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Thinking Ahead Connecting a Midtown Greenway Streetcar to Lake Street

Written by editor on 01 March 2010

by Joyce Wisdom

Thinking ahead to what the results would be of a new Streetcar system in the Midtown Greenway and envisioning strategies to meet those results before it becomes reality was the topic of a study by four CURA students from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.

Blending Midtown Greenway Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Streetcar Traffic with existing Lake Street businesses, traffic and culture

Jeremy Jones, Simon Blenski, Nicole Doran, and Kyle Weimann presented the results of their study recently to a combined meeting of the Boards of the Midtown Greenway Coalition and the Lake Street Council. Here are their recommendations on connecting a new Midtown Greenway streetcar line with the existing Lake Street and vicinity business community and activity:

Small businesses must be actively engaged
to ensure the business ecosystem is not disrupted
so that businesses are not priced out of the market.
Encourage and support more commerce in the Greenway trench, such as the Freewheel Bike Center.
Consider implementing a larger Greenway-Lake Street Improvement District
to assist with maintenance and
consistent branding.

Development at Streetcar Stations
At the various stations, they recommended:

branding with icons to reinforce identity and memory
preserving the Greenway character,
a business node presence,
and connections to various transit, biking, and pedestrian options clearly marked.

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East Phillips Improvement Coalition Policy Statement Summary in Opposition to Xcel Hiawatha Powerline Proposal

Written by editor on 01 March 2010

At the request of the EPIC Board, Carol Pass, Board President, submitted a 35 Page Position Statement to the State Of Minnesota Office Of Administrative Hearings For The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) expressing the community”'s strong opposition to these Overhead High Voltage Electrical Transmission Lines.
The brief focused on three issues:
Health:

The U.S. National Academy of Science, National Research Council report (1997) stated that the link between power line wire-code rating and childhood leukemia “is statistically significant (unlikely to have arisen from chance) and is robust”.
While the risk to human health at the current state of research appears to be small, the statistical significance of health study findings is that there IS a risk.
The Children of Phillips are already at risk from multiple sources and issues, of which we are well aware, especially since the education we all received in facing down the Midtown Burner.

Economic Issues:

Dean Dovolis of DJR Architects,Â architect and developer stated: “I am convinced through work with these and other developers ”¦. that overhead high voltage power lines will severely damage future prospects for development investments anywhere nearby. In addition, such power lines could undo much of the valuable work that has already gone on.

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