the alley Newspaper | News & Views of Phillips Since 1976

METRO TRANSIT

Written by the alley on 30 November 2021

More Transit, and Less

By JOHN CHARLES WILSON

I’ve been writing about this for over a year now, so you should know I am excited that the Orange Line starts Saturday, 4 December 2021! There will be a Grand Opening at the I-35W and Lake St. station at 1 PM, with local entertainment and food vendors from 2 to 4. The station is already open and being used by regular buses. It is a lot better than the old stops at the sides of I-35W that were at the top of crumbling staircases.

Unfortunately, along with the good news, there is bad news for transit riders in the Twin Cities. Due to a shortage of bus and train operators, schedules are being cut by 5 percent overall at the same time the Orange Line starts. Affected routes in the Phillips neighborhood are:

The Orange Line will replace Route 535.
Route 2 will run every 12 minutes instead of every 10.
Route 5 will have schedule times adjusted to reflect actual travel times and will run every 10 minutes.
Route 9 will have schedule times adjusted to reflect actual travel times.
Route 11 times will be adjusted for better connections with the new Orange Line.

… Read the rest

Letter to Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association:

Written by the alley on 30 November 2021

Response to 2744 and 2740 12th Avenue Proposed Development: Ensuring Gentrification and Income Inequality by Policy and Design

By SUE HUNTER WEIR

Reprinted in the alley by permission of the author

The City of Minneapolis is well known for expressing concern about gentrification and income inequality—one of the dubious categories in which we lead the nation. These plans appear not to have taken into account the demographic makeup, and therefore the needs, of the people who live here. There is undoubtedly a need to have more housing for renters, but these designs are not the answer. I have listed some of the problems that jump out at me.

1) Inadequate parking. Regardless of what the city’s current policy is, the reality of life in Midtown Phillips is different. This is not, for the most part, a community of bicycle commuters. Our block (the 2700 block of 12th Avenue) is a block where most of the renters and owners are immigrant families. That usually means two working parents and several young children per household. Five of the houses on the east side of the street are duplexes with little off-street parking, and for those properties there are not two cars/vans per property, but more commonly four to six.… Read the rest “Letter to Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Association:”

Minneapolis Recreation Centers Reopening to the Public

Written by the alley on 30 November 2021

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) continues to transition its 47 recreation centers to pre-COVID-19 services and hours of operation.

All MPRB recreation centers are currently offering scheduled, registered, and ActivePass programs Monday through Saturday, with five sites offering pre-registered programs on Sunday. Search all available activities at minneapolisparks.org/register.

Recreation centers will begin offering general public hours starting November. 29, with the following phased approach:

Monday, Nov. 29-Sunday, Dec. 19

All recreation centers open Monday-Friday, 3-7 pm
Drop-in recreation opportunities available during those public open hours
Recreation centers open outside of public open hours and on Saturdays and Sundays for pre-registered and ActivePass programs only
Youth sports games begin at various sites with spectators allowed

Monday, Dec. 20-Tuesday, Dec. 30

(Minneapolis Public Schools Winter Break)

All recreation centers open on School Release Days, Monday-Friday, Noon-7 pm
Drop-in recreation opportunities available during those public open hours
- Note: all recreation centers will be closed and programming cancelled Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 31-Jan. 1 in observance of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day