The Intra-Neighborhood Freeways: How about Traffic Calming Initiatives?

By Midtown Phillips Neighborhood Improvement Association

26th & 28th Street have increasingly multiplied their traffic count over the past 10 years.

Cars speed through so fast, no one in the neighborhood can get across these streets anymore by car, by bike, or by foot. There are periods during the day where those streets are impassible going north to south. Additionally, the amount of pollution stirred up is unbearable. Dirt collects on the siding of houses within 1/2 block of 26th & 28th, blackening siding and causing it to be frequently washed. So, with that amount of collection visible on the siding of houses……what is happening to our lungs??

As Wells Fargo, Childrens”' Hospital, and Allina have continued to grow, the amount of traffic going thru our neighborhood has also continued to grow.

We need the traffic calmed, we need public realm improvements to enhance the pedestrian and biking experience, and most importantly, we need to encourage workers coming into our community to think about transit and car sharing, to think about our health, to think about our community safety.

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Greenway Heights affordable rental apartments: EPIC”'s 12 years of work: Shovels in the ground!

By Carol Pass

Greenway Heights, the only affordable family rental apartments on the Midtown Greenway, is under construction at 2845 Bloomington Avenue and extending across the north crest of the Greenway to 16th Avenue.

East Phillips Improvement Coalition worked for 12 years to get as close to what the neighborhood residents wanted: affordability, low density, family housing.

When asked, if these kinds of projects are usually so hard and long; or do some just slide through? Kathy Wetzel of partner PRG said, “they are usually hard and long like this one.” We are glad we didn”'t know that at the outset.

The history of this project is long and convoluted with many characters that drifted in and out. The initial effort to purchase the land occurred when the East Phillips Commons redevelopment project began in 2002. The redevelopment area laid out by the City encompassed the whole Bloomington and Lake Street intersection on both sides over to and including 16th Avenue and north to halfway down the 2800 block.… Read the rest “Greenway Heights affordable rental apartments: EPIC”'s 12 years of work: Shovels in the ground!”