‘Commentary’ Archives
How about also making Park, Portland, 26th and 28th Streets more “Accessible, Vibrant, Pedestrian and Biker Friendly with Less” and Slower Speeds?
Hennepin and 1st Avenues have been changed to two-way streets again so they will be “more accessible, more vibrant, with slower speeds and less around the block trips,” according to city planners and politicians, plus many pedestrian and bicycle improvements. The City widened Park and Portland Avenues and 26th and 28th Streets decades ago: decreasing pedestrian space, removing old well-canopied trees decreasing space for new trees, and increasing speeds on former residential streets thus making them speedways unfriendly to residents, pedestrians and bikers alike. Is it time to return residential streets so they, too, are more “accessible and vibrant” with less around the block driving and slower speeds coupled with improvements for pedestrians and bikers?
Irony Of Ironies
By Peter Molenaar Followers of this column might recall a two-part slogan issued prior to the Obama presidency. The first part read: “Unite to fight the ultra-right”. The second part: “even as we project the vision of socialist future”. It occurs now that it might be helpful to define some terms. By ”˜ultra-right”' is meant: those political forces which are manipulated and set in motion by the most greedy and self-absorbed section of the capitalist ruling class. The Republican Party is said to be dominated by these forces. Whereas, the more liberal wing of the ruling class consents to a political alliance with the social-democratic wing of Labor (and the other sectors which make up the Democratic Party). The term ”˜social-democratic”' refers to that trend within Labor which seeks to improve life without fundamentally challenging the power of accumulated wealth, i.e. without challenging the property relations which constitute the [...]
