Archive for January, 2020
Make a bee-line to the B Line
Transit By JOHN CHARLES WILSON In a few years, Lake Street bus riders will have an alternative to the super-slow Route 21. It”™s going to be called the B Line and will operate on the same principle as the already existing A Line on Snelling Avenue in Saint Paul, and C Line on Penn Avenue in North Minneapolis. (The reason for the disordered sequence is that originally the letter B was assigned to a project on West 7th Street in Saint Paul, which was cancelled and upgraded to a proposed streetcar line.) The B Line will go farther west than current Route 21, terminating at the junction with the Southwest Light Rail, which is now under construction. This is near the Whole Foods (a.k.a. “Whole Paycheck”) Market west of Bde Maka Ska. On the east end, it will terminate at Saint Paul”™s Union Depot, just like the current 21A. The original plan was for the east terminal to be near Midway Shopping Center at Snelling and University, but public input [...]
The person in there
Peace House Community ”“ A Place to Belong By MARTI MALTBY This December I got to lead the annual Homeless Memorial March, an event that honors those who died in the past year who were either homeless or formerly homeless. It was the fifth time in seven years that I led the March, an honor I received because I carry Luna, a huge “puppet” mounted on a backpack frame. Luna has become the symbol of the March and all for which it stands. When Luna rides on my shoulders, she”™s about 12 feet tall. The March ends at a church where we hold a service memorializing those who have died. As participants file in, I scramble out from under Luna while two other volunteers lean her against the wall. As you might expect, something as big as Luna is quite heavy, weighing in at maybe 70 pounds. A couple of years ago, as I emerged from Luna”™s robes, I heard someone express surprise that I had carried her during the entire March. They [...]
