Jim Mork is correct; Lyndale Avenue has been the same since the 1960's, when I also came to Minneapolis. Some of us "old" people even remember when it was the preferred way to drive down to the fairly new SouthDale Shopping Center. Quite frankly, with the I-35 becoming a creeping parking lot during six to seven hours of the day, it is now again my preferred means of getting out of Minneapolis heading south. The wonderful thing about Lyndale is that it carries more volume than Portland Avenue, which is a one-way street through all but the affluent areas of Minneapolis. Lyndale is a vibrant commercial corridor down its length, while Portland only becomes so after it becomes two-way, just as Lyndale is. I wonder if those wonderful old houses along Park and Portland would have ever been built if they had been the one-way dead streets they are now. I don't think so. Lyndale neighborhood is very lucky to have that Street as it is. We would trade Park and Portland for it any day, and we actually use Lyndale as a model for what these streets could be returned to.
Jim Mork, and other readers, needs to drive down Franklin Avenue between 4:00 and 6:00 PM and report back about what happens when you do the one lane with a turn lane model to a commercial corridor. It is a catastrophe, which looks good but doesn't carry traffic. So you have all those cars sitting, running, and polluting the air. They certainly do not help business traffic, because no one wants to stop and face an even longer delay. They also create the worst biking atmosphere possible. Bike paths should be "planned" on streets immediately adjoining busy commercial corridors, not on them. (Makes for safer biking and driving as well as a better healthier place to ride a bike.) I am amazed at Hennepin County and their planning, (or lack there of). Hennepin County has participated in the I-35 Access Project. In fact in cooperation with powerful business interests, Hennepin County is the driving force behind it. Yet how are you ever to complete that project without the "alternatives routes" Jim Mork speaks of. The freeway system in Minneapolis is a poorly designed political hack job that the City and County allowed to happen forty years ago. Has the County ever thought of looking at transportation, as a comprehensive planning issue, that is done to meet future needs rather than knee jerk reaction to the immediate needs to get elected. We have the mess we presently have because of powerful business interests forcing their issues into Freeway "planning" in the early sixties, most of them are gone now, but we have Hennepin County, (and the City), again reacting to immediate "Electoral" politics. Rather than logical comprehensive transportation planning for the future. Vancouver B.C. has twice the population in half the space of Minneapolis, without nearly as massive a freeway system. Even with all their cars, and a rush hour, it is easy to drive in Vancouver at rush hour. Why? Because they have great two-way multi-lane commercial corridors that carry traffic. Seattle is the same. Driving at the height of rush hour is about like driving at high noon down I-35W. Why? Because they have better planning? Maybe. Well OK, Seattle and Vancouver also have much friendlier drivers than the fierce fools we call "Minnesota Nice". A side question for "List" members regards this false claim of "Minnesota Nice". Where did it come from? Other than an unwillingness to express repressed hostility to another's face, I have a hard time finding it, and certainly do not find it on our streets and highways. A Minnesota driver will speed up and run you into a barricade rather than let another driver in. Years ago while driving in Texas I noticed signs all along the highway that said "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way", and people were fairly friendly about letting others in. While driving out of Texas I spotted a car with Minnesota tags and sporting a bumper sticker that read, "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way - or Be a Jerk-The Minnesota Way". I thought it was a funny joke until I got back to Minnesota and took a close look at Minnesota Drivers in comparison. It really is the truth, not a joke! Our Minnesota nice, smile in your face, repressed hostility jumps right out when we get behind a wheel in the relative anonymity of a car. Good old liberal, smile in your face, Minneapolis is indeed one of the most hostile places I have ever driven a car. Speaking of hostility under the guise of liberality, as a Democrat, and a supporter of Peter McLaughlin, I was appalled by the nature of Don Jorovsky's post about Eva and Republican's. Eva was simply listing an article in the newspaper. The words were CJ's. I am also appalled by the ads of both "Major" Parties. The mud slinging has reached levels I have never seen before. Both the Moe and Pawlenty ads and the Congressional ads are nothing but lies about each other. Then I saw that great ad by Penny, and thought WOW. He is right who would want to vote for someone like those people. The funny thing is that both the Democrat and Republican special interest ads include Penny in the mud slinging at the other "Party". If you listen to Republicans Penny is the next thing to a Socialist Liberal, and the Democrats have him as next to a reactionary Right-winger. He is either the resurrection of Barry Goldwater or Hubert Humphrey according to which ad you watch. Through it all he doesn't respond! Is it because he has so much less special interest money so he can't? Or is it because he is like Goldwater and Humphrey? A cut above the other politicians. Speaking of a cut above, have any of you noticed how much better Sabo is at these things than the other candidates. Martin runs a campaign, and is the kind of politician, that makes me proud to be a Democrat and a Minnesotan. Jim Graham, Ventura Village-6th Ward-61A-5th Congressional District, and darn proud of it. Our politicians are indeed, a cut above! _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
