I agree with Ken about having better expectations for Mpls than accepting crime, dirty streets, and an inferiority complex for our housing and other amenities, but I have to disagree about traffic calming.
We have all sorts of "traffic calming" set up in Minneapolis now. All it does is make commutes inconvenient & frustrating, and get drivers more riled up when they keep running into closed off or rerouted streets. We are already the Land of 10,000 Stop Lights. Some of the poster children for truly dumb traffic calming measures are the reroute onto Nicollet off Lake Street, the maze of changing one-ways off Franklin between Lyndale & Blaisdell, and the blocked off s-curve streets between Nicollet & Lyndale, in the mid-30s. While I can't condone drivers gunning it out of frustration with traffic jams & unexpected turnoffs & lights timed for a stop every block or two during rush hour, I also think the frustration is very understandable. We live in the inner city. That's a dense population, with many workplaces/entertainment venues that people commute to from outside the city as well. That means that there will be traffic, and lots of it. The city's job is to make the heavy flow of traffic efficient while keeping streets safe through enforcement. You do not put in speed bumps everywhere or close off a street every few blocks to prevent cars from zipping through at 45 mph on a 30 mph street - you make a point of enforcing the law so that people will think twice before driving like bozos. Let's face it - in most areas of Mpls, drivers can flagrantly ignore the traffic laws and the cops will watch & do nothing. (Unless the scofflaw is on a bicycle.) We don't need Minneapolis to become the Land of 10,000 Cul-de-Sacs. If people want an area where traffic is as laid back and sparse as in the suburbs, then I guess the suburbs are their best place to live. My neighborhood has a lot of traffic, and it has a lot of kids who play outside. I walk and I bike in my neighborhood, which is right at Lake Street and other main arteries, and I'm not afraid to do it. So do lots of other people, with and without kids. I'm really tired of the argument that to make the inner city a good place to live, we have to turn it into the suburbs "for the kids." Go to any borough in New York, or neighborhoods in Chicago or Boston or D.C. or many other large cities, and you'll see far less "traffic calming" than here, and plenty of children, elders, business people, bikers, etc. all sharing the streets. Let's demand the important things - better policing, police accountability, quality city services in ALL neighborhoods, etc. But let's remember that along with some down sides like heavier traffic, many of us choose to live in the city for all the good reasons the suburbs can never offer - like multicultural neighborhoods, exciting places to go, unique housing, and central location. Roxana Orrell Central On Friday, September 20, 2002, at 11:17 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 11:01:45 -0500 > From: ken avidor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Organization: avidor studios > To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Mpls] Crash at 36th and Grand > > > The first step is for the City Government take responsibility for the > safety of our most vulnerable of bicyclists and walkers....children. > Stop making excuses- if Hennepin County won't allow traffic calming, > take the streets back form the county. If the County won't let us take > them back, let's secede from the County. > > "In many places, streets have become dirty, dangerous, full of litter > and graffiti and dominated by speeding traffic. As a result, walking > is > in decline; children can�t play outside or walk to school; neighbours > no > longer talk to each other; older people don�t go out after dark and > people are reluctant to spend time outside due to fear of crime." > > Young couples move into my neighborhood, have kids and move to a cul de > sac in the 'burbs when their kids begin to walk. Guess why! > > We could pump a billion dollars of NRP money into a community , but if > parents are too afraid to let their kids out of the house, it's a waste > of money. > > If we spend $150 million into a highway project that widens streets and > dumps more dangerous cars into the neighborhoods, we expect more people > to use Minneapolis as a temporary stop. > > Instead of accepting this "urban sacrifice zone" where the billboards > say "We Buy Ugly Homes" (do they have those billboards in Wayzata?) > let's have a little self respect and demand from our well paid city > officials, at the very least - safe streets for our kids. _______________________________________ 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
