir men’s souls.

Andrew

Take That Phil Krinkie!!

For people who both love and hate (though I think there are more lovers than haters) Light Rail Transit, I think you should read this article… Home on Hiawatha

The article was published in the Metropolitan Council’s Directions newsletter. I’ll admit that the article is biased, however, it is showing that the investment in Hiawatha is paying off; in the form of new housing, new commercial opportunities, exceeding Ridership estimates, and rejuvenating downtown Restaurants. These are all good things if you ask me.

However, I wish that Hiawatha didn’t end at the MOA. Originally it was to continue down Cedar Avenue, but was terminated at the MOA due to funding and site acquisitions for stations. Since it seems that they are willing to add another station in the already existing alignment (cost 2 Million), why not rip out the god awful MOA station, build a more aesthetically pleasing station in between Phase I and Phase II (expansion of MOA in the talks) of the MOA and connect them via Skyway. Then we could extend Hiawatha further south and create even more opportunities for development.

I titled the post “Take That Phil Krinkie” because he was the most outspoken person against the states first LRT line. Numerous times he was cited saying, “no one’s going to ride it, because it doesn’t go anywhere” and that it was a waste of public dollars. Well, Phil, the proof is in the Ridership numbers and in the $$$ being made off of this line. I think even a Republican like yourself can appreciate that. BAM!!!

NEW AMAZING RACE!!!

The Amazing Race Season 9!!!!!!
Time to kiss the Tuesday nights goodbye until summer. This is one of the best damn shows on the air right now along with LOST on ABC Wednesday nights and Battlestar Galactica on Friday nights. Man, i am turning into such a waste of space...
Hopefully the adventures of the Amazing Race will inspire me for some crazy adventures when I am abroad in Norway next Fall.

Brokeback Mayors – Support University LRT

The local Star Tribune had a great article about the growing cooperation between Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak and newly elected St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. To read the article click here.

Both Mayors support the Central Corridor and I think both prefer the Light Rail alternatives. Hopefully, with the combined cooperation between the two cities, the Mayors could use their combined political clout to put pressure on the Governor and the Minnesota Legislature in drafting a dedicated source of funding for our mass transit projects and potentially have the proposed network fully developed by 2020.

In addition to this new investment in Infrastructure, I hope the region can also pass new design guidelines in the local zoning codes to ensure use of Transit Oriented Development or New Urbanism designs in transit corridors of both Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Let’s hope it happens an the cooperation between the two cities continues…

Powers of Persuasion

I think my skills in persuasion are already starting to improve thanks to this Persuasion Theory class that I am taking here at the University of Minnesota. Take for example the events of Wednesday night. The Sklar brothers were in town as the headliners for a comedy show at Coffman Union. I found out about the show Monday night and decided that I wasn’t going to miss it.

I tried to convince Frank to come, but instead he and Ta went to the Gophers vs. Purdue Basketball Game. On Wednesday evening, Kirsten and I both got off work at 4 and grabbed some sandwiches from Erbs & Gerbs for dinner. After that we went to Espresso Royal and grabbed some Chocolate Chi Tea and attempted to do some studying. I didn’t want to stay very long afraid that I wouldn’t get a good seat at the comedy show. With Frank and Ta going to the Basketball Game, I tried to convince Kristen to join me.

Kristen had a night class Wednesday night and was trying to do her reading before class at 6:40. The comedy show was scheduled to start at 7 PM. However, she is taking the class pass/fail and I felt that her missing it and having some fun wouldn’t hurt. Plus, I stressed that the show was free and would be a chance for the two of us to spend some time together because Kristen was going home to Dassel this weekend.

We got to Coffman pretty early and waited for the people organizing the show to let us sit down. The theater was pretty empty for a while but then filled up just after the opener started. As Kristen mentioned in her post, the opener from Mystery Science Theater 3000, was disappointing and only had a few funny moments.

The Sklar brothers, however, were hilarious. Many of the people in the audience came to see the Sklar brothers, after seeing them on Comedy Central Presents and their show on ESPN Classic. They have a great two-man gig and did some of their classic material such as “Chopper 4” and “Unsung heroes: Strip Club DJ”. They also had some good new material that I hadn’t heard before including some jokes about people from the Twin Cities.

This weekend, Kristen is in Dassel and will be back on Sunday. Last night, I hung out with some of my friends from freshman and sophomore years here at the University. This morning I woke up with a hang over but nothing that some orange juice and breakfast couldn’t cure.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend

Andrew

Pillsbury A Mill Developers Wins Appeal.

Yesterday I attended the public hearing on the appeal of Shafer Richardson’s (SR) plan to develop the Pillsbury A Mill complex. In January, the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) denied Shafer Richardson’s plan citing that the proposed towers would significantly alter the historic landscape. However, the two major neighborhood organizations of Marcy-Holmes approved SR’s plans citing that “in lieu of the heights, the plan accomplishes the goals of the community by making the riverfront more accessible to everybody.” To read the two articles from the local Star Tribune follow the proceeding links: February 16 and February 17.

This is a very exciting turn of events. For a while I was unsure whether the Minneapolis Zoning and Planning Committee would agree with the HPC or approve the plan. In my opinion, the city of Minneapolis and Marcy-Holmes will both benefit from this reinvestment in a growing “Historical District” that encompasses both sides of the Minneapolis Riverfront.

There were a number of important issues brought up by ward members including:
• The Significance of Small Areas Plans.
• The Power that neighborhoods and their Master Plans have and how strictly they have to adhere to them in regards to development.
• Potential precedents that may result from allowing taller developments.
• Continued importance of Historic Preservation, Strengthening of city neighborhoods economically, and continue the reinvestment of the Minneapolis Riverfront.

A great day for the eventual intensification of development in Minneapolis and St. Paul, now if only we could throw a street car line in behind the development that goes all the way to the Central Corridor…But that would be asking way too much so I will take what we got. It will be interesting to see if SR will redesign the site so that taller buildings are in the rear of the site and shorter buildings are closer to Main St. as was suggested by Lisa Goodman of Ward 7.

Well, now I must get to some homework on this incredibly cold Friday. Hope everyone has a good weekend and stays warm.

Andrew

Central Corridor…No tunnel, No Train

Ah the Central Corridor, the Twin Cities second light rail line that may never be. This line has been the topic of many discussions in the world of transit advocacy and in the local papers including the Minnesota Daily

The Columnist for the Minnesota Daily, Angela Gray, must have attended the Transit Summit at St. Thomas before writing the article. I was impressed on how she interviewed some important figures of the Central Corridor Partnership and business owners located in the corridor. She even interviewed students around campus to see if they would support a light rail line going through campus. However, the student that she interviewed stated that a tunnel would not be crucial and that "students will adapt". I highly disagree.

A few weeks before the article in the daily was published, there was an article in the Star Tribune on Planning Officials, The University of Minnesota, and the controversial tunnel. A local blogger has commented on this issue as well. He has the story linked in his post. I suggest you read it.

Some crucial information left out in both of these articles has been the cost. They skimmed the surface of the cost of the project in Grays article of the project being around $800 Million, when really the project is closer to $900 Million. The project total cost in 2003 dollars was about $840 Million. The Metropolitan Council hopes that it can cut the cost by eliminating the tunnel underneath Washington Avenue. The figure is an estimated $140 Million. I assume most of the cost of tunneling would be the engineering improvements necessary to turn the Washington Avenue Bridge into a triple-decked bridge with Pedestrian on top, Traffic in the middle, and light rail on the third rung.

Without the tunnel, the light rail will be forced to run on the surface, eliminating two lanes of traffic on each side of Washington Avenue simply because it is not wide enough to support central median operation, parking, sidewalks, and two lanes of traffic. This is Washington Avenue, not University that is 120 ft. in width.

I wish planners had more foresight than 25 years. They should be planning for one hundred years. Then again, with the way cities change and re-arrange themselves it is difficult to see what changes in technology and the built environment will occur over the years.

Last week, while enjoying a conversation with a friend of mine at Royal, I got into a discussion with someone sitting behind me about how backwards the current University alignment is. He tried to sell to me that the line should be located 2 blocks North of University Avenue. He also tried to sell to me that we needed more vertical economic development, basically transit villages with very large multi-block “sky-cities”.

I had two major disagreements with his proposal. The first was the location. 2 blocks north of University Avenue is where the Red Rock/Northstar connection is planning on running on the freight ROW. The second is the cost. A proposal that includes such large planned development like a transit village would put the total cost probably into the Billions. Although I agree that development like a “sky-city” would be awesome for the Twin Cities, right now with all the space we have available there is no pressure for land conservation and thus development like this is seen as overkill. For those interested in these types of development I suggest viewing Discovery Channel’s series Extreme Engineering.

Last issue to write about is the controversy of the intersection of University and Snelling Avenues. I agree with the author of twin city sidewalks, that the light rail may need to be elevated over this intersection like the Lake St. station which would be cool or be put underground which is pretty unlikely. I think an elevated station would be the best bet. As for the owner of the Midway Bookstore, I hope his store is where the first plank goes for the station. Just think, had he supported the rail he probably would have gotten a much better facility and benefited from a more walk-able University Avenue.

Back to my original topic, this Tunnel is crucial. If the tunnel is not in place, it will add more congestion and suck up tax dollars just as Republicans say it will. Let’s not let this happen. I encourage all members of the University of Minnesota to encourage planners and the powers that be, that the Central Corridor has to have a tunnel or needs to be put on the shelf until other rail projects such as Northstar are completed.

Whew, a pretty lengthy post…ENJOY!!!!

Andrew

Pandora – A Box That Everyone Should Open

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to this nifty website called Pandora. Pandora.com was created through the efforts of the music genome project started by Tim Westergren. Here’s what is neat about Pandora. When you get to the Pandora homepage you are asked to put in your favorite artist or favorite song. Using the information that you put in, Pandora compiles all the songs in its database and matches it with the type of song that you entered. They then take that music and create a playlist/radio station that matches what you entered.

It’s a great resource for finding other songs and artists that match your tastes in music. For example, one of my favorite artists is Guster. I created a radio station with that as the search and came up with some great artists that I have never heard of and some new favorite songs. Pandora has links to the Itunes Music Store so that you can download the songs that you find and add them to your collection.

I have recommended this site to most of my friends and my co-workers at Minitex. One of my friends exclaimed to me that “Pandora is one of the greatest web pages ever made.” So I write this post with the hope that those that read it check it out and play around with the music genome project and can make possible recommendations on what artists to look under or people’s favorite songs.

Visit Pandora.com
And check out The Spaceman's comments about Pandora at The Chronicles of Spaceman Axdahl

That’s all I got, now back to more Space Above and Beyond and hopefully schoolwork.

Future Predictions on Urban Development of the Twin Cities

Well, I am back!! How long did I go without Bloging? Three days I think. In that amount of time I have been working on my studies, however, I have also been playing Halo 2 a sequel to the Xbox classic FPS (First Person Shooter for you non-gamers) Halo.

As I mentioned in my last post, the topic that I wanted to address is attempting to predict what the Twin Cities will look like in the next 10, 20, and even 30 years based on current trends that we (as residents of the Twin Cities, and students in the field of Urban Studies) have observed with the condo/loft boom in both downtowns and the investments being made in critical infrastructure. Other issues include the region’s paranoia of height in new developments, and the ever-increasing amount of backward thinking and NIMBYism (Not in My Backyard) that has been discussed heavily in both the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

2006
Current issues and development:
Currently the Twin Cities (along with the rest of the country) is facing many challenges. For the nation, we are experiencing massive increases on the cost of energy and the amount of energy that the United State’s consumes. In the recent state of the Union address, President George W. Bush has called upon the United States to become less dependent on foreign oil from the Middle East and have a revolution or Manhattan project of new and reusable sources of energy. This initiative should’ve been done years ago and a part of me feels that the President is trying to save his numbers by telling the public what we want to hear, but in the end will not deliver instead put us further and further into debt and dependence on oil.

The Twin Cities are facing issues of massive congestion and a lack of investment in critical infrastructure such as our highways. Many auto owners have noticed the huge potholes in many of our highways and city streets that have been poorly patched. Many drivers are also upset on the 394 exclusive lanes that MNDOT botched over the summer. However, all of these issues have a common cause and solution…that is funding. However, the state and local municipalities do not have it thanks to the efforts of the Republican Party and their cronies of “No New Taxes” famously phrased by the current Governor Tim Pawlenty that will be up for re-election this coming year.

Now that we have some of the current issues, let’s dive into the future!!
Note: Current age 21
Important dates that are left out:
November- 2006: Democrats take back the Governor’s seat of Minnesota from thee grasps of the Republican Party and bring back the quality of life that Minnesota deserves.
November- 2008: The Bush Presidency is over. Democrats reclaim the White House with anybody but the following: Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, or Joe Lieberman. In a stunning turn of events John McCain is elected and becomes one of the best things to happen to both Republicans/Democrats by being a great moderate President kicking the evangelicals out of the Republican Party and brining in more allies to assist with Iraq.
(Events are fictional, but I really hope they happen.)

2016- My age 31.
Many of the Transportation projects assigned by the Metropolitan Council have been finished including the Northstar Commuter Rail Line that has been operating with fare box recovery for seven years since its completion in 2009. The Central Corridor, a major source of controversy in the years 2000-2006, was completed in 2012 following the success of both Hiawatha and the completion of Northstar and over the four years since has become the highest source of Ridership in the Twin Cities metro and a great catalyst for development in the Midway area of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Worth mentioning are the new TOD developments such as the Super Target in Midway, the Rondo Community Outreach Library & University and Dale Street Apartments (completed in 2006), and the Penfield towers just as you enter downtown St. Paul.

The Twin Cities continue to add population, though we are still far from our 1 million new residents as estimated by the Metropolitan Council back in 2000. With the added residents come new pressures on development. One of the areas in particular is the Franklin Avenue area across from Augsburg and the University of Minnesota West Bank campus. The 2-3 story walk up apartments; have been replaced by taller and newer towers following the success of New Urbanism oriented developments in the early 2000’s. Students who attend Augsburg and the University of Minnesota mostly rent these apartments. In the works are plans to take back the open space that exists over I-94 and reconnecting the two sides that were bisected when I-94 was built in the 1950’s. Similar plans are in the works for St. Paul and the bridges that are over I-94 near downtown St. Paul and the Capitol.

Prospect Park joins the register of Historical Neighborhoods in 2013 and a Light Rail Line or Streetcar is proposed for Hennepin Avenue/Larpentuar Avenue with a station at the State Fair.

Talks are progressing with the State and Federal Government on the possibility of a High Speed Rail connection from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Duluth and then South to Chicago to connect with the new High-Speed Rail system that has recently been completed on the East Coast and is spreading to the rest of the nation as the Air Industry continues to face financial and security issues.

2026- Age 41
As we approach our estimate of 1 Million residents, there are concerns that the Twin Cities are becoming too dense. This leads to another outward movement of many residents along the well-used transportation corridors that were constructed in the 2010’s. The High Speed Rail connection has been made between the Twin Cities and Chicago.
Minnesota and the Midwest have become very powerful states after the short “Water conflict” in 2020. The Western states attempted to break away from the Union and take the Midwest’s preciouse fresh water resources. The Conflict is ended when General Rory Hanlin and his elite forces known as "the dirty sconies" kill the leaders of the seperatists allowing Union forces to retake the Western states. Casualties in the western states are low and water is still babdly needed ,however, desalinization plants have helped the west keep its residents, many have moved out of areas such as Phoenix that have dried up due to the effects of Global warming and because of the effects of the uprising.
Minneapolis now resembles Vancouver in design with many amenities such as public paths and an award winning transportation system. Of course, the public park system is still one of the best in the nation.

2036 and beyond- Age 51 and older
I finish my term as the Governor of Minnesota and settle into the life of a retired developer touring the world and viewing cities and the developments they are building and facing. Human’s still haven’t made it to Mars yet, but we are getting closer to Fusion technology though the process still requires a lot of resources. Recently the Military has taken over the state of Nevada and has deemed the entire desert (Las Vegas was destroyed in the “water conflict” along with all its fountains) as a place for the research of Fusion technology. With tensions increasing between China, Korea (Kim Jung Il Cloned himself and is still in power unopposed by any nation), The United States, The EU, and the Hamas controlled Middle East, the world is moving closer to destruction. With that the United States has begun developing massive underground cities in the mountains, in the event of a Nuclear World War some will survive.

Inhabitants of Moon 1-the first colony and city to be established on the moon, has increased production of commercial and Military spaceships and has released that they are close to developing faster than light travel with the use of Hyperspace Gates by the year 2050.

Back to Reality:
Okay Okay, the last part I totally made up. In fact the entire thing I made up. But it was a lot of fun writing and speculating on the future. Probably because I read too much Sci-fi. Anyway, let me know what I can improve or what theories there are out there in the world of Bloggerdome.

P.S. It’s good to be back. Next post, Central Corridor…No tunnel, No Train.

A Commuter Rail Line Named…Northstar

I’ll explain myself for the title. I was trying to copy “Streetcar named Desire”- a movie title with a form of public transportation in it and another movie that I hope to see in the near future. Thursday night I visited the open house/public hearing for the Northstar Commuter Rail Line which would be Minnesota’s first Commuter Rail project. Side note- last night I watched “A Streetcar named Desire” and that movie was weird.

I arrived at the Heywood Office Building of Metro Transit at 4:30 after taking the #19 bus from Seven Corners on the edge of Downtown Minneapolis and University of Minnesota West Bank. The open house didn’t start until 5:30, so I waited in the lobby and chatted with the ladies that were setting up and greeting guests as they arrived for the open house/public hearing. Through my conversations with these ladies, I found out my official title in the world of Transportation advocacy. I am now an official Rail Transit “groupie”. The ladies in the front compared me to a young man who like me was from the University of Minnesota and was a “die hard” for the Hiawatha Line and attended almost all of the public meetings. I am glad that I now possess another title in addition to my self made title of die-hard or true believer.

Once people began to arrive for the open house/public meeting, I began to work the floor and look at the information they had posted on numerous slides in the conference room and talk with the people in the yellow shirts that were helping answering questions and presenting figures. The NCDA or the Northstar Corridor Development Authority did a great job of presenting facts and figures, and even had a rendered animatic of the Northstar Commuter train as it would appear in operation and how the stations would look, similar to the rendering that was done for the Central Corridor a few months ago created by the Central Corridor Partnership. In some of the slides, there were renderings of the bi-level coaches that Northstar will use. I asked one of the guys in yellow, whether he knew that Northstar would buy their locomotives and coaches from Bombardier or from another company and asked him how they would do it. The man explained to me that the process is a lot more complex than just placing an order with a supplier like Bombardier. There is an entire process dedicated to acquiring vehicles that needs to go through the FTA as well and takes up the majority of resources. I assume the Met Council will choose Bombardier because we have already worked with them for the LRVs used on the Hiawatha line and will be used on the Central Corridor as well.

At the open house I ran into some familiar important figures. The first was Mark Fuhrman, the project leader of Northstar. I had met Mark during one of Frank Loetterle’s Fundamentals of Transit Planning a year ago and so we chatted for a few minutes. I told Mark that my studies in Urban and Regional Planning had continued to progress and that this semester I was taking two graduate level classes that related to transportation planning. I also told him about my small internship with Transit for Livable Communities (TLC) the previous semester and the work we did researching for the Central Corridor and how I worked with the Midtown Greenway Coalition and had attended a number of their public meetings and workshops as well. Mark seemed impressed with my activities since the last time we had talked, and I informed him that if he had any work available or possibilities for internships over the summer that he should feel free to contact me. I left my information with his staff, and I hope that is enough to at least get my foot in the door and get credit towards my Urban Studies degree. I also met with Brian Lamb, the general manager for Metro Transit who recognized me as I returned to my chair. I chatted a while with him about my recent activities and expressed my hopes for Northstar in that it puts pressure on other transit projects such as Red Rock and Central Corridor.

Also at the meeting, I met a man from my home town of Brooklyn Park. He asked me if I knew anything about the Northwest BRT line which would run along 81 up into the Northwestern Suburbs. It turns out that he lives near the Crystal Airport and has taken an interest in all of the recent articles about the Crystal Airport in the Brooklyn Park SunPost. Having not been at home, I hadn’t really had the chance to read up on the current development plans, however, my dad sent me the articles and I have since been brought up to date.

The meeting was long but very interesting to attend and see what was going on in the world of Northstar development. Also included in the plans for Northstar, was the mentioning of the potential of the Twins Open Air Stadium located next to the Minneapolis Multimodal station for Northstar and Hiawatha. When Kristen and I took the express bus 766 out to Brooklyn Park we drove past the sight, and it was interesting to observe already the condo/loft conversions underway in those areas. It will be interesting to see what further ramifications investment in transportation infrastructure will have on our Twin Cities. In Friday’s Star Tribune there was an article about an upcoming exhibit on cities and art specifically about the Twin Cities and Minneapolis and the demise of the Milling Industry on the Riverfront being shown sometime in February. I hope to make my next post about predictions on development and what the future may look like for the Twin Cities. However, to predict the future one must understand the past. With that in mind, I picked up two books both by Larry Millet titled Lost Twin Cities & Twin Cities: Then and Now both books that cover in great detail the changes that the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have gone through over the past decades.

To learn more about Northstar click here. Also be sure to check out my previous post on the Central Corridor if you haven’t already, at the end there are links to many Transportation related sights for the Twin Cities

Until next time, see you all on the train as the smoke rises from the engines!!! WOOT-WOOT!!!!

Andrew “the transit groupie” Wambach

We Made Soup!!!

Last night, Kristen came over for dinner and the two of us made Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from my new Rachel Ray cookbook. I had picked up the necessary ingredients a few nights ahead of time so that we had everything we needed.

The two of us tore into the recipe book checking over ingredients and making sure we followed the instructions. This dish allowed me to use my Food Processor for the first time. What a nifty little tool!! It chopped up all of the onions, Garlic, dill, parsley, and every other ingredient that had chopped next to it in the recipe. Frank and Megan had used it the night before for their dish and Frank told me that it made chopping veggies a lot easier though you had to be careful not to accidentally purée the vegetables.

From start the finish the meal took about an hour including clean up. The result was a delicious soup with chicken, vegetables, and tons of spices to make one heck of wild rice recipe. We tweaked the recipe just a bit for future references by suggesting adding more carrots and more celery to compensate for the 2-pounds of chicken that the recipe called for.

After dinner, the two of us relaxed in the living room and read our studies for the next day. Last night everybody was gone and we had the entire house to ourselves so it was the perfect environment for quiet studying without having to go to the libraries.

I hope that Kristen and I can make this thing of making dinner together a weekly thing on Tuesday nights. That way, we’ll not only have stuff for the two of us, but probably enough leftovers for the other roommates or for me to enjoy later in the week.

That should do it for this post, if anyone has any neat dinner ideas for couples, let me know, Kristen and I would love to try them out and hear about what other couples out there in the world of Bloggerdome are cooking for each other.

Andrew

Espresso Royal- A Great College Coffee House

Thank god for places like Espresso Royal. For the longest time in my college life, the only coffee shop I frequented was Espresso Expose over in Stadium Village. It was a neat little place for a while until they completely overhauled the place ripping out the very things that made it cool and kind of a trendy hole in the wall coffee shop. There was nothing special about Espresso Expose in terms of its coffee, but its sense of trendieness certainly was there in great abundance before the remodel. After the remodel, the place became very yuppie-ish and almost looked like a rip-off of a Starbuck with Sandwiches/Cookies and etc. The Coffee shop that my brother had introduced me to my freshman year was gone.

Gone were the broken down benches and tables that were the best seats in the house replaced by the suburban typical tables and chairs. In addition, Expose does not offer free WI-FI with the purchase of a beverage or even for frequenting their place of business. Instead there is an Internet provider called Netsurf Wireless who has wired all of stadium village for subscription and pay-for use WI-FI. This is stupid because the University Wireless is just a few blocks from Stadium Village and anyone with a laptop and student id can use the service, so what is the incentive for me to take my lappy and get coffee from Expose (that I can get anywhere) and pay for internet service on top of that…No incentive because there are other coffee shops in the area that have filled my need as a consumer.

The First is Espresso Royal. Last Semester, Espresso Royal began hosting their own wireless service due to the large amount of student’s who come here to study and bring their laptops to look up things online, write blogs (like I am), or casually surf the net checking things like their email or looking up worthless things on Facebook (which we all do), all while enjoying a great cup of coffee and a large cookie. Espresso Royal is the perfect model of a well-operated college coffee shop. Old wood floors, large glass windows hinting at the buildings historical role in Dinkeytown as a main street on the edge of Minneapolis and for new Urbanism the perfect Urban Village ripe for development, brick walls, and plenty of chairs and tables ranging from ultra cushy for naps and ultra efficient for studying or typing up that last paper before it is due. All with the smells and noises of a coffee shop and the chatter of the people around you. All of this plus free WI-FI, how can I say no???

The truth is I can’t, but there is another coffee shop along University Avenue that is doing very well too. Last year when the four of us were living at 808 Berry Place Apartments, The Cupcake opened and I never visited it until last semester when I met with a member of the Midtown Greenway for an interview. I got there early, taking the #50 from campus and getting off at Emerald as if I was going home to the apartment 355. Instead I walked a block up to Buford (I believe) and headed into the coffee shop. It’s a very small coffee shop but very charming in the way the counter is presented and has stools and tables in front of the storefront windows, and more seating in the back. Cupcake is housed in what appears to be a mixed use building that houses 2-3 businesses and a pottery studio. The Coffee was pretty good, but their signature is of course their cupcakes, which are a little pricey but worth every penny in taste, this in addition to free WI-FI. With all of the housing development and the coffee shops proximity to the well-established neighborhood of Prospect Park it should do very well and have a pretty regular customer base. Plus, with all the excitement of the possibilities of Light Rail on University Avenue, this coffee shop could receive even more costumers.

That sums up 2 of my favorite coffee shops in the Twin Cities. However, I know there are more out there that I haven’t heard of/tried so I am more than welcome to suggestions of places for a great cup of coffee or for group meetings etc. So I suggest a task to my readers, tell me what your favorite coffee shop is and why?

So until next time, can someone get me a refill on this Peanut Butter Mocha???

Andrew

I Can’t Take This @#$% Anymore

I think I am becoming more and more like my dad as I get older. While I resemble my Mother’s side of the family physically, a lot of my temperaments resemble that of my Father. This suggests to me that I may become more prone to Migraines as I get older. My Dad has a distinct vision when he first gets a migraine; it’s a troll chasing him down a long hall way carrying a spike and a club and no matter how fast you run that troll catches you and starts driving that spike right into your eye. This evening I had that happen to me.

I thought that I had a pretty good day, stressful but good. I arrived on campus around 7:30 AM having caught the 87 and then transferring to the 3 at Como and Cleveland Avenue. I even got to campus early enough to see Kristen and give her a couple smooches on the cheek before she headed off to the St. Paul Campus. I got to my 8 Am on time and got a great seat for Professor Adam’s lecture in American Cities II. Made it to Persuasion Theories over at Ford Hall and was able to get my comfy chair in the corner. I even got to eat some Chipotle for Lunch which I haven’t had in a while; it was a nice lunch before heading off to Minitex. Work was ok, I was able to get off at 4 due to the amount of help that we had in the evening. Needing a recharge I hoped on the 3 and went to the Royal for a cup of coffee and to prepare for my first night class of the semester.

At the Royal I got a medium Peanut Butter Mocha with whipped cream and it was one of the best drinks that I have ever had and gave me the boost that I needed for my 6-8:30 class on Private Sector Development. My Professor Warren Hanson is awesome, but this class is going to be a great challenge but after tonight I think I am up to it. I made a mistake by drinking too much coffee and water, and by the time or break for class came at 7:30 PM I thought I was going to be peeing blood or that my kidneys would have simply exploded. Having relieved myself, I talked to the professor about my small internship with TLC that sparked his interest and I explained to him that Transportation Infrastructure and the market for TOD here in the Twin Cities was one of the reasons for taking his class.

Class finished up at 8:30 PM and I headed outside of Blegan Hall in the hopes of catching a Campus Connector home. No luck. I waited and waited along with others freezing our butts off, and then decided to hop on a 3 that had pulled up down at the Anderson Hall bus stop. I rode the three and was listening to my Ipod when I reached Eustis and decided to give it a shot walking up Eustis to Larpenteur and seeing if I could catch a 61 to Lindig or give the bro a call and see if he could give me a lift home. After a hard day of being on campus all day, I didn’t like the prospect of walking the whole way but I could do it if I had to. I called Frank, and he told me that he was elbow deep in Cookie Dough and that he couldn’t come and get me with the little yellow car. I also asked him if he had saved any of the dishes that he and Megan had made for dinner tonight and how had it turned out. Frank told me that all was left was rice. With that I said goodbye and threw the earbuds back into my ears and walked up Eustis and then down Larpenteur in the hopes that a 61 would come up the hill and stop along the way for me. All I saw were cars and more cars and a police officer who wouldn’t give me a ride, but would pull someone over if they were going too fast.

John Denver’s Country Roads got me home the rest of the way and I found myself singing along as my feet moved up and down the sidewalk towards home. When I got home I stepped through the door, took off my shoes, proceeded downstairs and changed my shirt, hung up my coat upstairs and ate a bowl of cereal not acknowledging anyone except for the occasional hello. I was tired and hungry, cold and wet and not in the mood for anybody’s sarcasm.

I think I got the angriest, when Kristen called me and told me that she wouldn’t be joining me tomorrow for dinner at the house. I was really disappointed and it made me sad. I had picked out a recipe form the cookbook that I had gotten for Christmas and thought that it would have been great for Kristen and I to try when everyone else was at work or at class and we would have the place to ourselves for cooking and then studying. When Kristen called I had just eaten my bowl of cereal and I didn’t really have much of a chance to calm down so I reacted with anger because the plans that I had made with Kristen were falling apart and the good day that I thought I had just got worse. I don’t like being put into situations that I am not prepared for or when I lose control. I also had to do some reading to do for tomorrow as well as an eye appointment at Como that I have to wake up for so I told Kristen that I would talk to her about it tomorrow and she could think it over.

Around 10:00 she left me a voicemail explaining herself on her actions and apologizing. This made me feel even worse and then the negative self talk started coming like “you’re a jerk for getting mad like that”, and “what the @#$% is the matter with you, that girl works hard as it is and she doesn’t have to drop everything to be with you, I mean she did spend the entire weekend with you for Christ’s sake” and that’s when I really started to get frustrated.

And so here I am, writing my thoughts about the day, trying to think of what I am going to do tomorrow. I think I’ll still make that dish I was planning, but it’s not going to taste as good without my Kristen with me. I know she isn’t like the Megan’s of A and W, but she is my Kristen and at least one night during the week wouldn’t have hurt her. She could have gotten her things done here, I could have made the two of us some tea or coffee and put on some nice music for reading and I could have caught up on my reading. Oh well, we’ll see how tomorrow goes. Eye Exam, Class from 12:45-2:00 PM. Then I think I am going to go home and work on some schoolwork before getting set for dinner. It will be all me tomorrow, because Pete will be at Work, Frank will be in Red Wing and Kevin will be at Culinary School. So it will be just the Caboose without any other engines.

For Kristen, I am sorry for being disappointed it’s just that I was really looking forward to this. If you change your mind let me know, but I will respect your decision if you decide to go to the library and back to your apartment for dinner.

I love you, Andrew

To the rest of Bloggerdome, feel free to leave some comments. There is no harm in leaving comments as long as they relate to the post that you are commenting on, no weird random #$%^ ok. That goes double for you Megan W!!! If you’re going to make a comment have it make sense in relation to the $%^ing post!!!!

Ye be warned Pirates

GNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah Sundays

Sunday is one of the best days and one of the worst days all at the same time. On the one hand, it is another day of the weekend; a day to gather oneself and prepare for the coming week. On the other hand, it is a symbol of the end of the weekend and is often characterized as a day of chores and tasks such as cleaning the house, buying food for upcoming meals, and for those still in college (me) finishing up or starting homework.

This morning, Kristen and I ventured out to Bruegger's Bagels and picked up a bag of a baker’s dozen of bagels for everybody. In addition to the bagels, we picked up two of Bruegger's Bagels signature cream cheese spreads the Garden Veggie and the new Spicy Chipotle. Returning from the run, Kristen and I made some coffee, ate some bagels, read the Sunday Star Tribune, and visited with the roommates that decided to join us.

After breakfast, Megan and Frank went to the gym while Kristen and I stayed and watched this week’s episode of LOST. I was rather disappointed with this week’s episode of LOST, with Grizzly Adam’s meeting with the survivors and telling them “This is not your island, this is our island”, for which I say “Well tell us how to get the heck off, we never wanted to be here in the first place.” I thought the dialogue of the episode was secretly written by George Lucas, it was that terrible. I fear that LOST’s First Season will have been the best and the second is shaping up to be pretty disappointing. Second Season started out awesome, but unfortunately is starting to head down the tubes. I hope it improves soon. At least I have Battlestar Galactica on Fridays.

Having finished the LOST episode, I took Kristen home and then returned the movies that I had rented the night before. I came home and spent sometime cleaning my bathroom, specifically my bathroom floor that was in much need of attention. Later in the day I returned the Intrigue to the folks who let me barrow it over the weekend. After returning the car, my Mom, my Brother, and myself went to the Applebee’s in Roseville for dinner. Frank and I enjoyed our usual Chicken Fajita Roll ups while our mother had another favorite the orange chicken bowl. I think of the chains in the Twin Cities, Applebee’s has got to be one of the best with always good food on the menu, a friendly staff, and reasonable prices.

During dinner, the three of us discussed the future and what it holds especially for Frank who has began looking into the local housing market. Our lease here at the house on Lindig ends on May 31st and soon we will have to give our 60-day notice so as not to encounter a situation that we faced with 808 Berry Place over a confusion regarding the 60-day notice on a standard lease.

Over the summer I will be living at home in Brooklyn Park with the folks, just like old times, before heading off to Norway most likely in August. Kristen and her roommate Megan Halverson are going to be looking at apartments for next year in St. Louis Park with the hope of paying less and commuting to the University by the park-and-ride off of Louisiana Avenue. I don’t really know what plans Kevin and Pete have for housing, but I am sure they will find something.
Busy day tomorrow, first Monday with an 8 Am Lecture which means I will be up at 5:30-5:45 AM with a big cup of coffee and then catching the bus at 6:30 (I hope). Tomorrow night I also have my first night class at the Humphrey Institute from 6:30-8:30 PM, meaning I will be home late.

Hope everyone has a wonderful/stress free week

Until next time,

Andrew

Mill City Baby

Today, Kristen and I ventured to the heart of the Minneapolis Riverfront District to visit the Mill City Museum. The Mill City Museum is housed in the remains of the Washburn A Mill, which in the early years of flour Milling in Minneapolis, was the world’s largest. The Mill City Museum did a great job of showing the importance of the flour milling industry to the growth of Minneapolis and how important the falls of St. Anthony were to the milling industry.

Kristen and I took the guided walking tour of the Mill. Our tour guide really knew his stuff and was able to answer some pretty tough questions, including one of mine about the recent decision of the heritage board on the current proposed development for the Pillsbury A Mill on the other side of the river that has been the sight of some major controversy. Recently the Minneapolis Star Tribune released an article about the plans for the redevelopment of the Pillsbury A Mill. To read about it, check out this post from a local blogger: http://tcsidewalks.blogspot.com/2006/01/mpls-pillsbury-mill-towers-shot-down.html.

Our tour guide felt that the refusal by the heritage board shoes a lot of short sidedness on their part considering that the proposal was approved by the two surrounding neighborhoods and the money from the development would go to help preserve the Pillsbury A Mill as well as convert it to housing purposes.

Kristen and I were very impressed by the Mill City Museum partially because it was very interactive. I was also impressed by the enthusiasm of the employees of the Minnesota Historical Society and their knowledge of current events and how they affect Minneapolis as well as the Twin Cities at large. The Mill City is something that the Depot should look at for some ideas to improve on their presentation of information. We both were able to take some great pictures, which hopefully we can get uploaded on flickr and then added to these posts as well as the posts from our week in Duluth. If I can get photoshop on the beast than I can make the pics look better.

The Mill City Museum is a great place to visit and an important piece of the redevelopment of the Minneapolis Riverfront. With the new Guthrie Theater slated for a Spring 2006 opening, it makes for a very exciting time to be an Urban Studies Major at the University of Minnesota. I strongly recommend that if you haven’t been to the museum that you go and experience it for yourself, but be sure to take the guided tour and the interactive flour tour ride.

The rest of the night, Kristen and I ordered some Pizza form Papa Johns, Rented some movies from Blockbuster including Lord of War with Nicholas Cage and Mad Hot Ballroom, and watched Animal House. Lord of War suprised me, I thought it would be the typical run of the mill Nick Cage movie but it was more like the movie Blow in where we see the life of a dealer in illegal activities meet his downfall when all the people in his world start to get hurt and be put in situations that the character never thought would happen. Mad Hot Ballroom was a feel good movie and Animal House is a classic movie that turns out everybody has seen except for me. It was high hilarity and a great movie to finish the night with.

Also a note, Happy Birthday to Megan W, who will be turning 20 tomorrow. Still a youngin' in the group but she’ll be 21 before she knows it. Also congratulations to both Kevin and Megan on their 1-year together, which they celebrated tonight. All of us here at the house on Lindig are extremely happy for them.

That should do it for tonight, tomorrow the plan is to put the nose to the grind stone and work on some reading. Maybe a trip to the royal would be in order or simply curling up on the couch for some well needed reading and nappage.

Gnight Everybody, see u on the flip side

The University of Minnesota Stadium-part 2

My first post in support of an on-campus stadium for the Gophers came after the Gophers’ astounding victory over Michigan. This post has to do with the naming rights. In the Minnesota Daily, there is an article about how University Officials and state veterans organizations are collaborating to find ways of honoring all state vets in the new stadium. To see the article, follow this link:
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/01/20/66725

As most of Minnesota knows, TCF bank bought the naming rights to the new stadium with a donation of $35 Million in 2004. The contract is set to expire sometime in February but will likely be renegotiated due to the fact that the Legislative session will be beginning in March. It is my hope that with this post that I can try to convince my readers who are students at the University of Minnesota and residents of the Twin Cities to urge state legislators to do the right thing and buy out TCF’s bid for naming rights and name the stadium what it should be…Memorial Stadium. Or better yet, name it after the only Minnesotan to win the Heisman Trophy, Bruce Smith whose trophy was recently auctioned to an athletic collector.

Minnesota and the University could honor all the veterans from all the wars in Minnesota History from the civil war all the way up to the current War on Terror and the War on Iraq. if we sell it like this, we may get some Republicans to help find some more money so that this stadium can have the proper title and honor Minnesota Veterans instead of TCF owning more and more of the University and student's souls through bank accounts in their U-cards!!!!

The problem is that the legislature doesn’t have the resources or the guts to do what needs to be done. In addition, there are no Alumni of the University that has come forward, at least none that have been published, that could top TCF’s bid. Then again, some fans would argue, “What’s in a name?” or “It doesn’t matter what the name of your stadium is as long as it’s a quality facility?” These claims I disagree with completely. All Big ten colleges, excluding the University of Minnesota, have Memorial Stadiums or stadiums that were built a long time ago and have become famous landmarks of their campus. I am not saying that a stadium makes you have a wining program, but it certainly helps. Look at schools like Michigan and its stadium the “Big House” and Wisconsin’s Camp Randall. If the Gophers get their on-campus stadium, it will help bring more fans (which equals more revenue), more talent, and potentially better bowl games, the possibilities are endless. Who knows, we may even be able to further revitalize Stadium Village in the form of new on-campus housing similar to University Village, new commercial development like restaurants and bars, but most importantly it will create a sense of community for loyal fans of alumni as the home of the Gophers and not the home of the Vikings that we now currently reside.

Speaking of the Vikings and Twins, it will be interesting to see what happens if they too get their stadium wishes. The Twins are probably the most likely after the Gophers, because their stadium will be included with the Minneapolis Multimodal station for the Northstar Commuter Rail and the Hiawatha LRT line. The Vikings may find themselves in an empty stadium that would be all their own and not have to share. However, if the Vikings do leave, then Minneapolis will have a great opportunity to put something great in the resulting open block with access right on the Hiawatha Line. If things come to that though, let’s not hope they screw it up and put something god awful like Cedar Riverside. And by that last comment I do not mean that Cedar Riverside does not come with its benefits of providing affordable housing for many of Minneapolis’s residents, it’s just that it could have been more architecturally pleasing if it had been built at a different time. But that is an issue for an Urban Studies essay and not a blog.

Thanks for reading and feel free to drop any comments, I’ll be sure to read them.

Andrew

Rah Rah Rah for Ski-U-Mah
M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A
Minnesota, Minnesota, Yeah Gophers!!!
Rah

P.S.
I just remembered that if I go to Norway in the fall, I am going to miss Gopher Football…
Oh well, guess I’ll just have to chat with the fam about it and watch lots of ESPN.