Ms Flanagan states in her most recent Strib column in the section titled "A Happier Hennepin":
"Hennepin also will have more skyways--it now has just one,near 8th Street--and that's important. It will be possible,for example,to walk through Block E to the Target Center." In the next paragraph she states: "now I love the idea of big bright signs on Hennepin. Put them everywhere and anywhere. It's where billboards belong." I'm with her on the idea of big bright signs. NEON! I wish the Planning Department or someone at City Hall would check off on some of the signs. The Michelob sign at 5th and Hennepin is a might poor excuse for a neon billboard. Lest I start sounding like Ms Flanagan talking about a carousel I wish someday we could find a way to light the Grain Belt sign. There's a similar sign in Portland by the Willamette River that knocks your socks off. I feel differently about skyways. I recognize their utility but they destroy sightlines and work against the positive impression signs have on the avenue. The Eighth Street skyway from Carmichael-Lynch across Hennepin to LaSalle Plaza will minimize the effect of a restored Pantages Theatre marquee approaching from the west. Already it messes with the Orpheum and State Theatre marquees If someone were to go forward with the suggestion for a sign atop the skyway it would further occlude a view of the marquee. Another consideration is the effect skyways could have on street life. While they insulate us from the ill weather they also insulate against the reality of the street. If others are anything like me, they tend to look to their forward path crossing skyways, more interested in people approaching them than on anything below on the street. This used to take place on the street. It worked to create a greater sense of safety on the street that is lost with the advent of skyways. I also see skyways as further stratifying society on socio-economic levels with poor, mostly urban people dependent on public transit at street level and those with the wherewithal to own a SUV, more often than not, suburbanites, at skyway level. This is by no means hard and fast as a rule but it is there to a large degree nonetheless I can imagine that if there comes a skyway connection from the northside parking ramps through Target Center into Block E and across Hennepin into City Center the street will suffer. Lyon's Pub, Murray's, Pickled Parrot, Gluek's, Lone Star Grill, etc will have fewer pedestrians walking past their windows and soon we will start seeing empty storefronts or the blank walls of office buildings we've come to see on other downtown streets. I wish we could have one street downtown skyway free. Hennepin Avenue! Tim Connolly Downtown Resident Ward 7 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
