The picture Steve Berg paints of Salt Lake City and LRT is too simplistic as he relates it to Minneapolis.
Often I think Minneapolis is building LRT because it is the thing to do or the money is there rather than it makes sense given our particular needs. I say Minneapolis but I mean more so Minneapolis AND Hennepin County for that is who I see driving the LRT bandwagon. Each city is unique despite the attempts of developers and giant corporations to standardize. Salt Lake City is primarily linear from north to south with mountains as a barrier to the east. Denver is similar to Salt Lake City in those respects except the mountains are westward. Whereas Salt Lake City area ranks 46th in population and covers 4,190 sq. kilometers Minneapolis-St.Paul ranks 13th in population and covers 15,709 sq. kilometers. Phoenix which is mentioned as another city looking at LRT is 12th in population but covers approximately 38,000 sq. kilometers. We're larger than both the Seattle and Portland areas, two cities mentioned as examples we should follow on the LRT track. As a development tool and a way to increase the tax base of Minneapolis, LRT will be successful but as a boon to suburban commuters, and hence the entire area relative to air pollution, it will be a bust. Minneapolis and its contribution to the decline of the environment is the least of our problems and yet that is where we are turning our transportation attention. The greatest problems we face are in suburban areas That is where you are most likely to find two and three car families and the need for them, given development patterns, distances, their densities of population and the prevalence of children requiring chauffeurs. Interestingly enough, yesterday I saw a young mother and an adolescent the spitting image of her catching the bus with her bicycle to ride thirteen blocks on Hennepin Avenue from Uptown to Downtown. I'm guessing that is not a sight you'll soon see in the suburbs. Mind you, please, I am not trying to bash suburbs or suburbanites. I am stating fact, I hope. Nor am I trying to bash Minneapolis. We have problems, conditions and factors here that are specific to Minneapolis-St.Paul not the least of which is two distinct downtowns of signifigant size. We need solutions for our specific area and though LRT systems in Salt Lake City, Seattle and other places may fit their needs I'm not so sure they are of value overall for our area. And we need to bring outstate and suburban legislators into debate and listen to there opinions. They have an interest in the continued well-being of the metro area and perspective we need. Tim Connolly Downtown Minneapolis Ward 7 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! 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
